Top 15 Leah Williamson Quotes

But it's true, being a woman in this life is hard.

'Love is love' - I say it all the time and people are starting to get a bit annoyed I think. It's very transferable to a lot of situations.

Even if someone else might not have liked the way I looked, to me I was fit, I was healthy, and I looked a way that I was happy with because I knew what I was doing made me happy.

When I look back now, when I look at the insecurities of girls that weren't active, I never had those worries, I never had the worry of getting changed in the changing room and not liking my body, because I knew I was strong and powerful.

Being so heavily involved in sport was the best thing that ever could have happened to me going through school.

We know how well sport has served us…the health benefits, the self-confidence…we want to make sure that's accessible and provided as an opportunity to these younger people because it's slowly, slowly being put backwards on the priority list.

Nothing makes me feel the way football or music do. But you choose which song you want to put on… football is out of your control.

The split second that they say something can affect you forever. So you're basically making a choice: do I want to live and just be happy in my bubble and be who I am, safely? Or do I want to stand up and be open about it, but then have to be strong enough to repel all of that negativity?

I don't want to use the word oppression, because it's really, really harsh. But we've been banned, we've been constantly told 'you can't do this, you can't do that'. But the one thing that we can be is whoever we want – whether you are gay, or you aren't.

I didn't want to be them, and I didn't want to do what they did. But they still inspired me to be me. And I think that's the point: that little girl doesn't have to want to be a footballer, she just has to grow up knowing that she can do what she wants.

I like it because when you think back to key moments, you always remember the music that was playing.

I'm still waiting to find that thing that really sparks something in me.

In the book, I speak about, find what you love, then do it, and do it till you've got nothing left to give it. If I'm telling people to follow their passions and to be the best versions of themselves, how could I give my life to something that wasn't along those guidelines?

So once you come into our game, there's no way we would alienate anybody. I don't think you would say anything in a woman's changing room that would shock anybody because it's so open. It's, be who you are, celebrate who you are, because this is a safe space for you.

I can only speak on this as a woman, because that's my group, but every single woman who has got herself to the point of playing, especially professionally, has had to face misogyny.