England hero Russo honoured by mural after Lionesses' historic triumph
Bearsted FC, in Maidstone, which received £10,000 of funding from The National Lottery during Covid, saw the new mural unveiled, recognising Russo and the Lionesses' unprecedented achievement of winning back-to-back Euros titles and reaching the last three major international finals.
Russo scored a crucial equaliser to help England retain their European crown against Spain, with the Lionesses winning 3-1 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
Thanks to National Lottery players, £15.8m of funding is already invested over the next two years in getting more girls across England to play. Over the last 30 years, the National Lottery has invested more than £6 billion into grassroots sport – including changing the game for women and girls' football across the UK.
In attendance at the mural unveiling Bearsted FC was England legend and former record cap holder Rachel Yankey, who said: 'I'm hugely proud of Alessia. I was really pleased yesterday that she got the goal that brought us back into the game. It was a fantastic header and shows you just what sort of a striker she is.
'Looking at this mural, every kid that comes out of Bearsted FC will see it and with it being a homegrown player, people feel more connected, because it was someone local that's gone on to be a star, and they might think, 'if they can do it, then I can do it'. It makes it even more powerful.'
The mural was funded by the National Lottery, who also gave the club £10,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic which was imperative to their survival.
Since then, the club has gone from strength to strength and now has five girls' teams within its ranks, up from zero in 2021.
Bearsted chair Jamie Houston, who has been in the role six years, was grateful for the support the club had received from the organisation.
'The National Lottery helped us back in COVID times, it was a tough time for the club,' the 53-year-old explained. 'They stepped up with a grant and it was survival for us; it was so important. Now they've stepped forward again. What a lovely thing to do.
'Girls now all want to be the next Alessia Russo and it's great they've got a role model they can relate to. We've got this picture on the side of our clubhouse now which we can keep forever. It's an amazing picture and the under-8 girls have been absolutely loving it too. It's so exciting. To me, that's what makes it all worthwhile, to see big smiles on their little faces, it's amazing.'
'It's been so important. We've needed that Lottery investment to make sure that we keep sport going for kids and that they have safe spaces to play and thrive because everybody on that pitch yesterday would have started somewhere," added Yankey.
'I feel proud that actually the visibility of the game is really being thought about and that our current role models are being used to inspire the next generation.'
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