Rother Valley football pitches to be renamed after World Cup and Euros star Millie Bright

Thirty-year-old Millie led the Lionesses to victory in the 2022 Euros, and started her football career at the Killamarsh Dynamos club, on Sheffield Road.

Millie joined the club after watching her friend play, and decided to join up.

She took up position as a striker, and scored 40 goals in one season in the under-12s.

It was here she was scouted by Sheffield United and joined their academy, before moving to Doncaster Rovers Belles aged 16.

Millie signed with Chelsea in 2015, and became the team’s captain and longest continuously serving player – and was awarded an OBE at the end of last year for her services to association football.

After being called up to the national squad, Millie became the second England captain to lead a team to a World Cup final in 2019, and led the Lionesses to victory in the 2022 Euros.

Rotherham Council, as the landowner, has given its approval to rename a pitch at Rother Valley after the sporting icon.

Council bosses say the proposal ‘reflects a positive legacy of Rotherham’sparticipation in the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament’, and ‘will promoteawareness of the club’s inclusiveness amongst young women and schools’.

Councillor David Sheppard said he was ‘very happy to approve’ the scheme, adding ‘it tells a really positive story and would be a great legacy for the part we played in the success of the Women’s Euros 2022′.

Mike Atherton, the chair of the club, was approached by the FootballFoundation to rename one of the leased pitches in honour of Millie, who is ‘fondly remembered at the Club and retains close links to thearea’.

Killamarsh Dynamos was founded in 1981 and has leased pitches at Rother Valley Country Park on a 25-year basis from 2017.

They operate two full-size and two junior pitches, with room for expansion.

They are a Charter Standard Development Club with FA-qualified coaches and a strong safeguardingethos. They accommodate 16 teams from U7 to U18, including girls-onlyteams and run several inexpensive weekly training sessions for children and young people in the area.