Jill Scott has opened up on the 'torment' of her footballing past on I'm A Celebrity, revealing she was subjected to taunts from other players' parents and left in tears by their comments.
In the summer, Sunderland born player Jill was the toast of Wearside and the whole of country after she and her England Lionesses teammates beat Germany at Wembley to win the Euros.
But, in a candid conversation with her I'm A Celebrity co-stars Charlene White and Scarlette Douglas, she said some early moments of her footballing career gave her little reason for celebration. Talking about her tough start as a female player, she said: "It was the parents, some of the parents from opposing teams. If I beat their precious son, they’d shout stuff at us. Like, ‘kick her, hack her down…’ I’d come off the pitch literally in tears.”
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Reflecting on what Jill said to her in the Bush Telegraph, Scarlette commented: “For some people that could have broken them, but for her, it made her. So things can either make or break you and she took a positive spin on it and she kept going and look how she is.”
And, on the subject of her own experiences, and hearing Charlene's daughter was now playing football, Jill remarked: “Along the way I had to put up with a few mean comments from the parents and stuff like that. Now, knowing that her (Charlene’s) young daughter won’t have to face that stuff, she’s on the start of that journey and it can be an amazing one for her.”
Continuing her chat with her campmates about the Euros, she said: “The way the fans got behind us… I felt like everybody was supporting us in a positive way. Whereas sometimes for the guys, I do think when a tournament comes around they’re like, ‘Oh, how they going to do?’ and put a bit of a negative spin on it. But I did feel like everybody was supporting us and we’re going to do something special. The guys were so supportive as well. They came and shared their stories about their Euros experience and was like…”
Charlene noted: “It’s not a full experience is it though because they’ve never actually like won… so… next time the boys have the Euros, presumably the girls will go into their changing room and explain to them how they managed to win it and how they ought to do the same. You now need to be advising them.”
On hearing that, Jill admitted: “That win’s going to be iconic for a long time but the biggest thing for me - the medal, I look at it and I have the biggest, cheesiest grin ever - but knowing girls can say, ‘You know what, I want to be a footballer’ and it’s normal, it’s fine.”
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