"I was heartbroken": Why Sam Kerr had to hide her gender
Sam Kerr is known as one of the greatest strikers in women's football. And now, with the Matlidas on the way to the World Cup semifinals, we are learning more and more about the challenges Kerr faced as a junior Aussie Rules player in South Fremantle, WA
Kerr, who grew up in East Fremantle, south of Perth, did not have an easy start to what would be an exceptional football career, as she initially started playing for the boys' team when she was around five or six.
Kerr, was the only girl who played junior Australian rules football for South Fremantle, but that didn't deter her from fulfilling her dreams.
“I knew I’d be the only girl on the team but that didn’t worry me at all,” she wrote in her new book My Journey to the World Cup.
Kerr said that her teammates assumed she was a boy because she had “short hair and blonde tips”, but didn't do anything to correct them as she was comfortable with it.
So she decided to keep her gender a secret.
"I didn’t want them to treat me any differently just because I was a girl," she said.
“I remember one of the boys crying when he found out.
“But as good as I was out on the field, and as much as I loved playing the game, the physical differences between the guys and me eventually became too pronounced and the play was too rough," she added.
“One day, I came home from a game with yet another black eye and bloody lip, and that’s when my dad and brother both said, ‘Nup, this isn’t happening anymore’.
“I was getting battered around so much out on the field that it was getting to be a big problem. Dad and my coach both sat me down then and said it was getting far too dangerous for me to continue to play," she said.
Kerr revealed that she was devastated that she wasn't allowed to play football anymore because there were no girls' teams in her area for her to join.
“They said they were sorry, but that I wasn’t allowed to play football any more. I understood the reasons why, but I was heartbroken.
"Back then, there were no girls’ teams in my area for me to join, and to know that I’d never play a sport that I loved so much ever again was devastating.”
By the age of 12, she switched to association football, but a year later she was spotted by Perth Glory striker Bobby Despotovski who has fascinated by her raw talent and athleticism.
By the age of 15 she made her professional soccer debut and earned her maiden Matildas cap and the rest is history.
Images: Ryan Pierse Getty Images/ Nine