Former Lioness Jill Scott reveals how she had to use ‘hand-me-down kits’ from male players at the beginning of her career

• The footballer started playing professional football at Sunderland aged 17 

England football star Jill Scott has revealed how she had to play in the ‘hand-me-down kits’ of male players when she began her sporting career.

The ex-Lioness started playing football professionally at Sunderland aged 17 and, speaking on today’s BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, she recalled sorting through a bin bag for whatever clothes she could get her hands on.

‘In pre-season this big black bag would arrive and it would have all the men’s kit from the year before,’ Scott explained. ‘You’d be scrummaging through this bag just trying to find someone who had your initials.

‘There was this physio, I think. He must have been about 60 at the time and he was called Jocky Scott.

‘So, it was a ‘J’ and an ‘S’ so I would find it.’

England football star Jill Scott has revealed how she had to play in the ‘hand-me-down kits’ of male players when she began her sporting career

Scott also said that she never let the significant discrepancy in the earnings between male and female players get her down

The ex-Lioness started playing football professionally at Sunderland aged 17

But the former Manchester City star, 36, who won last year’s series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, said she never minded playing in the ill-fitting shorts and faded shirts.

‘We were so happy to just take that kit home and feel like you were part of something.’ 

Scott also said that she never let the significant discrepancy in the earnings between male and female players get her down: ‘I have never thought about the money. I know it sounds cheesy. I don’t think money makes you happy.

‘When I think back, my latter years at Manchester City were the best wages I’d ever been on, but I probably wasn’t enjoying my football.

‘I think back to my days at Everton, and I remember me and Fern Whelan putting £5 of petrol in the car so we could drive to the cinema or something like that.

‘I was just so happy back in the days when I probably had six pound coins in my pocket.’

Scott also recalled the moment she went viral for swearing at German player Sydney Lohmann during the 2022 Euro finals – in which England emerged as victors

The former Manchester City star, 36, won last year’s series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Scott also recalled the moment she went viral for swearing at German player Sydney Lohmann during the 2022 Euro finals – in which England emerged as victors.

‘Somebody sent my grandma a mug that says ‘FOYFP’, but she doesn’t know what it stands for.

‘It’s not the highlight of my career that my 89-year-old grandma wakes up on a morning having a cup of tea out of me swearing.’ Since her debut for the Lionesses in 2006, Scott made 161 international appearances and last month became the first woman to captain England’s Soccer Aid team.

• Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 11.15am and available via BBC Sounds.

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