Fleets Was Flying (Julie Fleeting)

An interview built around the afternoon of 3 May 2004, when the Arsenal forward scored a hat-trick against Charlton in the driving rain at Loftus Road, having been injured playing for Scotland in a Euro qualifier against Germany less than 24 hours earlier and scoring in that game too. It recounts Vic Akers signing a player who lived hundreds of miles from London, would not train with the team and had to be flown to matches, with Akers driving her to and from the airport. Twelve days later she scored again to help secure the league. Fleeting recalls leaving for San Diego Spirit the day after her sister’s wedding, missing her own graduation, and playing alongside Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett. Dubbed Air Scotland, she was Spirit’s Most Valuable Player.