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meretriculaI have been promising an Alex/Kelly primer for ages and lo and behold I finally got off my ass and finished it. infinite thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thrace_ who doesn't know me from a hole in the ground but unwittingly provided about 90% of the pictures on her tumblr at one point or another. a creepy internet stalker and hoarder of photos is me!
Kelly Smith, the tortured genius of British women's football, has been around the block a time or two. A member of the all-conquering Arsenal Ladies side that won the quadruple in 2006-07, she was also the first British woman to make it to the US to play professionally and has consequently witnessed first-hand the collapse of her league not just once but twice. She has also been very open with the public about her struggles with injuries, homesickness and alcoholism during her first stint in the US, which made her very reluctant to consider a return when the WPS was formed. What made things different this time?
Alex Scott, a fun-loving defender six years Kelly's junior, returned to Arsenal from a year at Birmingham City in 2005, the same year Kelly came back after her time in America and her subsequent stint in rehab. Success followed promptly: Arsenal won the domestic triple (league, league cup and FA cup) for three consecutive years and the UEFA Women's Cup (now rebranded as the Women's Champions League) in 2006-07. Alex and Kelly also really hit it off, considering they apparently bought a house together in 2008. (To clarify: Alex and Kelly are not out as a couple, and for all I know they could just be really, really good friends. But you have to be pretty damn close to purchase property together. They also share ownership of two dogs, Bailey and Ella.)
In 2009 the WPS was starting up and there was a lot of interest in bringing Kelly over to play in the new league. Kelly said no, she didn't want to go back to America, but after the Boston Breakers, the team who were trying to sign her, traded with the Chicago Red Stars to get the right to sign Alex (Emma Hayes, a former Arsenal coach, was working for Chicago, which I think is why they had gotten the rights for Alex initially), and Kelly decided to give the US another try. (Rumors obviously abounded that the Breakers had signed Alex to get Kelly. That's pretty disrespectful to Alex, who's a phenomenal player in her own right, but given the timing of it all, as well as a similar alleged arrangement that year between the LA Sol and Marta to sign Marta's girlfriend, you can see where it's coming from.) Kelly and Alex lived together in Boston as well, and you can get an idea of what their life was like there from this "a day in the life of Alex Scott" promotional video from Puma:
The WPS unfortunately collapsed in 2011, leaving Alex and Kelly without a club. They both returned to Arsenal to play in the semipro English league, although Kelly was unable to join the team on the pitch due to a stress fracture she'd picked up during international duty at the Cyprus Cup. She recovered just in time for the 2012 Olympics, where Great Britain (with both Kelly and Alex in the squad) reached the quarterfinals before being knocked out by Canada.
As far as personalities go (with the caveat that I've obviously never met either of these lovely ladies), Kelly seems very quiet and shy while Alex is very funny and outgoing, a leader on and off the pitch. Alex seems to take care of Kelly quite a bit -- if you read their twitters, she talks about usually doing the cooking for them both and so on and so forth. And she teases Kelly quite a bit as well, even though Kelly is several years older and Alex used to look up to her before they became friends. My impression of Kelly is that she's someone who's sometimes a little too serious and needs someone around to lighten her up… which is a role Alex was clearly born to fill!
in conclusion: canon, bitches! Facebook is forever!
Additional notes and resources:
Alex and Kelly on Twitter
Kelly has talked about how influential Hope Powell has been in her career as a coach and mentor. Coincidentally or not, Hope Powell also happens to be an out lesbian (in addition to being the first woman to get an UEFA Pro Licence and a stone-cold badass).
Breaking the Ice, a "getting to know you" interview with Kelly and Alex from when they first moved to Boston
interview with Kelly about her autobiography
Kelly Smith's column with the Daily Mail from 2009 (when she was playing with Alex in America for the Boston Breakers)
Alex Scott's column with the Morning Star (still ongoing; I don't know how to sort the results by date, sorry)
Jill Scott's World Cup Diary (2011): Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5
If you have any suggestions of links, photos or anecdotes that I should add, just let me know!
thrace_ who doesn't know me from a hole in the ground but unwittingly provided about 90% of the pictures on her tumblr at one point or another. a creepy internet stalker and hoarder of photos is me! Kelly Smith, the tortured genius of British women's football, has been around the block a time or two. A member of the all-conquering Arsenal Ladies side that won the quadruple in 2006-07, she was also the first British woman to make it to the US to play professionally and has consequently witnessed first-hand the collapse of her league not just once but twice. She has also been very open with the public about her struggles with injuries, homesickness and alcoholism during her first stint in the US, which made her very reluctant to consider a return when the WPS was formed. What made things different this time?
“This time round, my dog Bailey wasn’t with me in America. … I missed her like crazy.
But Alex was there with me, and that was very important to me. In fact I don’t think I would have made the trip to Boston had Alex not been there. She knew everything that had gone on in my past so she was a big factor in my decision to say yes.
…
America had been such a daunting, scary experience for me first time round. I left home to go there when I was so young. I didn’t know anybody, which was probably a mistake looking back. That was the hardest bit. This time, with the improvements I had made within myself, and with Alex there to bounce things off - somebody who knew me inside and out - it was a totally different prospect.” (x)
Alex Scott, a fun-loving defender six years Kelly's junior, returned to Arsenal from a year at Birmingham City in 2005, the same year Kelly came back after her time in America and her subsequent stint in rehab. Success followed promptly: Arsenal won the domestic triple (league, league cup and FA cup) for three consecutive years and the UEFA Women's Cup (now rebranded as the Women's Champions League) in 2006-07. Alex and Kelly also really hit it off, considering they apparently bought a house together in 2008. (To clarify: Alex and Kelly are not out as a couple, and for all I know they could just be really, really good friends. But you have to be pretty damn close to purchase property together. They also share ownership of two dogs, Bailey and Ella.)
In 2009 the WPS was starting up and there was a lot of interest in bringing Kelly over to play in the new league. Kelly said no, she didn't want to go back to America, but after the Boston Breakers, the team who were trying to sign her, traded with the Chicago Red Stars to get the right to sign Alex (Emma Hayes, a former Arsenal coach, was working for Chicago, which I think is why they had gotten the rights for Alex initially), and Kelly decided to give the US another try. (Rumors obviously abounded that the Breakers had signed Alex to get Kelly. That's pretty disrespectful to Alex, who's a phenomenal player in her own right, but given the timing of it all, as well as a similar alleged arrangement that year between the LA Sol and Marta to sign Marta's girlfriend, you can see where it's coming from.) Kelly and Alex lived together in Boston as well, and you can get an idea of what their life was like there from this "a day in the life of Alex Scott" promotional video from Puma:
The WPS unfortunately collapsed in 2011, leaving Alex and Kelly without a club. They both returned to Arsenal to play in the semipro English league, although Kelly was unable to join the team on the pitch due to a stress fracture she'd picked up during international duty at the Cyprus Cup. She recovered just in time for the 2012 Olympics, where Great Britain (with both Kelly and Alex in the squad) reached the quarterfinals before being knocked out by Canada.
As far as personalities go (with the caveat that I've obviously never met either of these lovely ladies), Kelly seems very quiet and shy while Alex is very funny and outgoing, a leader on and off the pitch. Alex seems to take care of Kelly quite a bit -- if you read their twitters, she talks about usually doing the cooking for them both and so on and so forth. And she teases Kelly quite a bit as well, even though Kelly is several years older and Alex used to look up to her before they became friends. My impression of Kelly is that she's someone who's sometimes a little too serious and needs someone around to lighten her up… which is a role Alex was clearly born to fill!
in conclusion: canon, bitches! Facebook is forever!
Additional notes and resources:
Alex and Kelly on Twitter
Kelly has talked about how influential Hope Powell has been in her career as a coach and mentor. Coincidentally or not, Hope Powell also happens to be an out lesbian (in addition to being the first woman to get an UEFA Pro Licence and a stone-cold badass).
Breaking the Ice, a "getting to know you" interview with Kelly and Alex from when they first moved to Boston
interview with Kelly about her autobiography
Kelly Smith's column with the Daily Mail from 2009 (when she was playing with Alex in America for the Boston Breakers)
Alex Scott's column with the Morning Star (still ongoing; I don't know how to sort the results by date, sorry)
Jill Scott's World Cup Diary (2011): Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5
If you have any suggestions of links, photos or anecdotes that I should add, just let me know!
