On Sunday, Samantha Kerr will become the first Australian to make it to the Women’s Champions League final in 18 years. If her side, Chelsea Women beat FC Barcelona, they will join Craig Johnston, Harry Kewell and Ellie Carpenter as their country’s sole European Cup winners, but her Indian heritage means she will be worth more than a billion people in Gothenburg this weekend.
There is nothing unusual about Kerr, the figurehead of Australia’s successful joint bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, using her status as one of the best female football players. to the world to help girls get started in the game but talking to me ahead of Sunday’s Women’s Champions League final she understands why people in India, a country short of soccer role models, are invested in her success .
Kerr’s father Roger, a professional Australian football player, was born in Kolkata to an English father and an Indian mother. His paternal grandmother, Coral, continues to run into her eighties and remains a source of inspiration for Kerr, who has recently developed a considerable number of subcontinent fans on Instagram due to her Indian roots.
In a sport often maligned for its lack of non-white role models, Kerr believes that by winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League with her avowed “Indian complexion,” she could encourage girls to return to the game in India, a country who has consistently underperformed on the international stage, not even qualifying for their continental championship, the AFC Asian Cup, since 2003.
“Yeah, I hope so,” she told me. “My Indian heritage is something I’m really proud of and I know my nanna is really proud to represent young Indian girls every time I go to play. I think (reaching the final) was a really cool time for my nan, and my family here who are English, they are very proud of me too. I hope this will inspire young girls. We have the Asian Cup coming to India next year, so fingers crossed everything is going well in India and we can. I’ve never been to India. This is something that I really want to get involved in, discover my Indian heritage and culture. “
The 27-year-old Australian scored the fourth goal for Chelsea Women last Sunday in a 5-0 win over Reading, which saw the West London side retain their Women’s Super League title ( WSL). It was Kerr’s 21st goal of the season that earned him the Golden Boot as the nation’s top scorer.
After leaving Perth Glory and the Chicago Red Stars as the all-time top scorer in the Australian W-League and the United States National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) respectively, Kerr set a world record by becoming the first football player in history to win Golden Boots on three different continents, a definite answer to European journalists and supporters who doubted his ability to replicate his exploits as a goalscorer in the English WSL. “Honestly, I have nothing to say,” Kerr retorted, “they get paid for the right titles and everything, and they obviously got it wrong this time around so I have nothing to say. They just can. send me a bottle of wine in the mail as an apology. “
Nonetheless, Kerr admits it took a while for her to adjust to the tactical differences between the NWSL and WSL styles of play, a process that she says turned her into a more rounded attacker. “In America there’s a lot of attacking. A lot of space between the lines, a lot of space behind. In America you haven’t really faced low blocks, a team has eleven players behind the ball. and obviously those spaces are getting smaller and smaller for me. It’s no secret that I love falling behind, I love shopping. So I really had to adapt my heist game, come to the ball and my combined game is taken to another level. “
“I feel like I had to play fast in tight spaces and it’s very different from the US, there’s a lot of space behind it and it’s just going, going, going to the States. -United, whereas here it’s become a lot more tactical and I had to think a lot more about what I’m doing. “
Unlike the men’s Champions League final, Sunday’s flagship opportunity for the women’s game will take place without spectators in Gothenburg. This despite the fact that the Swedish government will allow up to 500 people to attend the events on May 17, three hours after the kick-off of the Women’s Champions League final. Despite writing an open letter to the Minister of Sports, the Swedish Football Federation has failed to convince its government to waive its regulations.
Kerr, who if selected would be the first Australian woman to make the final since Alison Forman and Sharon Black in 2003, will, like all the players involved, miss the support in the stands by her family in the biggest game. of her career.
As she explained to me, “Mum and dad would have been here for sure. My nan probably too. Yeah, it’s disappointing but in the end we are lucky now that there is so much. of ways they can watch women’s football all over the world. I know a few years ago they probably wouldn’t have been able to watch those games. I remember when we won the Asian Cup (in 2010), there was no way for my mom and dad to watch it live. As much as it sucks, I’m lucky they could watch it again. “
Despite the game kicking off in the middle of the night for fans watching in Australia, Kerr still believes many football fans will tune in live to watch one of their own. “I hope everyone will stand up,” she said. “I think so. Everyone has followed, and my mom says there’s a huge spread in the newspaper in Perth, where I’m from. I think people are going to stand up and support the Chelsea girls . “
Kerr has not been able to play at home since March 2020. Her country’s strict quarantine rules mean that with just over two months before the start of the Olympic football tournament in Tokyo, Kerr has no idea if she will even be allowed to return to Tokyo. Australia is getting ready for the Games.
“I wish. I wish. I don’t know what we’re doing, honestly we have a camp in June. Everything is on hold at the moment, the Australian government is really strict. We’re not sure if we want to be allowed. to come in. We’re just trying to figure out what’s the best option for us as a team to prepare for the Olympics. “
Kerr revealed to me that she had also been unable to see her family since last summer. “I have been home for almost a year and it looks like it will be another year before I get home without quarantine. It has been difficult. I know I have the support of my family and I know that ‘they will watch from all over the world. “
Despite all of her success on the pitch, living so far away from home remains a constant ordeal for Kerr. “I mean nothing compares to Australia, it’s just hard. It’s just that feeling of being in your own space and the cafe and my family, my dog. I haven’t seen my dog for over a year. I mean you can FaceTime your family. I can’t FaceTime my dog and say “I’m coming home soon”, or “There’s a pandemic going on, that’s why I’m not here, “she probably thinks I’m neglecting her, so it’s just the little things to be honest.”
“There have been times I’ve been, ‘I just want to come home, I miss my family, it’s cold, it’s hard’, but winning titles and winning things like the Women’s Super League worth it. So it’s not just roses and butterflies of course but at the end of the day I love it because I love it and there are rough days but, yeah, I enjoy it most of the time. “