Rose PeraltaMBE (néeReilly, born 2 January 1955), known as Rose Reilly, is a former footballer who played as a striker. She represented both Scotland and Italy in international football.
Club career
At Stewarton: Rose Reilly, aged 9 years old, shows the other children what she can do with a football.
Rose was born in Kilmarnock and was brought up in Stewarton in East Ayrshire, Scotland, Reilly began her footballing career at age seven with local boys' club Stewarton United and at one point attracted the interest of scouts from Glasgow side Celtic.[2] She was allowed to play in the club provided she cut her hair short and called herself "Ross".[3]
She made her debut for the women's side Stewarton Thistle Ladies in 1965 against the Johnston Red & White Rockets. She also competed in Hughie Green's Women's Football Tournament reaching the regional final, she was also part of the Stewarton side which lifted the inaugural Scottish Cup in 1971 and reached the first WFA Cup final the same year. In 1972 she moved to Westthorn United where she won the treble of Scottish Cup, League Cup and the first League championship. Westthorn also reached the WFA Cup final losing 2–0 to Southampton. A desire to play football professionally saw Reilly move to French professional ladies' side Reims in 1974.[2]
The Scottish Women's FA had reacted to criticism from Reilly and two other players, Edna Neillis and Elsie Cook, by banning them sine die.[4]
After a six-month spell with Reims, Reilly was bought by A.C.F. Milan and played for the women's professional team for four years, winning two league titles in the process (of an eventual eight she was to win with a variety of Italian sides). Following on from her initial spell with Milan, Reilly continued to play in Italian football until the age of 40, including spells with the ladies' sides of Catania[5][6][7] and Lecce.[2] Reilly twice won the Serie A Golden Boot during seasons 1978 and 1981, scoring 43 and 45 goals respectively (including Italian Cup).[1] In the 1978–79 season she won championship titles in both Italy and France, playing for Lecce on a Saturday night and then flying to France to play for Reims on Sunday afternoons.[2]
She eventually retired aged 40,[8] having won eight Serie A titles, a French title and four Italian Cups.[1]
International career
Reilly played for her native Scotland during the early 1970s. Despite having no formal links to Italy prior to her move to A.C.F. Milan,[9] Reilly was selected for the Italy national team and was voted the best player in the Italian team which won the Mundialito (an unofficial precursor to the Women's world Cup) in 1984.[10] It was reported that team captain Reilly scored in the 3–1 final win over West Germany in the northern Italian town of Caorle.[11]
Reilly picked up a special PFA Scotland Merit Award in 2011 becoming the first female recipient.[13] A portrait of Rose Reilly took centre stage at a new Scottish Football Museum exhibition celebrating 130 years of women's football in Scotland in July 2012.[15]
Rose was awarded an honorary doctors degree[16] from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) in November 2019.
She became patron of charity, Walking Football Scotland in December 2017 and supports in attending various events as well as promoting the women’s game throughout the country.
^Note that this was a female club, as A.C.F. means "Associazione Calcio Femminile" (italian for Women's Football Club)" and was not sponsored nor hosted by the AC Milan (Associazione Calcio Milan) which was not related to the females' team in those years. AC Milan added a females' team later on, in 2018.
