Latest news with #VeraPauw
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'One of a kind' - Meet Europe's most-capped player
When the Netherlands face England in Zurich on Wednesday it will be a poignant moment for their veteran captain Sherida Spitse, regardless of the part she 35-year-old made her 241st appearance for the Oranje Leeuwinnen in April, becoming the most-capped footballer in Europe in the process. Curiously, the very first of those record-breaking outings came against England when Spitse was just her fifth European Championship, BBC Sport spoke to some of the coaches and players who have been part of her long shone through was not just their appreciation for the iconic Dutch midfielder's professionalism, leadership and technical ability, but Spitse's fun-loving nature."Sherida is one of a kind," says the Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker. "She has this outstanding skill of passing and shooting, of being a captain, and I don't know any player who has it in this way."She likes to laugh, to make fun, but on the other hand is also emotional, open, wears her heart on her sleeve, says what she feels or sees. Not the best player in the world, but she is a really special player." Best of a team of all boys Spitse was already a youth player for the Netherlands when she caught the attention of the senior set-up in 2006. Her performance alongside the boys of her hometown club VV Sneek convinced then national head coach Vera Pauw to fast-track the teenager."She was playing with the under-17s and I saw her and thought she is so stable and is playing in such a mature way that I want to see her at her club," recalled Pauw, who has also coached Scotland and the Republic of Ireland."So, with my husband, I went to Sneek, met her parents and I was looking - can she handle the higher level? But she was a playmaker and the best of a team with all boys, so I invited her for a training camp straight after."Spitse's elevation came as little surprise to anyone at VV Sneek. Team manager Martin van Klaveren remembers that even before she joined the club aged six, she could be seen kicking a ball around the neighbourhood."She was always with a ball under her arm, going in the field and practising by herself," he said. "Even as a little girl you could see she had a lot of talent."When she was old enough to join our club she played with all the guys and was equal to them. She had a very good shot and free-kick. At 12 she was captain because she stood out, the boys were full of respect for her."These days, VV Sneek runs an annual tournament in Spitse's name. "There are lots of girls who have started to play because of Sherida," added Van Klaveren. "We are proud of her. She talks to everyone, is very open, she is still the same." She had 'everything to become a legend' FC Utrecht youth head coach Sylvia Smit was 20, an international of two years' standing, when Spitse first joined the senior team. By 2012, the pair marked Smit's 100th cap for the Netherlands with a goal apiece against recalled Spitse's love of games, particularly poker, and the "fun" she brought to the squad as well as a determination to "give her all" on the pitch."Sherida was always cheerful and she radiated that," reflected the 38-year-old, who won 106 caps in her nine-year international career. "Her technical skills were already very good; she had a fantastic right foot shot and was the best at free-kicks."Already confident of the youngster's technical ability, Pauw's main concern was how she would cope in an adult environment. But after seeing her "emotional stability" and "lightness around the group" the coach delivered a message that has helped keep Spitse grounded."I said to her we are going to be very careful with you because you have everything to become a legend in women's football in the future, but your book is empty so you need to write it, you're not there yet," revealed months after her 16th birthday, Spitse made her first entry in that "book", playing 55 minutes of a World Cup qualifier against England at The Valley. The Netherlands lost 4-0 at Charlton Athletic's ground, Kelly Smith scored a hat-trick, but Spitse was on her way. Putting football first Spitse was closing in on 140 appearances when she wrote one of the finest chapters of her international career - captaining her country to glory in front of record crowds on home soil at Euro the armband after the second match by then head coach - and current England boss - Sarina Wiegman, the set-piece specialist scored two vital group-stage penalties. Then, in a six-goal thriller against Denmark in the final, she unleashed an expertly placed free-kick to hand her team a lead they never throughout that tournament, Spitse missed just 20 minutes of her side's run to the World Cup final two years later under Wiegman again, where they lost to the had been a different story for Spitse and the Netherlands, though, at Euro 2009 - their first major was 19 with 35 caps by then, but with Pauw largely fielding the same starting XI in Finland, she watched every minute from the bench, including an extra-time semi-final loss to England."She never, ever, said anything negative about it," said Pauw. "That's exactly what I meant when I said she had everything within her to become a legend because it was just football. She understood the unwritten laws of elite sport."I think everybody will say that, she puts football first and always knew what was needed to perform at that level and to grow."Part of that growth has been the development of Spitse as a leader, a quality that current Netherlands boss Jonker says he saw in her within days of his appointment in 2022 and one that he believes his players appreciate in her too."Within her character, there is this leadership, of being the boss, so she tells the team we are leaving, we are stopping, we're waiting," he explains."The older players are used to her, they know this is who she is and this is what she does, and they accept it, even if they don't agree, they think 'this is what Sherida wants, it's OK', because they know there's always a good intention behind the things she says or does, and the younger players have huge, huge respect for her." Proving the doubters wrong Despite her continued presence at the top of the international game, her domestic career has been played outside of Europe's top five leagues - with Dutch sides SC Heerenveen, Twente and Ajax, as well as Norwegian teams LSK Kvinner and Spitse continues to show her leadership skills as captain of a young group at Ajax, where she recently signed a new two-year contract flanked by her two children, her parents and by technical director Alex Kroes as "a natural leader and model professional", her worth to the club she has supported since childhood is clear, as is her contribution to women's football."Sherida's been around for a very, very long time, she's always played, she's helped the game grow in visibility," added Netherlands team-mate Vivianne Miedema. "In that way she is a leader and we need people like that in football to inspire others to start playing."For all her success, however, Spitse has still faced criticism as one of the older members of the Netherlands' 'Golden Generation'.But Jonker said he did not hand her the record-breaking 241st cap as a "present" but because she was "needed" in their Women's Nations League clash with Austria that he believed that after working even harder this past year, Spitse - who has recently been used in defence - has proved the doubters wrong."Her influence on the team is being a leader outside the pitch, but also on the pitch being able to lead the team, to coach the team," added Jonker."She is in great shape and as fit as the youngsters. This year, she has convinced everybody and nobody has any doubt about her position in the squad. It's a victory for her."
Irish Times
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Hayley Nolan hoping for a change in luck after Ireland recall
Hayley Nolan would be entitled to assume that if it wasn't for bad luck, she'd have no luck at all. On both the club and international front. A quick recap. Five years ago, the former Peamount United player left the University of Hartford in the United States with an MBA in finance. She headed for England with an ambition to play in the Women's Super League (WSL). Twice she came agonisingly close with London City Lionesses, just missing out on promotion, before finally making it with Crystal Palace. Then she injured her shoulder in preseason and was out until Christmas. Following on from this, she picked up another injury in February and missed over half the campaign in all – having played every minute of the previous two seasons. Palace were relegated in April and replaced by . . . London City Lionesses. 'I know it's part and parcel of being a footballer, but when you work so hard to get an opportunity to play in the WSL . . . I think it's fair to say I didn't have the best of luck,' she says. READ MORE On the international front? After playing all through the underage ranks, she was given her first Ireland senior call-up by Vera Pauw in 2019. Since then, she has won three caps, the last against the United States in 2023. All the while, she saw herself fall further down the pecking order when three fellow defenders – Aoife Mannion, Caitlin Hayes and Anna Patten – declared for Ireland . 'I was disappointed not to be called in during that time, but you just have to put your head down and do what you can do at club level,' she says. 'The dream for me has always been about pulling on the Irish shirt, there is no better feeling. 'It has been a really difficult time, especially when you have massive ambitions to help Palace and Ireland, but I am fit and healthy now and looking forward to showcasing what I can do.' Hayley Nolan training with the Republic of Ireland in 2023, the same year she last lined out for the team. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Nolan featured in Eileen Gleeson's first three squads as national team boss. However, she didn't play and was omitted thereafter. Her first call-up by current Ireland manager Carla Ward is, then, a boost after a trying time. While Ward has a wealth of defensive options, the retirements of Niamh Fahey, Louise Quinn and Diane Caldwell could open the door for the 28-year-old from Johnstown, Co Kildare. She added: 'Those girls were tremendous for Ireland but, yeah, it is a massive opportunity for me now and I need to go out there and take it. I'm definitely confident. I know my strengths and what I can offer. My last cap was against the USA, so this feels like a full-circle moment. I'm really excited to be back in.' Two of her Palace teammates from last season, Abbie Larkin and Izzy Atkinson, are also in the squad for the friendlies against the US in Denver and Cincinnati on Friday and Sunday. Atkinson was released by the club earlier this month following a season of limited playing opportunities. 'I am smiling because I love those girls, they both have so much talent,' says Nolan. 'It's been great to have had them at Palace the last 18 months; wonderful for me. It's been like a taste of home. They're always in good spirits and I'm hopeful I've been a good mentor to them. [ Played 15, conceded 51, scored one: Carla Ward looking to change Ireland's history against US Opens in new window ] 'Izzy's a tremendous talent, there are a lot of possibilities there for her. She had a great time when she first came to Palace and helped us get promoted. I'm really looking forward to seeing where her future takes her.' The matches against the US represent something of a shop window for Atkinson and a chance for Nolan to show Ward what she's been missing. After four weeks off, she's refreshed and ready for the challenge. Not that she chose the most relaxing of breaks. 'We had a family holiday on the Camino de Santiago – we did about 20km a day,' she says. 'I absolutely loved it; it was good craic.' That might be the first time '20km a day' and 'good craic' were spoken in the same breath.
Irish Times
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Ellen Molloy keen to make the most of opportunity after Ireland recall for United States trip
It's just over a month since Ellen Molloy downplayed her chances of a recall to the Republic of Ireland squad when she chatted with this paper, despite her sparkling form for Wexford since she rejoined them in January. 'I've a lot do before I'm even in the conversation,' she said . Well, she's in the conversation now after Carla Ward called up the 21-year-old midfielder for the first time since she succeeded Eileen Gleeson as manager for this week's friendlies against the United States in Denver and Cincinnati. The Kilkenny native has, then, a chance to add to the seven caps she's won so far, the first given to her by Vera Pauw when she was just 16, the last when Gleeson brought on her as a late substitute against Georgia in October's Euro 2025 playoffs. 'I honestly wasn't expecting this,' she says. 'I was just focusing on club. But I was absolutely delighted when I got the call from Carla. I'm really looking forward to the next two weeks, it's a good opportunity.' READ MORE It's a welcome boon for Molloy, who's been through the mill the last few years, starting with the anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered in September of 2022. Then there was what proved to a short-lived move to Sheffield United last September, her first taste of professional football. But while there, her grandmother's illness and subsequent death had a deep impact on her, Molloy admitting she lost her love for football during that time. After four months, she returned home and re-signed for Wexford. Has she got the love back? Ellen Molloy scoring for Sheffield United during the Championship game against Birmingham City at Bramall Lane in October, 2024. Photograph:'Yeah, in the last few months I've started to really enjoy football again and I think you can see that in the way I've been playing. I just stripped it all back, took the pressure off and went back to my roots. We've such a family atmosphere at Wexford and Seán Byrne coming in has been really good for the team and myself as well. I'm feeling like I'm back to myself.' She hasn't ruled out moving away again, although for now she's focused on playing part-time and completing her PE and geography degree in the University of Limerick. But she acknowledges that her chances of staying in Ward's plans could depend on her returning to professional football. 'I know I need to be playing at a higher standard, obviously there is a huge step up from the League of Ireland to international football, and there's no question there is a difference in the standard between here and in England. We're a few years behind – but it definitely is going in the right direction. But, right now, I'm not really focusing on that too much, I'm just focusing on the next few weeks and I'll see how it goes.' Ward addressed the same issue when she was asked about Molloy on Sunday. 'I think I've been pretty clear, the League of Ireland is an evolving league, but it's still got a long way to go. It's a part-time league. So let's not be too naive, international football is a massive step up. Ellen has done tremendously well, she's been involved before, so this is about us having a look at how she can cope in an international environment. 'I never really want to get involved in what league the players play. That's a decision that only Ellen can make. But of course, you want players playing full-time. That's a reality. The sooner we can get the League of Ireland full-time, the better for the future of the game.' But much as Molloy initially enjoyed being a full-time player in Sheffield, she ended up finding it a challenge. 'You train, you're home at 1 and that was your day nearly done. It's not like you can go to the gym then because you've got all that done too. There probably should be more awareness about that side of it, it's not spoken about enough. I suppose different things work for different people. I like to be busy, it's just about finding that balance and what works for me.' 'This camp with Ireland is like a condensed version of professional football, so I'm just looking forward to getting back in to that, working under Carla, and seeing how I feel in that environment again.'
Irish Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Ellen Molloy learning to love football again and targeting Ireland return
Soon after Ellen Molloy took the plunge and left Wexford Youths for Sheffield United in the English Championship last September, she had one of her regular chats with her grandmother, Breda Roche. 'She was asking me how it was going and I just let on. I said, 'oh, it's great, we had training today, it was grand'. And Grandma says, 'I can tell you're not enjoying it'.' She knew you too well? 'She did,' she laughs. 'She just said, 'you don't have to please other people, you don't do this for anyone but yourself. When you were at Wexford, you were always smiling'.' READ MORE Over in England? Not so much. It had nothing to do with the club. 'I couldn't say a bad word about them, they were so good to me,' says Molloy. It was because when she was mulling over their offer of a professional contract that she learned her grandmother had stage four lung cancer. It was crushing news for the 20-year-old. 'We were very close. Calling her my Grandma doesn't really do it justice, she was a lot more than just that to me. She was my number one supporter, usually the first person I'd call after a game. She didn't care if I was playing for a Sunday League team or for Ireland. All she wanted was for me to enjoy it, she just wanted me to be happy. She'd be watching my games at home on her iPad, although when she saw me do my ACL she said she'd never watch again. But she did.' Ellen Molloy was capped at just 16 by former Republic boss Vera Pauw. 'I'm ambitious, I want to play for Ireland again, but I want to be happy too.' Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho It was in September 2022 that Molloy suffered that anterior cruciate ligament injury, one that kept her out of the game for a year just at a point when she was flourishing and living up to her billing as the league's brightest young talent. Vera Pauw recognised that ability two years earlier when she made the Kilkenny native one of Ireland's youngest ever senior internationals, at just 16. The injury, then, was a devastating blow. 'It felt like the worst thing that could have happened to me. All I'd ever done was play football, so when that was taken away it was like I didn't even know who I was.' 'So when I came back from the injury, it felt like I had to make up for lost time. I had always hoped to play in England one day, so when the chance came with Sheffield United, I felt like I had to take it – because you never know if you'll get one again. 'But maybe I rushed going over, maybe I wasn't fully ready. My head wasn't right after the news about Grandma, I just felt I couldn't leave her.' She agonised over the decision, but eventually, encouraged by those around her to seize the opportunity, she set off for Sheffield. 'The management, the players, they were brilliant with me, but because of Grandma, my heart just wasn't in it. It got to a stage where I just didn't even enjoy the game. I'd be just waiting for training to be over so I could go home. Most days we were done by 2.0, so I'd sit in my bed for the rest of the day and do nothing. And that's not me, I've always been someone who likes to keep busy.' That chat with her grandmother was the last 'real conversation' they had. Come October, she got the call from home, she needed to be back in the next day or two. 'And about a week later, Grandma passed away.' 'I remember everyone saying to me at the time that she would want me to go back to Sheffield, but deep down I knew she wouldn't. She knew me better. She knew I wasn't happy. But I did go back. A week later, I scored against Birmingham and I remember not feeling one bit of happiness. There was none of the usual joy when you score. That's how bad my head was. I'd lost my love for the game. There was just nothing.' Ellon Molloy scores against Birmingham as former Ireland team-mate Birmingham's Louise Quinn (right) looks on. 'I remember not feeling one bit of happiness. There was none of the usual joy when you score.' Photograph:'I knew what I needed to do for myself, and that was to go home. To be with family, be with friends, step back, and see if I could remember why I started playing football. See if I could find that love again. And the only place I felt I could do it was Wexford, my second home.' She knew how it would look, quitting after four months. 'But if I'd stayed, I'd have fallen out of love with the sport completely. I'm ambitious, I want to play for Ireland again, but I want to be happy too. Grandma taught me how important that was.' 'And I think the challenges of playing the game professionally aren't spoken about enough, it goes from being fun to being your job and that can be hard. So much free time to fill too, when you've been used to a life of combining studies, work and football.' She's back to that life now, working towards becoming a PE and geography teacher, doing the occasional four-hour return trip from Kilkenny to a Dublin school where she's brushing up on her training. 'I'm trying to find the sweet spot in it all, but I wouldn't rule out going back to England, or wherever, in the future. For now, though, I just want to get back to being that child who played the game simply because she loved it. And at Wexford, I'm finding that love again.' She won the last of her seven caps for Ireland last year, after Eileen Gleeson recalled her to the squad after a two-year absence, and if she maintains her form for Wexford – eight goals in her last six games – she might well catch Carla Ward's eye soon enough. 'But I've a lot do before I'm even in the conversation,' she says. 'I'd love to play for Ireland again, but most of all, I just want to get back to loving playing football.'
