Twenty-two year-old centre-midfielder Courteney Murphy is captain of Stourbridge Ladies, who had won all 14 of their West Midlands League Division 1 South games when the season was ended.
SK: Tell us a little of your footballing history and any personal high points?
CM: I started playing for a boys’ club, when I hit 9 I joined Wolves under 10s and played with them for a while. Then my hip decided it wanted me to have a break as I got poorly and was out for 18 months before joining a local side. Playing in goal and out of goal, I still managed to be top goalscorer. Then I joined West Bromwich Albion, won the title that season with them and stayed there for three years. I went back to Wolves for one season, did with double with them and then joined Aston Villa for two seasons and went on to play for Bristol City Development, where I actually travelled longer then I trained. I went back to WBA but it didn’t work out for me there and then I found this super club – Stourbridge!
SK: How had your team’s season been going before lockdown?
CM: Oh it’s not a team, it’s family and we had battled and battled and were unbeaten in the league and we had lost a cup game on penalties to Wolves, who are two leagues above us. So you can tell we was gutted when they voided the leagues.
SK: How did you do against any local rivals in 2019-20
CM: We actually beat them [Kidderminster Harriers], first time for everything! Second game of the season as well, so that gave us a lot of confidence flying into the season. I even got a goal from the halfway, as the keeper was off her line.
SK: Any rising star, club veteran or stand-out personality we should know about?
CM: We have a lot of young talent coming through from our Under 18s, this season we brought in Mollie-Mai Summers (16) and she smashed it and actually became our first choice striker. Where do I start with stand-out personalities? I have to start off with Gee Thacker, the craziest person I know and also my dance partner in the changing room with Carly [Aldred]. You can always get me, Gee and Carly are up dancing and making complete morons of ourselves but it gets everyone else going, so we don’t mind. Also, Danni Ranger, she does everything super fast (even with the ball at her feet). She score goals like they have gone out of fashion and she has the funniest laugh ever.
SK: How are you trying to keep fit and fill the void in football?
CM: The girls have been going on 3k and 5k runs throughout the lockdown for the 30 minutes exercise which we was doing throughout the season. We have a wicked coach in Mike Harris, who has been giving us some workout programs we can do at home to make sure we are ready for the new season.
