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Ashleigh Plumptre has become an instant hit in Nigeria’s women’s football just a week after switching national allegiances to play for Nigeria, Megasportsarena.com reports.
The former England youth international never considered that her Nigerian heritage would lead to a call-up to play for the Super Falcons – the nine-time African champions who she made her debut for last week.
But then again, a career of any sort in football was not something she envisioned.
“When I was younger, my dream was never to be a professional footballer,” she told the BBC. “Football has pushed me beyond my boundaries.”
She is eligible to play for the Nigeria through her paternal grandfather.
Cleared in January by Fifa to play for Nigeria, she made her senior debut in their Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (Awcon) qualifying play-off first-leg victory against the Ivory Coast last week in Abuja and followed up with another superb showing on Wednesday (yesterday) in Abidjan in the reverse fixture.
The Leicester-born and raised 23-year-old says she “grew up British” but added that she got a “great sense of pride” when she first travelled to Nigeria to meet up with her new international team-mates.
“It’s always been an assumption that I’m white,” said Plumptre.
“I get a lot of messages and people question my heritage a lot, but I can’t necessarily blame them. It comes down to education.
“What people see is what they think. People don’t want to have the conversation or want to consider anything deeper than what they see.
“It’s putting a marker down. It’s not just what you predict a Nigerian to be. For me, I know the importance of representing something bigger than me.
“I’m representing the mixed-race community and especially for the younger ones coming through. You don’t have to look a certain way or be told you are a certain way, you can feel it and you can be it.”
Plumptre knows her experience is a personal one. Her younger sister, who has a darker complexion, is also exploring her African roots.
“My sister asked me if I’ve ever had anything racist said to me and part of me felt guilty because my answer was ‘no’. There is a feeling of helplessness when in these conversations with my sister.
“I want to empower her and in that conversation she wanted comfort in knowing that I had gone through something similar, but I couldn’t give her that.
“When people first questioned my heritage it shocked me. But how could I let that affect me when I’m still getting the opportunity? My sister, she can hear things which are way worse and because of that she may not get the same opportunities as me.”
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