The Big Interview: Ruesha Littlejohn
The Republic of Ireland midfielder reflects on her recent World Cup debut, how she has fought to mature over the years to save her career, her character and personality and her new move to London City
“That’s just me. What you see is what you get with me,” says Ruesha Littlejohn, when discussing the character and personality which has endeared her to many in the women’s game.
She is though honest throughout our chat to admit it has also held her back, particularly when she was younger, and she had to quickly mature to save her international career with Republic of Ireland after switching allegiances from Scotland.
That Scottish accent is still more than evident and a reminder of her roots, but Littlejohn has made herself synonymous with Ireland, earning 75 caps and has just returned from representing the green shirt at the World Cup for the first time.
“I think it’s been like…everything’s been so quick,” she ponders, when I ask if she has had chance to reflect on the tournament. “Everyone’s been talking about the World Cup, ‘oh, it must have been amazing’, but you haven’t really taken it in and won’t appreciate how big it was until…I don’t really know.
“I know I don’t appreciate right now how massive it was, but we opened up the World Cup against the hosts in one of the biggest tournaments there’s been. We just haven’t had much time. It was back to Ireland, two weeks off, trying to see family, see friends, so it’s been hectic.”
I query if it’s frustrating in some way to not really be able to enjoy the biggest moment of a career because you’re so focused on what you’re doing, as Ireland faced a tough group of Australia, Canada and Nigeria, bowing out with a point after three games, but plenty of competitive performances.
“It always goes back to that. People say try and make the most of it while you’re in it, but it’s so hard to do. In time, all of us will look back and go ‘wow, that was special’, but how do you do that when you’re in it?
“I look back to our second game against Canada, the majority of people were Irish because there’s such a huge amount of Irish people in Australia and that was amazing. The roar after the anthems gave me goose bumps, that’s one nice moment which does stand out.”
Littlejohn was born in Glasgow and played for several local clubs before joining the all-conquering Glasgow City side in January 2007, with whom she would win several successive Scottish titles back-to-back.
A striker at the time, she would also represent the Scotland youth teams, scoring 12 goals in 15 caps for the under 19s, before a brief move to England with a dominant Arsenal side swayed her to represent Republic of Ireland.
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“I played for Scotland youth teams which was great and I really enjoyed that, then obviously me being me, a bit of a character, I was put out until I grew up…shall we say?
“In fairness, the manager at the time said ‘ok, I think you’ve learned your lesson’. I’d matured a bit so I came back and went to the next camp, but I’d already been down to Arsenal and met Emma Byrne, Yvonne Tracey, Ciara Grant, Niamh Fahey and they knew I could play for Ireland. Once I had that conversation it was like ‘yeah, that’s what I’m going to do’.”
On her emotional attachment to Ireland, she adds, “Some players represent countries just to play at tournaments, I couldn’t do that. You need to feel connected to the country. I spent all my summers and my October holidays at my nanny’s house in Ireland, so for me I grew up in Ireland a bit and I don’t understand how someone can go and play but not care for a country, it takes away from people who want to represent their country.
“I spent every summer there, I had a connection, it was always a no-brainer for me. I had great times with Scotland growing up, some funny memories with the girls growing up, but there’s been no looking back and I’m so grateful I get to represent Ireland.”
It’s the first admittance from Littlejohn of the character she has tried to stay true to, but also left behind, and on several more occasions she will open up on how her immaturity at the time, both mentally and physically, held her career back.
“I’ve definitely learned the hard way over the last 10 years and that is down to my character, I know that…”
That same personality though has endeared her to many supporters in the modern game, through her social media channels and her YouTube series ‘RueTube’ – “I was like YouTube, RueTube, it goes quite well, I nailed that one I’d say…” – where she has been able to give fans a behind the scenes view of the game.
“Like I said, what you see is what you get with me. I like to just be myself and obviously through the years I’ve probably had a clash with a few managers along the way, because like in any industry people think you should be a certain way.
“Obviously, if you’re disruptive and causing havoc then yeah, that’s not ok, but it’s important to be yourself and show your personality. I think people nowadays the way the game is going, it’s in the spotlight now, people are maybe a bit scared to show their personality in case something they say backfires on them. Everyone is watching your every move these days, so I understand that can be tough, but at the same time I think ‘God, be yourself’. I joke with the girls who go on Instagram and post ‘big game at the weekend, great three points’ and I’m like ‘you lot are like robots, lighten up!’ It is hard though, especially if you have a big following, but yeah, I’m just an idiot I guess who likes to have fun!”
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