My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtains at what drives sports stars to greatness. Gotham FC defender Jess Carter is a two-time European champion with the Lionesses who won 11 trophies in a glittering Chelsea career. Last summer she quit social media and campaigned for platforms to do more to combat online hate after receiving racist abuse while playing for England at the Euros.
I had no idea women’s football was a real job
I was 15 when I joined Birmingham’s academy. I thought it was just people doing it because they liked playing football and it was more of a hobby. I was playing with some excellent players, but I didn’t know at the time because I didn’t know women’s football. Looking back now, I’m like, well that was insane. It was as professional as it could be but a lot of the players had to have second jobs.
I enjoyed winning dirty at the Euros
It was a rollercoaster of a tournament for specifically myself, but even as a team. I’m so happy we found a way to win but I think a lot of us will be disappointed with some of the performances we had. But with some of the performances not being as great, we got to learn so much more about ourselves. We’ve played better football. This was more about finding a way to win together, sticking together and doing the dirty work.
Because I play in USA, I missed going to Downing Street and the open-top bus
I still stay off social media quite a bit, so I didn’t really see much of it, but I definitely enjoyed seeing [Lionesses boss] Sarina [Wiegman] dance with Burna Boy, seeing the pictures come through on the team WhatsApp was really awesome. To see all those thousands of people coming out was way beyond what any of us would have expected.
Everyone says I sound American now
My Dad’s American, so I use words that he’s always used and now I’ve gone to the US, everyone says ‘you’ve got the accent!’.
Best thing I’ve eaten in America.
Philly cheesesteak – that’s a big favourite.
I’m marrying teammate Ann-Katrin Berger – wedding planning is stress
We’re both quite chill people, so planning a wedding isn’t something we’re overly excited about doing, because it’s just going to add a layer of stress that neither of us really want. It’s going to be quite a small circle of people, our nearest and dearest. I’ll keep working on Ann about getting a dog one day. It won’t be until I retire one day – I just don’t know how players be getting up so early to walk their dogs and take them everywhere.
People wrongly assume we deliberately play for the same clubs
When she first moved to Birmingham, we didn’t know each other. Then when I joined Chelsea, she was supposed to go to a different team, there was never, ever any intention of her being at Chelsea. That kind of just happened, nothing to do with us being a couple. Then her moving to Gotham was a very big shock to us both, I thought she’d hate it and come home.
When I came to visit her, I still had a year left at Chelsea, there was no football conversation, zero intention for me to go. I just really enjoyed the atmosphere, it was a really nice, inclusive environment that I don’t feel like I’d truly experienced.
My last trip for vacation I just said ‘do you think I’d like Gotham, and she said ‘you would absolutely love it’. When we speak about moves, the biggest thing is, does it suit you as a as an individual? I wouldn’t follow Anne if I didn’t think that it was going to benefit me too.
A man who racially abused me at the Euros has just been found guilty
It’s a strange one because I want more to be done about it, because it’s something that shouldn’t be happening to anybody in any walk of life. At the same time, I feel a little bit bad that this person’s name is out there and the scrutiny that they will be under as well. It’s not why we speak up, so that other people can get outed for something.
It’s more making people aware that being abusive isn’t okay in any form. So many of my teammates deal with that every single day, even if it’s not racial, it’ll be sexist, homophobic, something else. Women’s football has been such an inclusive environment for so long, that’s something we love about it. You can judge our football all you like, but it’s got nothing to do with the people that we are.
I just hope people think twice about online hate
If you’re not going to go and say things to people’s face in front of them, why do you say it on a keyboard? They’re probably half the time people that are also asking for your signatures when you win a game. Just think twice and be more mindful.
They’re attacking you as a human being and they don’t know anything about you. Any of us trying to represent our clubs, our country, are just trying to do the best we can do. And if we’re being this successful getting the amount of abuse that we are, imagine how much better we could be if we got a bit more support or some more confidence.
I was a bit bitter watching Arsenal win the Champions League
[At Chelsea] We just didn’t have the extra bit that was needed to win a Champions League. We were an excellent team. It just wasn’t meant to be. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit bitter about Arsenal winning it! I was a little bit torn between being really, really happy for my England teammates and it’s great for football in England as well to have an English winner – but at the same time I was a little bit bitter!
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If there was one thing I could change in my career
Football is a business. With the women’s game getting even bigger, each club becomes more of a business. Sometimes, especially at a top club like Chelsea, they’re always looking for the next big thing to come through, they want to win every competition. Sometimes I wish the experience was a bit more personal.
I wish people were just treated sometimes a bit more like people, not a business, not a rotating number. But at the same time, I managed to win the things that I’ve won, so would I have done that if it wasn’t a business? I’m not sure.
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