Spencer: Reggae Girlz call-up helped me enjoy football again
Published:Tuesday | August 31, 2021 | 12:06 AM
National goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer has credited her debut call-up to the Reggae Girlz in helping her rediscover her love for the game.
This is her latest chapter of a footballing journey where Spencer says she has experienced all the challenges thrown in her path.
Spencer, 30, was among the English-based contingent that played in the June international friendlies against Nigeria and world champions the United States, as the senior women’s football team returned to international play for the first time since February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic stopped action.
Spencer played the first game against Nigeria, bringing full circle a two-year recruiting process that started in 2019 when she was approached by current head coach Hubert Busby Jr, then a member of Hue Menzies’ staff.
“It was a couple of years ago when Busby got in touch. We kind of had conversations to and from. It just came down to the fact that I couldn’t get my passport sorted out, which was frustrating for me, or else I would have been involved with the squad a lot sooner, I’d like to think,” Spencer told The Gleaner. “I knew it was a possibility, but I didn’t know it was going to come around that soon. For me, it was an exciting challenge, something that I really enjoyed.”
It was a process that brought excitement for her father, who is Jamaican, when she finally got the call this summer. However, it also helped her to have fun playing again as she dealt with a lack of opportunities for the England national team, as well as going through challenges in her club career.
Getting her form back
Spencer also had few playing opportunities for Chelsea during her two-year spell between 2016-18, as well as her one-year stint with West Ham in 2018-19. She said that getting her form back at her current club, Tottenham (joined in 2019), combined with her international switch, was the key to bringing back her love for the game.
“It came to a point where I wanted to enjoy football again. I wasn’t enjoying it as much without international (football), and obviously, being Jamaican as well, I need to take the opportunity while it is there; and obviously, my dad was so happy, obviously, when I made the switch,” Spencer said.
“I think sometimes you have to go through those ups and downs in football. I feel like I have been through every experience there is in football: injuries, not playing, being on the bench, not being picked for a squad, starting every game. And it is just part of the journey, and I wouldn’t change my journey now for anything. Right now I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time. All I can do is push forward, and who knows what the future kind of brings for me?”
Her immediate future is focused not only on the 2021-22 FA Women’s Super League season, but also on the first round of the 2023 Women’s World Cup qualifiers in November. Spencer says that watching the Reggae Girlz performance at the 2019 tournament was not only the final push she needed to make the international switch, but a belief that she can help to take the country to higher heights.
“I think, from the World Cup, the Girlz have kind of got that belief now that we are a really good team and all you can do is get better. And I think with (new) players coming in and other talents coming into the squad, I think it’s only going to get better. And I think I’m in a good place to help the team push forward in these major competitions,” Spencer said.