‘Women’s football was banned – but I played anyway’: ‘Lost Lioness’ Gill Sayell on her 1970s World Cup

'I've got two sisters and four brothers, and I was always playing football on the green outside our house. When I was eight or nine, a friend's father started a team, and wanted me to join… I did, but I had to be disguised as a boy. It was 1965, and women’s football was banned. So I cut my hair short, and everyone called me Billy. I was just so over the moon to put on a proper football kit and be part of a team that I didn’t mind - and my mum and dad always supported me, even though it was a total no no for girls to be playing. When I was 12, dad heard of a team in Thame that were looking for players, and he’d drive me there every week. It was so amazing to part of an all woman team even though I was 12, playing with 20 year olds. We turned out to be very, very successful.

A teenage Gill Sayell

Sometimes, things take a turn for the unexpected.

When I was 14, I was scouted for a team named the British Independents, the forerunners of the England women’s team. In a matter of weeks, we were off to the 1971 World Cup in Mexico. I'd only ever been to Wales! The FA ban had just been lifted but our team was still unofficial. We were able to play even though there was still a ban on playing on FA ad FIFA affiliated grounds as the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City – one of the biggest stadiums in the world at that time - was privately owned by businessmen. When we stepped off the plane, it was another world. There was a lot of press greeting us, which took us all by surprise. We went to the British Embassy, to a cocktail party, and were treated like superstars. And then we had to play in front of 90,000 fans – we only got about 20 people in our games back home.

We played three games against Argentina, Mexico and France and unfortunately, we didn't win. Once home, no one was interested, and we didn't talk about taking part in the World Cup. None of us did – not even to each other. And nobody was interested, to be honest; when we got home there was no press at all.

In fact, my own daughter only learned of Mexico in 2018 when she was 32 as I never spoke of it. Most of the girls stopped playing, because of the ban – it was lifted in 1971, but we were all banned from taking part in women’s football on our return. I was determined to carry on as long as I could. An injury stopped me playing at 34, but before that, I became a founding member of Arsenal Women's team in 1987, when I was 30 years old. My daughter was five months old, sitting on the touch line when I pulled my first Arsenal shirt on. We got hand me down shirts, from the footballers. And we’d be the last ones on the pitch to train, after all the men and the boys had done their bit.

Then, in 2018, an article was published about Mexico, I got together with Leah (Caleb) and Chris (Lockwood) from the original team, and the three of us went on the search for the other girls. It was 47 years since we’d seen each other, but one by one, we found every one. Not long afterwards, we all met up. It was amazing. We’re all different of course, but also, we were still exactly the same, and we just gelled back together, because we'd shared that magical time - those five weeks in Mexico.

It's so important to pass history on to younger generations.

Sarina Weigman invited Chris, Leah and myself to do a presentation talk to the Lionesses before and after the Euros - she wanted the team to know of the history of women's football and whose shoulders they were standing on. Today, we go to schools, and we tell our story, to encourage girls to get out there and do it. I absolutely love seeing little girls walking around with football kits on with names of women idols like Leah Williamson and Alessia Russo. I only had male players to look up to! To all the younger Gill’s out there, I want to say - just keep doing what you love doing. If someone doesn't agree with it, and if you know it's what you want to do, then just go for it. Be true to yourself. And don’t take no for an answer.