Impressions of a Lioness: Pitchside with Maya Le Tissier
It’s not every day that you welcome football royalty to Victoria Park, but that’s what happened when Guernsey’s very own Maya Le Tissier dropped by for a visit.
We grabbed the Lioness and Manchester United women’s captain for a chat about her earliest memories of playing football here in Guernsey, her thoughts on being an inspiration to others and her first impressions of the stadium.
What are some of your early football memories growing up here in Guernsey?
My first memory would be going down to Saints. I was about four and Dad was coaching there for the first time. He just said to me, “I don't know how this is going to go; you might just want to sit and watch the boys playing, but if you want to, you can come and join in.” I just got stuck in straight away! So, yes, I have lots of great memories from playing Minis on that pitch at Saints.
What were some of your biggest challenges?
I didn’t really see any challenges when I was a kid. I think it's a very good environment over here and you can see that with the players that have come through. We just liked to play football although, obviously, we play against the same players all the time, so that might be a bit limiting. But I think it's the same in any league.
As I got older, I was trying to go over to England more because there weren’t any scouts here, and that was a bit hard. We were just playing football on our own, so it was difficult to get noticed.
Once you go to England, it's quite a big shift to come back because you have everything over there. When you come back here, you just play with your mates, which is great but can be limiting.
You trained down here when you were younger - it’s quite different now, isn’t it?
Oh, it's incredible! I remember my dad was the coach and he put me in the B team for a tournament down here - I just have bad memories from that time. The change is incredible, and it's such an impressive facility.
It's going to do massive things for sport in Guernsey, not just football, and I think it's going to attract a lot of teams to come over here. And for the local teams to play on it as well, I think it's going to be huge.
How do you see this facility impacting and improving the women’s and girls’ game?
When I was growing up, there wasn't any girls’ football, I just played with the boys. To be honest, that's probably what pushed me on so much and so quickly so I am very grateful for that experience. I was quite big and strong when I went over and played women's football when I was 16, so developing my skills with the boys stood me in really good stead.
