Welcome to the fourth instalment of ‘My Football Journey’, our feature designed to tell the stories of the Albion Women players and how they came to love the beautiful game.
Harriet Grimshaw, Rhianne Oakley and Taylor Reynolds have taken to telling their football tales in our latest features; now it’s winger Izzy Lane’s opportunity to discuss her story within the sport in our dedicated series.
From her memorable North London derby appearance at the Emirates Stadium, to idolising Lucy Bronze, 'the robot,' and with a stop to collect a huge college soccer ring in America en route - we talk about a variety of Lane's footballing memories.
Over to you, Izzy…
What’s your earliest memory of football?
I used to play for Enfield Rangers. I’ve just always played football, I remember my first kit was actually a goalkeeper kit - an England one, but I can’t remember who was on it. I don’t remember a time when I haven’t played football. It was Enfield Rangers and then we turned into Spurs.
When did you first get picked up by an academy side?
Tottenham wasn’t an academy at the time, so my first academy was MK Dons, and we moved to Milton Keynes, it must’ve been U12s and I went to Oxford United at U14s - then U21s back at Spurs, so that’s my journey.
Do you remember the first match you went to?
I played first before I went to watch a game. I remember playing at Tottenham Hotspur, and we lost by a lot, and my parents thought they’d have to console me, but I remember scoring, and I didn’t care. I had my Liverpool shin pads sticking out of my Spurs socks. I also remember being a ballgirl at an Arsenal game too.
Who was your footballing idol growing up?
I didn’t massively like watching football when I was growing up, but my idol was Lucy Bronze. Women’s football wasn’t massively televised, and you couldn’t watch much of it unless you went to the games yourself, but I saw her as this powerful robot and thought, ‘she’s sick.’
What’s been your favourite moment in football so far?
I would say when I was in America on the sports scholarship I had over there. You get rings if you win the Conference tournament, they’re huge. It was a week-long tournament in Florida, and you play several games; if you lose, you’re out - and we won that at the end of my college career.
What’s the best stadium you’ve been to?
I played at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal; that was an amazing experience. All I really remember is me getting smacked in the face with the ball. It was on the BBC and everything, so that was interesting too.
