Ashley Wilson, a long-term local, whose dedication, passion and commitment is inspiring for all Lismore sports lovers, came back to Lismore this week and we were so lucky to get an interview with her. Imagine spending your life dedicated to a passion, supported by family and friends, the community and then becoming an Aussie icon. This is the story of Ashley!

Ashley was originally born at St Margaret's Hospital, Sydney, she tells us she “moved to Newcastle when she was five then Mum and Dad decided to move to Lismore, Dad’s original town, where his family is."

"I got into football (soccer) pretty early. Dad had some mates that he grew up playing football with, they had a son about my age and we ended up playing under 6’s together in the same team, for two years at Tallow stars, then moved up to Goonellabah, where I spent most of my football career”.

“I went to high school at Lismore Heights, until Year Four, then halfway through Primary School I moved up to Goonellabah Primary School, mostly due to their sports program and my football background, and from there I went to Kadina High School.”

“Tony Wilson, my Dad, took over coaching around the age of 13 after I had been playing on the boy's team for that time, then I joined the under 16’s girls. He coached me for a couple of years. I started playing not just for the boy's team, but also for Football Far North Coast Representative’s (Reps).”

“They would go away for State Championships and that was my first introduction to football outside of Lismore. It was this team that was the catalyst for so much of what happened afterwards. I was 13 and I had made my first State Team, I made the under 19’s NSW Female team”.

“Playing against boys was a really important thing, they were always challenging me, and it was a really important environment to grow up in, in that sense.”

“The year after they changed the State Team to Under 16’s. I got picked as one of the best mid-fielders in the country, at 14, and at 15 I made my National League debut, I got picked for the Northern NSW Horizons”.

“I was doing school, playing football, balancing it all, I was lucky to play for the club I played with. Having that club support was excellent”.

“I was shown that if you worked hard, with the right support, in the right environment, then there were a lot of things that were possible”.

“ When I got to 15, I was playing boys on Saturday, girls on Sunday, and my other coach Mark Ambler was the head of the North Coast Academy of Sport and would run intensive training sessions I would do a couple of times a week. A lot of things came off the back of these opportunities”.

“I also loved drawing and listening to music, we would go to the beach and after I went for a run, I’d play beach tennis with dad, and beat him, and that was always fun. Soccer was also a hobby though, I had so much enjoyment from going out and kicking the ball in the afternoons and never felt like I was giving up anything, it was my passion”.

“My Grandpa was the Chief of Police in Lismore, Grandma grew up in Mullumbimby, my Dad and Uncles grew up here, Dad went to Richmond River High and still has a record for his 800m’.

“I have a younger brother Jarrod who still lives here, we both grew up playing for the same clubs, he is very tall, he became a Goalkeeper and Striker, he was super quick, and made the Rep team, he was one of the fastest kids in the team”.

“When I turned 18, I played one more year of girls football and then moved to Newcastle, as the hub of all things Women’s Football for the State. I would get on the train at 11pm on a Wed night, getting in on Thursday, would train and play, then get into Lismore Monday morning, and play here the rest of the week during my HSC, and moved after that. I became a part of the Northern NSW Institute of Sport after that”.

“I took up coaching after my 4th year of University, after a few injuries and stopped playing Nationally. My love of sport and football, and passion for working with underprivileged kids lead me to start coaching and teaching, and it was through the coaching program I had undertaken, that I started this part of my career”.

“I love teaching, I completed a Bachelor of Teaching and Bachelor of PD/H/PE and was offered a placement after I finished, at Hunter Sports High, and I’m now the Head Teacher, along with the coaching that I do”.

“I trained to coach and then, and it was because of a loss of a coach that I picked it up and decided that if I want to play, it needed to be challenging and interesting and it was a really enjoyable time when I started with a couple of GF wins and coached the team to a minor premiership, but that’s when I was approached by the Newcastle Jets Academy to coach, and I knew it meant giving up playing, but I made that decision”.

“One of the biggest driving factors was that if I worked hard, within an A-league Academy, I would progress and I am now the Head Coach of the A-League Womens Newcastle Jets”.

“I was lucky my family was football mad, but things have changed so much for women in this sport since I was younger, not just for Women, but for players in the country. There is still a long way to go, but now there is so much more opportunity…

“ I don’t care where I come from, or who I have to beat, I’m going to work hard and be the best player I can be”.

“Nowadays, I am lucky to be supporting some women players to negotiate minimum wage salaries, it’s far from the Men’s league where salaries are often above minimum wage and opportunities to play overseas with big pay are more prevalent, but there is so much promise for the girls, and women coming up through the sport now.”

“If people want to support more opportunity for girls rising into this sport, we need bums on seats, memberships, paying for the TV channels which support it, actually watching the games and engaging with social media. This makes a huge difference and it’s how the funding is measured.

We have some incredible talent and with an upcoming World Cup, I would encourage everyone to buy tickets, come along, there will be games played all over Australia and televised, it’s an exciting time for the sport, and for girls and women players with a passion for Soccer”.