Michelle Curley: An Arsenal Women pioneer | Interview | News
Even before becoming the first woman to join a professional training program with Arsenal Ladies alongside her friend and teammate Sarah Ryan, Curley explains that her links with the club and with football go up much further.
“I was born and I raised in Islington – I went to St Mary Magdalene primary school, then to highbury fields secondary school,” explains Curley. “My family has always lived in Islington; My grandparents lived on Gillespie Road, arsenal by and through. My grandfather was the main scout in Millwall when I was very young, my father played semi-professional and my uncle was an apprentice at Arsenal.
Curley describes how she became the first woman with Sarah Ryan to become a pro at Arsenal. It was in 1988 when Michelle was 16 years old and Arsenal Ladies, at that time, an arm of arsenal in the community, had only one year. “Behind the old clock was the JVC center, an interior hub with a community sports section, led by Vic Akers and Alan Sefton,” explains Curley.
“They had just started doing a general football training for girls, and Sarah and I were at school locally, so we started to attend. The Islington council approached the club and said they wanted to face trainee footballers, so Vic put them to have a female version.
At that time, the female team was really a community concern, alongside celebrity and ex-pros XI and other community projects supervised by Sefton and Akers for the Arsenal Action Sports Group. They even ran – as the arsenal in the community still does – bowl sessions for the inhabitants of Islington.
We literally run the terraces during the first hour before playing in the ball fields in the JVC center
Michelle says that giving back to the community was a key element in her role. “They could see that we could play and that we were enthusiastic!” There was an element to enter local schools and train girls in their EP lessons.
“Then we trained in the evening, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. we were literally running the terraces during the first hour before playing in the ball fields in the JVC center from 10 p.m. to 11 pm.” Michelle explains that Arsenal Ladies has essentially become a satellite for the surrounding female teams, for which the fight for facilities and support turned out to be desperate.
“There was a team of Islington ladies who dissolved, the women of Aylesbury dissolved and one of their players, Alicia O’Grady, worked for the Arsenal Action sports group. So VIC held and took the players from these teams. But Sarah and I were the first trainees to start directly with a pace.
Regarding the game for Arsenal, the beginnings of Michelle turned out to be a baptism of fire against a future arsenal legend.
“I was 16 when we played Shoreditch Park for the first time at the Britannia Leisure Center. The field had more holes than a golf course! My first match was against Fulham. I had never really played on five sides and in my first game, Vic said to me: “ You marking Marieanne Spacey. ” In my first match.
“We got a 0-0 draw and it was the first time that Fulham was not marked against us. A year later, Marieanne joined Arsenal. When I was called for England, I stayed with her and our goalkeeper Lesley Shipp. At the time, the England team had about eight Doncaster players and rest was arsenal because we had such a team.
Vic made me wear a pair of Boots from Ian Wright – it was a little 7 and I was a 6, so I fled with the porters!
Curley speculates that she made around 150 appearances of 1988 arsenal until her retirement inflicted on the injury in 1996. As a left -handed, her place was finally taken by the current chief of women’s football Clare Wheatley, while the club legends such as Faye White and Kelly Smith arrived at the time when Curley stopped playing. She says that the photo was very different for players of her generation, even in a huge club like Arsenal.
“When we started, we had to find kit sponsors for ourselves, and people would sponsor our shorts, our shirts, our socks. We paid for everything. Vic made me wear a pair of Boots from Ian Wright – he was a little 7 and I was a 6, so I got out with the wearing! I also had a pair of nigel boots.
However, Curley, who attended the London City Lionesses game with Ryan as a special guest of the club, believes that the current generation appreciates its predecessors. “I spoke to Katie McCabe and Chloe Kelly the other week and it is incredible what they have, but they are very humble. The players respect those who preceded and what they have done. We also have the ceilings inherited with England now, which was really pleasant and respectful of the players of my generation.”
While the current team calls Emirates Stadium to his house, the photo was very different for the generation of Curley. “When we played Shoreditch Park, there were more submarines than supporters!” We used to do a Thursday and a Friday by giving programs and team teams to local Hackney companies and doing them in people’s mailboxes to encourage people to come and see us on a Sunday.
“We played in Shoreditch Park, then we played Leyton-Wingate in what was a real stadium! We generated a series of about 60 to 70 people and most were families of players. Then we played in Enfield Town, then Potters Bar, but we had no appropriate identity and field. From season to season, it was about.”
But Michelle says that she is delighted to see how much progress has been made and that Arsenal remains at the forefront of this progression. “I went to a few games recently and it’s nice to sit down and think:” We started that. We were not really paid and most of the girls have had full -time jobs.
Curley even made a cameo in the club’s recent video describing the “Arsenal woman” of the additional emirates for 2025/26. “It was nice to be associated with the club again at that time. The idea of bringing the history of the club back and putting it in the Emirates stadium is incredible. Not only for ourselves but for the next generation after us too and players like Faye White, Kelly Smith and Rachel Yankey.
“The way Arsenal has always supported us is incredible. Each time Arsenal is the first to do things and other clubs follow. You can see the models that emerge when Arsenal has established these markers. And now it’s around the world. We are used to dominating with players from the United Kingdom and Ireland, but now it’s global and it’s simply incredible to see.”
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