Passionate, talented, and fuelled with a desire to achieve, Curzon Ashton Women’s captain Amy Smith has always been drawn to football and can’t wait to see the women’s side grow.

Her origin story has a likeness to that of many professional footballers. Growing up, she remembers watching Manchester United, specifically Eric Cantona.

Amy loved to watch him play, she would study his moves and emulate them when kicking a ball around her front garden.

As one of the only girls her age with an interest in the sport, she would spend her school break times playing football with the boys, and sometimes this even required kicking around a tennis ball.

But it wasn’t until Stockport County knocked on the school gates that Amy even considered playing for a team.

“The club came to our school to run a session with us, and I remember the coach pulling me to the side at the end.

“He handed me a piece of paper with a name on it and told me it was for the girls’ team at Stockport County. He said I should give them a call, so when I got home, I told my parents and that was the first team I played for,” she said.

Fast forward six years and Amy shifted her play to Curzon, a club that was named Oldham Curzon at the time.

Aged 16, she was incredible excited to be a part of this fantastic team. Curzon were situated in the North West Premier Division, meaning there was an excellent standard of play in the squad.

“I played for Curzon for around four years, and then I stopped playing football for seven years because I stopped enjoying it.

“This is something I now regret, hence why I’m still playing at 34. I will only miss it when I can’t play anymore.”

Reviving her career, Amy returned to her roots at Stockport County for a season or two but craved the home she felt at Curzon.

Before she knew it, she was back on the Curzon Ashton squad, a squad that she is now able to lead to victory as captain.

The team’s most recent success came on Sunday (19 February) as the Nashette’s put in a valiant performance against West Didsbury, finishing with a score of 4-1.

Their play has landed them a position in the league final.

“When the final whistle went on Sunday, I felt so relieved because we deserve something from this season. We’ve worked so hard and shown so much fight to be where we are now.

“Some may say that we have overachieved this season, we’re top of the league into one cup final and next week we play in another quarter final, but after only being promoted last season, I just feel so proud and happy.

“We started this season just wanting to see what we could do, and we have but with the cup competitions you start taking each game at a time. The further you get you start to get the feeling of imagining how good it would be to reach the finals.

“Now, we just need to go one step further and win this,” she said.

Following their stunning performance, Curzon will face Cheadle Stingers in the Manchester FA Women’s Challenge Cup Final. The date is yet to be confirmed, but it will undoubtedly be an incredible show.

Amy believes more women and girls should experience the benefits of football, gaining the life skills that the sport teaches.

“It teaches you to listen and respect your coach, you learn how to be a team player and you begin to encourage people around you.

“Sport is a huge de-stress for me, not only do I get to run around and kick a ball, but I also get to be part of a team and a family.”

An increase in participation rates also means an increase in popularity, meaning the women’s game is given the room it needs to grow.

“The women’s game is only getting bigger and since the Lionesses won the Euro it helped massively, but we still have a long way to go.

“We’re not naive, we know we’re not as fast or as strong as the men, but we just want to play football and showcase what we can do without judgement.

“It would be great to see more schools and organisations generating more female teams, we need to grow bigger at grassroots to grow at the top.”

Starting her journey after being advised by a coach, Amy knows just how important it is for people to take a chance on budding young players.

Curzon Ashton have proven to be an incredibly successful side this season, and their showdown against Cheadle Stingers is expected to be a spectacular sight.

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