West Brom forward Mariam Mahmood says the club has a special place in her heart | Football news
Mariam Mahmood says she loves every minute at West Brom and says the club has a special place in her heart.
Mahmood is a product of West Bromwich Albion RTC (Regional Talent Club) and cemented her place in the squad a season ago under the guidance of Jenny Sugarman, who took charge at the club last season. summer 2021.
The 18-year-old striker is quickly becoming a fan favorite at the club and was recently featured at the launch of West Brom’s kit for the new season.
And British international university Mahmood insists there is still a lot more to come for her.
“It feels like I’ve been here years,” said Mahmood Sky Sports News in her first interview with a major background.
“I’ve been here since I was under-14 and I have no regrets coming here. It was the first academy I’ve been to and I’m really happy here.
“This club certainly has a special place in my heart. I have grown here as a person and as a player, and now I am in the first team.
“I just want to keep playing better and score some more goals. I want to become more agile, sharper and I want to continue to improve my decision-making, but I think that will also be the case. comes of age, because I’m still quite young.”
‘South Asian girls can be anything they want to be’
The West Brom women have returned to pre-season action ahead of the new campaign, with Mahmood back on track by scoring in a tight-lipped friendly against Derby County earlier this week.
Mahmood played 87 minutes in the historic 2-0 win over Derby last season, it was the first West Brom Women’s game to be held at The Hawthorns.
“That was great,” Mahmood admitted.
“It’s great to win, especially against the big teams, but the opportunity to play at The Hawthorns is a great experience. It’s really great. Let’s hope we do it once. again.”
Mahmood, a British-Pakistani, said she especially enjoyed lining up at The Hawthorns to take on footballer of South Asian heritage Kira Rai, who plays for Derby.
She added: “I hope when other girls, especially South Asian girls, watch us play, it sends a message that they can do whatever they want and they can be. become who they want to be.
“It means a lot to me. I want to help inspire young people to come and play the game, and hopefully one day some of them will have a chance to play in a game. great football stadium as we did.”
How Sky is trying to change
The apparent lack of ethnic diversity at the elite end of the girls game was heavily focused on female euro, with England starting all white in all three of their group stage matches during the tournament.
Sports sky recognize and start taking steps to address the lack of diversity in girls’ gaming in 2020 as part of a £30m commitment to tackle systemic racism and make a difference in communities across the UK.
Sports sky worked with dozens of current and former players from different nationalities, and tried to give them a platform to share their stories to try and capture the imagination to pass on. Inspiring the next generation of female players.
Talent has been identified and signed directly with the Football Association and clubs as part of Sports Sky’ unprecedented commitment to the British South Asians in Football, which also shows that we dedicate a section of our website to raising awareness about South Asians in the Gameand create a dedicated book Blog.
A number of potential and elite female players and their families have also been provided with mentoring support and access to off-field development opportunities.
Earlier this year, Sky Sports also partnered with the country’s largest sports race equality charity, Sporting Equals, has seen us support nationwide engagement, including development ‘Seeing is believing’ event for the centuries-old west London sports club at Indian Gymkhana.
South Asian British in football
For more stories, features and videos, visit our breakout South Asian Football page on skysports.com and South Asians in the Game blog and follow Sky Sports News and our Sky Sports digital platform.