The She Kicks Locker Room: Captain’s Chat With Rosie Parnell

Southampton took to their first Championship season well after winning the play-off against Wolves, and their captain is a defender who had played at that level for London Bees. Parnell describes herself as reserved off the pitch and vocal on it, a centre-back who leads by example, and credits Shelly Provan and Shannon Sievwright, her club and pitch captains in her early seasons, with setting the standards she tries to replicate. The armband arrived in the best possible way: a local derby against Portsmouth at St Mary’s, the captains unavailable, the league to be won that night, and her dad’s birthday. They won it. Asked what she wants to improve, she reports that her leadership group told her, last week, to show more empathy.