Rose Reilly

Rose Reilly MBE (born 2 January 1955), whose married name is Rose Peralta, is a Scottish former women's association football player, who represented both the Scottish women's football team and Italian women's football team.

Rose Reilly
MBE
Personal information
Full name Rose Reilly
Date of birth (1955-01-02) 2 January 1955[1]
Place of birth Kilmarnock, Scotland
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Stewarton United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1963–1972 Stewarton & Thistle L.F.C.
1972–1973 Westthorn Utd L.F.C.
1973–1975 Reims
1973–1977 A.C.F. Milan
1978–1979 C.F. Jolly Cutispoti Catania
1980–1983 A.C.F. Alaska Lecce
1984–1986 A.C.F. Alaska Trani 80
1986–1988 A.C.F. Napoli Select
1988–1989 A.C.F. Firenze Casa '77
1989–1990 A.C.F. Oltrarno Firenze
1990–1991 A.C.F. Prato Sport
Bari
1994–1995 A.C.F. Agliana
National team‡
Scotland 10
Italy 22 (13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:09, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 01:47, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Club career
At Stewarton: Rose Reilly, aged 9 years old, shows the other children what she can do with a football.

Brought up in Stewarton in East Ayrshire, Scotland, Reilly began her footballing career at age seven with local boys' club Stewarton United and at one point attracted the interest of scouts from Glasgow side Celtic.[2] She made her debut for the women's side Stewarton Thistle Ladies in 1965 against the Johnston Red & White Rockets. She also competed in Hughie Green's Women's Football Tournament reaching the regional final, she was also part of the Stewarton side which lifted the inaugural Scottish Cup in 1971 and reached the first WFA Cup final the same year. In 1972 she moved to Westthorn Utd where she won the treble of Scottish Cup, League Cup and the first League championship. Westthorn also reached the WFA Cup final losing 2–0 to Southampton. A desire to play football professionally saw Reilly move to French professional ladies' side Reims in 1974.[2]

The Scottish Women's FA had reacted to criticism from Reilly and two other players, Edna Neillis and Elsie Cook, by banning them sine die.[3]

After a six-month spell with Reims, Reilly was bought by A.C.F. Milan and played for the women's professional team for four years, winning two league titles in the process (of an eventual eight she was to win with a variety of Italian sides). Following on from her initial spell with Milan, Reilly continued to play in Italian football until the age of 40, including spells with the ladies' sides of Catania[4][5][6] and Lecce.[2] Reilly twice won the Serie A Golden Boot during seasons 1978 and 1981, scoring 43 and 45 goals respectively (including Italian Cup).[1] In the 1978–79 season she won championship titles in both Italy and France, playing for Lecce on a Saturday night and then flying to France to play for Reims on Sunday afternoons.[2]

She eventually retired aged 40,[7] having won eight Serie A titles, a French title and four Italian Cups.[1]

International career

Despite having played ten times for her native Scotland and having no formal links to Italy prior to her move to A.C.F. Milan, Reilly was selected for the Italian women's national team and was voted the best player in the Italian team which won the Mundialito in 1984, an unofficial precursor to the women's world cup.[8] It was reported that team captain Reilly scored in the 3–1 final win over West Germany in the northern Italian town of Caorle.[9]

At the 1985 edition of the Mundialito, Reilly featured in Italy's 1–0 win over the United States women's national soccer team, substituting in for Viviana Bontacchio on 63 minutes.[10] It was the American team's first ever appearance at international level.

Honours and awards

In March 2007, Reilly was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, with a place in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame following in November of that year.[11][12]

Reilly picked up a special PFA Scotland Merit Award in 2011 becoming the first female recipient.[11] A portrait of Rose Reilly took centre stage at a new Scottish Football Museum exhibition celebrating 130 years of women's football in Scotland in July 2012. [13]

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to women's football.[14]

Personal life

In 2001, Reilly lived in Stewarton with her Argentinian husband Norberto Peralta and daughter, Valentina.[7]

References
  1. Hugh MacDonald (12 November 2007). "Reilly rightly at home in Hall of Fame". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  2. "How The Original Gregory's Girl Lived Her Dream of Dreams". The Independent. London. 25 March 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
  3. Doug Gillan (12 May 2001). "Ayrshire Rose cultivates a love affair with the beautiful game". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  4. Sammito, Roberto (12 October 2010). "Il calcio rosa e vincente di Catania" [Catania: a winning football in rose].
  5. (Italian) Rose Reilly at Jolly Componibili Catania.
  6. "Black and white picture of Jolly Componibili Cutispoti Catania with Reilly - about a third of the way down". www.mimmorapisarda.it.
  7. "Mundialito (Women) 1982-1988". www.rsssf.com.
  8. "Scot Who Won the World Cup With Italy". Retrieved 18 November 2007.
  9. "Women's World Cup".
  10. "ITALIA-USA" (in Italian). Italian Football Federation. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  11. Rose picks up PFA Scotland Award Scottish Football Association. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  12. "Nine hoisted into Scotland's proud Hall of Fame". The Scotsman. 12 November 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  13. First Ladies of Scottish Football Scottish Football Association. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  14. "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N21.
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