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“I'm Proud I Made A Decision To Put My Country First”
by Jeremy Ruane
Ask around the world's women's footballing fraternity which leagues they regard as the best around, and chances are that the Frauen Bundesliga and the Damellsvenskan will be among the competitions most frequently mentioned.
Over the course of the past six years, New Zealand international Rebecca Smith has played in both of them.
She sported the colours of both FFC Frankfurt and FSV Frankfurt while in Germany, and it was her efforts with the latter team in particular which attracted the interest of a number of clubs in the Swedish league.
Among them was Sunnana SK, based in the city of Skelleftea, some six hundred kilometres north of Sweden's capital, Stockholm. It has been Rebecca's home since mid-2005, and it's an experience she has relished.
“Overall, it's been just phenomenal. Beautiful country, beautiful people, and I've developed a lot as a person and as a player at Sunnana. I've played there for three-and-a-half seasons now - that's a good time to settle into a club, which is also important.
“Having said that, there were highs and lows, times when I was involved and wasn't involved due to injury. If you're playing and training at that level daily, twice a day, that sort of thing's going to happen in a career. It's just about being consistent, and in the long run, being successful.
“I think that there has needed to be a lot of patience as well, because that team has gone through a lot. We've had two different coaches since I've been there, and the second coach, who was there throughout this last year, wasn't very successful - ultimately he wasn't up to the level of coaching which the Damellsvenskan demands”.
As a result, Sunnana finished just above the relegation spots, in tenth place in the twelve-team league. Quite a contrast to a couple of mid-table placings and a campaign which just fell shy of a top-four finish, that's for sure.
“During my first four months I was there, after joining Sunnana during the summer break, we played the second half of the season, and it was great - all fun and games. I was there with German international Bianca Rech and US World Cup-winning star Tiffeny Milbrett - that was amazing.
“The next year, 2006, we did even better. Then in 2007, I changed my focus - to New Zealand. The club knew that, I knew that and NZ Football knew that, so going into that season with Sunnana, I knew I wouldn't be that involved, because I'd be away a lot - and I was.
“I missed a number of games with Sunnana, both before and after the World Cup, thanks in part to my knee injury. It was a tough year, involving a lot of travelling, which certainly takes it out of you.
“You think you're young and indestructible, but travelling that often from Skelleftea, in the northern part of Sweden, to New Zealand, one of the world's southernmost countries, on the opposite side of the globe … not only does it take two days' travel time, when you arrive, you have no idea what's going on,
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what the time is, different climate, different accents, different everything!”
Bleary-eyed Rebecca may have been when her various flights touched down in the Land of the Long White Cloud, but her focus and vision was crystal clear when it came to the purpose of her frequent journeys.
“From the first day of deciding to play professional women's football, the World Cup was my goal. So had I not done what I did in 2007, and turned my focus more towards New Zealand, I don't think I could have said that I really put everything into the World Cup.
“I think it worked out how it should have worked out. One thing's for sure - even though I live and work over 16,500 kilometres away, playing for New Zealand means a great deal to me, and I'm proud of the fact that, for that year in particular, I made a decision to represent my country and put my country first”.
When Rebecca returned to Sunnana following the Women's World Cup Finals, any hopes she had of kicking a ball in the final Damellsvenskan games of the season had been dashed by a career-threatening knee injury, which will be covered in greater detail in part two of this interview.
The setback also deferred something else she had been planning - leaving Sunnana. “You find points in your career where you feel like you've learned as much as you can learn at one place, and you feel like you've given as much as you can give, and that it's sometimes time to move on and look for other challenges.
“After the World Cup I was starting to think more like that, but with the knee injury, I was doing my rehabilitation in Umea, which is ninety minutes south of Skelleftea. I had all my friends and support group there, so not only did it feel like the right place to be for the 2008 season, it was mutually beneficial that I stayed on for the extra year.
“I think had I not suffered the knee injury, I don't think I would have been at Sunnana in 2008. After the World Cup I would have looked at other options, and contemplated other clubs. But I think after this season, it's time”.
There's a hint of frustration in Rebecca's tone at this point, because she has really enjoyed her time in northern Sweden, and would undoubtedly prefer to be parting company with Sunnana having made a greater contribution to their cause throughout the past year.
“If you have surgery which is as significant as that I had, it takes a while to come back to really top form - they say it takes about a year. Even though you're playing, you're not really back to where you were mentally or physically till like after a year, so I came back a little bit early, I would say.
“But while it's been good at Sunnana, you always have hopes to win a championship. You want to win - that's why you play. You want to play with the best players you can, the best coach you can, and get the best results that you possibly can, so it's time for me to find new challenges, I guess”.
Before looking at those prospective challenges, however, Rebecca will take us through the biggest challenges of her career she has faced to date, on the park and, in part two of this interview, off it.
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