Soccer: Sarah Gregorius is striking it lucky

After kicking off her career on a whim, Sarah Gregorius has played in Australia, Britain (for Liverpool) and Germany as well as holding a place in New Zealand's Football Ferns. Photo / Greg Bowker

It hasn’t been easy, but Sarah Gregorius is making her mark in the world of professional women’s football. She talks to Alan Perrott.

Seventeen, straight out of school, and just one big idea short of a life plan. A typical teenager really, so Sarah Gregorius' parents must have been curious when she sat them down for a chat.

"A friend and I are moving to Sydney to play football," she told them.

Now, as you might expect, several parental concerns were raised over that statement. "It was pretty funny actually," Gregorius says, "but I've always done things in my own way, so I just let them talk about it until they eventually became comfortable with the idea. As long as I'm safe they're usually with me on whatever I decide to do."

Even so, not even Gregorius thought a year of running about for Manly United in Sydney would be a career kickstarter. "I wasn't thinking about making a go of sport at all. It was more that I was asked to go and I thought: 'Yeah, why not? I've got nothing else to do at the moment'."

You could even say it's admirable she turned up to every game match-fit, considering - and this was only nine years ago - woman's football barely registered on the world's sporting radar. Sure, FIFA supported a World Cup and there were leagues popping up in various parts of the world, but it struggled for media interest or to even pay its way.

Even now you could be forgiven for not knowing of this now-26-year-old striker. Yet she is a fair dinkum, full-time professional who has made a great living from representing New Zealand in 50 international matches, including two World Cups and the 2012 Olympic Games, while also turning out in the German woman's Bundesliga and for Liverpool FC, one of the world's most famous sporting brands.

All of which makes her a compelling argument for the claim that woman's football offers the best potential for success of any sport, in either gender, in the country.

While a minnow sport in New Zealand when compared to netball (143,000 registered netballers against 23,500 footballers), of the present Football Ferns squad, 13 players now play overseas full time, including six undertaking football scholarships at American universities such as UCLA, Louisiana State and Syracuse. Then there are another three overseas-based Ferns at present unavailable through injuries, six from the wider under-20 squad who are based at United States colleges and two former Ferns now working for FIFA.

"I think we've completely flown under the radar," says Gregorius, now looking for a new club after ending her stint at Liverpool. "But I think with stories like Betsy [Hassett, now playing at Manchester City] people are starting to see the opportunities that are out there. I mean playing for your country will always be the highest honour, that goes without saying. But playing as a pro in the biggest women's sport in the world, that's just amazing. It's insane that I'm paid to play football. I've already paid for my university loan and I'm making a life out of sport which is something I'd never imagined possible."

How, then, did she do it?

Well, it didn't start back home in Upper Hutt. Her Dutch and Haitian parents, Balt and Marie-Joelle, aren't sporty types, although growing up with two older brothers did mean a trial by rough and tumble. Mostly she'd knock a ball around a bit with mates at a nearby park, but it wasn't until she was 12 that a close friend invited her to join Upper Hutt City.

Until then Gregorius had been a sporting dabbler. She'd already had a crack at cricket, tennis, hockey and touch rugby but doesn't have the height for netball.

Initially dropped in midfield, a few games of running in confused circles saw her pushed up front - where she's stayed ever since - and by her second season she'd done enough to be selected for her first rep side.

"I think I took to it straight away," she says, "and that was the end of me being interested in anything else. I just loved the team aspect, the physicality and that, for someone like me, it didn't discriminate against my size."

That's all well and good, but one ubiquitous element of this most tribal of sports somehow passed Gregorius by - she doesn't have a favourite team, and that, quite frankly, is weird. An uncle tried flooding her with all things Arsenal during the 80s, but it didn't take. She even had to learn all the words to You'll Never Walk Alone while playing at Liverpool and yet, nothing. At most, she professes an appreciation of Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero and says she'll be "interested" to see how Argentina do at the upcoming World Cup.

But mostly she's interested on her own game. It's that focus which has been a big part of her success, beginning with making the Wellington Federation rep side before shifting to Sydney. She returned home as a far more mature player in 2006 and her growing ambition saw her move to Auckland where she started training with the national under-20 squad. They were off to the age group World Cup in Russia later that year and Gregorius wanted in.

"That was such a great year, we travelled all over the place, then to go to Russia, that was just next level. I mean you can imagine what it's going to be like, but you just have no idea. It's so huge and exciting and completely unlike anything you've done before. I find it really difficult to articulate ..."

For a while, though, that looked like being the end of her road - the opportunities available now didn't exist back in 2006 - and she turned her attention to her business degree and a potential career-starting job with AA Tourism. She didn't abandon football and kept playing at club and federation level, but while former team mates began jumping to the Football Ferns, her name never featured: "That period really was a test of my resilience and it was hard not to get down about it."

Her spirits rose considerably in 2009, with an email invitation for a one-month trial with the Ferns as they built to their qualifiers for the 2011 World Cup in Germany. Then one month turned into several months, until she found herself selected for a tour to Japan. She hit the training ground even harder and two weeks out from leaving, felt a nasty twinge in her knee.

However, that wasn't going to stop her: she blanked out the pain, got plenty of treatment and flew off - only for her knee to completely fail the day before her impending debut. She'd torn her anterior cruciate ligament, meaning surgery, six months of rehabilitation and another test of how much she wanted to make it.

So, it was a hugely emotional moment when she was tapped to play Vanuatu in a World Cup qualifier in September 2010. "Hearing my name felt like the end of longest and most difficult journey of my life with this nervousness mixed with a real sense of pride. Then you think about what it means to play for your country you start to feel very patriotic and humbled ... it's sort of overwhelming I guess."

Her big moment came and The Ferns won 14-0 - but their striker didn't get within a bull's roar of scoring.

"Getting my first touch felt good, like a new journey had started, and then I was just terrible, a wreck, but I guess that was all part of getting a start and I wanted more."

Fortunately, the selectors saw past her nervy display and she rewarded them with seven goals over her next five matches.

The following year was a blur of international travel as the team played in Cyprus, Australia, China and Switzerland before finally arriving in Germany for the World Cup finals, the biggest event in women's sport.

"Well, getting there is one thing, dealing with it is something else. You just have to try to soak it all up and use it to play better. But then running out for our first match against Japan it was roasting hot, just so loud, and you can't help thinking that the whole world's watching. Then you're looking around wondering what's going on and you remember, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to play football in front of all these people'."

If that was special - despite losing 2-1 - the match against England is one she'll carry to her grave. It wasn't the prettiest goal she'll ever score as she barged between two defenders to prod the ball home, but hell, this was the World Cup: "I remember running to the bench but I literally lost my mind, the plot, everything, for a few seconds there ... you never forget something like that."

Despite playing for Liverpool Football Club, Gregorius says she doesn't have a favourite team among the British greats.

Again, a last-gasp winner saw them lose 2-1, but they managed to draw their last match against Mexico 2-2, enabling the team to leave knowing they'd given the tournament a decent go. Their efforts hadn't gone unnoticed either and before flying out Gregorius was asked if she'd be interested in returning to Germany to play.

With the help of All White legend Wynton Rufer an offer was made from Frauen-Bundesliga club, CS07 Bad Neuenahr. As supportive as her employer had been, Gregorius couldn't let this opportunity slide: "It wasn't a very hard decision to make, to be honest."

It also landed her in the deep end. It wasn't only the language problem, the twice-daily training sessions were as demanding as the matches where she faced off against fellow internationals every week.

"Suddenly becoming a small fish in a big pond was hard. I had to learn to pick myself up from disappointments really quickly because I was playing for my livelihood week in, week out. That kind of pressure changes you."

If that wasn't enough, the Ferns had qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games, where they fell to eventual champions, the United States, in the quarter-finals.

"I'm always asked which is bigger or better, the World Cup or the Olympics," says Gregorius. "The World Cup will always be the pinnacle, but the Olympics is a global gathering of athletes across the board and I was part of the New Zealand Olympic team, which is just the best time." Especially since they got to spend one and half weeks hanging around the village and going to events once their competition had finished.

"I ended up having lunch about two metres away from [champion British runner] Mo Farah and got to see these huge gold medal moments for New Zealand, so, you know, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life."

Not so great was discovering afterwards that her German club was "falling apart at the seams" financially. Fortunately, just as she was contemplating a move, her agent called and asked if she would be interested in playing for Liverpool: "A total no-brainer."

She joined them midway through their last season, which unfortunately meant she missed pre-season training with the men's side and struggled to break into a settled side that went on to win the premiership, so she started most games on the bench: "It was an awesome club and really, more than anything else I've done - if you mention Liverpool everybody instantly knows what you're talking about. But as much as I enjoyed it I wasn't playing as much as I wanted so I decided it wasn't a good idea to stick around too long." After a post-season chat with her manager she decided to return home and get herself in shape for the Fern's next assignment at the Cyprus Cup in March before looking for a new club.

This venture started brilliantly with the striker scoring in their 1-0 victory against Finland, her 50th international cap.

Their next match was against the Republic of Ireland. She was diving for the ball when a defender's boot crashed into her jaw. Too wobbly to walk, Gregorius was stretchered off, where they cleaned up the blood and assessed her injuries. Her assailant not only got away scot-free, Gregorius was penalised for being off-side, missed the Fern's next two matches and has undergone a root canal to repair a busted tooth.

"That's the thing about football, you can take care of your body and train as hard as you like, but something like getting kicked in the face can happen any time and you might be finished. So I'm well aware I won't be able to do this forever, there's a limit on any career but as long as I'm capable and have that desire, I'll keep on going. I've already done so much more than I ever dreamed possible."

So, just nine years after kicking off a career on a whim, she's 26, straight out of Liverpool FC, and knows exactly what's she doing - everything she can to be fit and ready for the next international against Japan next month.