Emma Higgins Interview
| 1. What do you think of the standard of women’s football in Northern Ireland compared to the likes of the USA and England? |
| The standard of women’s football within Northern Ireland may not be as good a standard as what is in the likes of your England and USA, but over the last while the standard of the football has began to improve and hopefully will continue so that we will be able to compete with the likes of those big nations and beat them. |
| 2. What did you think of the England team when you played against them at Mournview Park, Lurgan and what did you learn from that match??? |
| I thought that the game was fantastic, as it was played at a high level and fast tempo. The game was a huge stepping stone for all of our girls, as we realised that with our team work, drive, confidence (in our own abilities and as team) and fitness levels we can compete at that level. Yes we know that we have areas that we have to work on, and currently are working on, but we proved not only to ourselves but to the people watching that we our good enough and have progressed and hopefully will strive too at more successful future. |
| 3 Do you follow Irish League football?? If so what team do you support and who would you say is your favourite player. |
| No, sorry, I cant say that I do follow Irish League Football. |
| 4. What did you think of the standard of goalkeeping in the Women’s World Cup 2007? |
| I wasn’t that impressed as it didn’t really reflect us female goalkeepers in a good light. Yes there may have been the odd good performances, but there were a lot of unforced errors that contributed to a lot of the goals that had been conceded. I think at that level and on that stage to it should have been better. Then again I have yet to compete on that stage so it might just have been down to nerves and pressure. |
| 5. Have you picked up any serious injuries when doing goals? |
| Yea I have definitely picked up a few injures, like breaking my nose, my jaw, a few concussions... But none of them have stopped me from playing for too long, and have never really killed the appetite to get back to playing. If nothing else it has probably killed my family and friends me sitting in and them having to listen to me and put up with me! |
| 6. Are you superstitious? |
| I wouldn’t consider myself to be superstitious, but there is one thing that I have to do before kick off and before the start of the second half and that would be to touch the bar, I don’t know why I just feel that I have to. |
| 7. Which car do you drive? |
| I don’t drive. |
| 8. What were the best and worst moments in your football career? |
| One of my best moments would have to be saving Kelly Smith's penalty and then the rebound to follow, was a fantastic feeling. One of my worst moments would have to be getting my nose broken and a bad concussion and also having to be taking off, against Turkey in the knock out groups to get through to the qualifying group stages for the European Championships. |
| 9. Do you have a goalkeeping coach at your club? Do you think that all clubs should have a goalkeeping coach if so why? |
| Yes I have a G.K. coach at my club. And yes I do think that there should be a specifically trained goalkeeping coach at every club, as the position of a goalkeeper is a specialised position, it not only requires you to be able to receive balls played into your feet and distributed back out again, but it requires the individual in goals to be able to us their hands (funny enough). Through the goalkeeping coach being there and able to give that individual the specialised training a goalkeeper requires, like the positioning, handling and the techniques required, the standard of goalkeeping will increase and the standard and the ability of that individual will improve vastly. |
| 10. What is your ambition in football? |
| My ambition in football is mainly to keep enjoying it and to progress as far as I can, without injury (fingers crossed). |
| 11. What other sport do you play or like watching? |
| When I am at home over the summer I enjoy playing my Gaelic football and Camogie, I also enjoy watching these sports but enjoy watching Ireland play in the rugby union. |
| 12. What do you think about having an all Ireland League for women’s football? |
| I think it would be great, as we would get to experience playing a wider range of teams and a wider range of footballing abilities. |
| 13. Are you a good loser? |
| I think if you ask any competitive sports person to be honest and tell you if they are a good loser they will tell you that they’re not. We don’t like defeat but over time we will accept it, build on it and look towards improving ourselves in our own personal battles and together improve as a team. Look forward to the next competitive game and make sure that you win your own personal battles and reach the targets that you’ve set yourself; you go out onto the pitch to be successfull in this game. |
| 14. What goalkeeping gloves and football boots do you wear? |
| At this present time I am wearing Reusch gloves and Adidas Predator boots. |
| 15. You saved a penalty kick against England, what do you think before a penalty? Are you good at saving them and what technique do you use? If any. |
| I think I am pretty alright at saving penalties. Usually what I am thinking before a penalty, as the player is walking up to set the ball down I make sure to look them straight in the eye with a look of confidence from myself, watch which foot they are going to step up and strike with and their body language. |
| 16. Have you got a nickname? If so why do they call you that? |
| No not really, over here in England I just get called ‘Em’, ‘Irish’ or ‘Higgins’ (because there are a few ‘Em’s about) |
| 17. What music do you like and what was the last CD you bought? |
| I tend to listen to a variety of different types of music and not just one specific type. The last CD that I bought was Ne-Yo – Year of the Gentleman. |
| 18. At your club who is in charge of the team CD player? |
| No one really everyone sorta takes their turn. |
| 19 What do you think of the current men’s Northern Ireland team and would you go to their home games. |
| Yes I would go to their home games. I think over the past while they have regained and restored their confidence and belief in themselves, and it has shown with the results, they are scoring a lot more goals and being collectively a lot more positive and it’s great to see. |
| 20 How did you get into football? |
| Where I live there is no girls football team it was all Gaelic games, so I played Gaelic football with the boys from the ages of 5 up until I got told at 13 that I wouldn’t be able to play in the guys team after under 14 level and at this time I didn’t know what I was going to do or that there was such a thing as women’s football let alone a team nearby. I got a phone call one night inviting me to come and try it out and see what I thought and from then on I just got hooked. |
| 21. What is your first memory playing football. |
| My first memory of playing football would have to be just kicking around with my Daddy in the backyard. |
| 22.What football teams have you played for? |
| I have played for Ballymena All Stars LFC, Glentoran Belfast United LFC (and currently play for them over the summer league), at present I am signed for Leeds Carnegie Ladies FC and for Leeds Metropolitan University and Northern Ireland. |
| 23.What do you think of Alan Simpson and Alan Mannus when they are putting you through your paces, when they are taking you for goalkeeping coaching. Now be careful answering this one??? |
| Actually if I’m being honest I quite enjoy it as it’s specific to my position and I also get to have a laugh as they both well know. |
| Name | Emma Higgins |
| Age | 22 |
| Club | Leeds Carnegie Ladies FC |
| NI |