Julie-Ann Russell didn’t give much consideration as to how parenthood would impact her sporting career until she was in her 20s. “I saw people leave sport and have children and that was their sport career done, which obviously is sad to see now.”
She was about 13 years old when she first played for the Republic of Ireland, but although she played football competitively (and other sports, she played GAA and basketball until her late teens), from a young age, Julie always envisaged children in her future.
“In football, there’s a lot of people in same-sex relationships, so often it was their partner [carrying the baby]. That was often talked about in teams. Other girls would say, ‘when I stop playing then I perhaps will carry’. So, it was discussed and it was going through my mind. I didn’t really think strongly, oh, I want to have a child and then come back. Or I want to end my career and have a child. I was just going with the flow, to be totally honest, [thinking] whatever happens, happens.”
When Julie-Ann discovered that she was pregnant, however, she presumed it would spell the end of her international playing career. She continued football training until she was about five months pregnant. “I was doing a lot of running, passing and shooting.”
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But she kept up exercising herself beyond that. “I was running on my own until about week 28 and then stopped because I had to go to the toilet every second. I actually did CrossFit the whole pregnancy. I went to a CrossFit session on her due date to try to get her out,” she says.
Julie-Ann played a few matches early in her pregnancy before deciding to stop. She decided to tell people she was pregnant from early on. “I didn’t want to lie to them and say I’m injured. And then, also, I think there’s such a big stigma around miscarriages, and if I did have a miscarriage with Rosie, I’d want people to know. I wouldn’t be hiding it. So, I didn’t really care if I told people pre the 12 weeks.”
Her team-mates were “absolutely delighted” when they found out. “I suppose with my age and I was married a year, it wasn’t a massive surprise and everyone was just so happy. There was no negativity at all.”
Julie-Ann is the only woman in the current Republic of Ireland squad to have given birth. “I am very proud. It’s not easy to come back from having a child and get back to elite athlete fitness and stamina. I’m just taking it in my stride, but when I stop and think about it, I’m like, ‘well done’,” she says laughing.
Rosie, her daughter, was delivered by emergency Caesarean section. “It was an emergency, but it didn’t feel like an emergency. If I was to go again, I’d be opting for a C-section.”
She not only found the birth to be a good experience, but the recovery afterwards to be “totally fine”, though she appreciates that’s not everyone’s experience.
Julie-Ann, who plays for Galway United, took six weeks off completely afterwards. “Week seven and eight, I started running a little bit and then gradually went back to soccer. Again, was just doing passing and non-contact. I didn’t do any contact until week 12. If my scar felt sore, I would pull out, and just listen to my body. I also made sure I went to a pelvic floor physiotherapist after six or seven weeks.”
She was still breastfeeding when she returned to playing, which itself involved a whole lot of logistical considerations. “You’d have to really time everything. I was lucky, at the time, that training was so close to my house. I would feed her beforehand and go training.”
But when it came to playing matches, things were a little more complicated. “One of the things I had to request from the manager was not going on the team bus to the game, because I was breastfeeding and I couldn’t be away from Rosie for the amount of hours, because you’re leaving hours before the game when it’s an away match. So just thinking about all the logistics and again having someone to mind her. My husband came to the game and drove us down.
“I had to make sure I fed her before the game so I wasn’t totally full and then she was there for afterwards. And if she wasn’t asleep, I always had a pump with me as well. It was a real juggling act and something that you had to think about all the time.”
It was during Rosie’s first birthday party that Julie-Ann received an email to tell her she was on the provisional squad. “And, then about a week later, the manager rang to check if I was still interested in playing,” she says.
Life in the Ireland camp works very well. “I didn’t even expect Rosie to be coming into the camp,” she says, pointing out that this is probably because the situation hadn’t arisen before, though she had seen through social media, mothers in other countries such as Australia and the US bring their children into their respective camps. “I was thinking it’ll be cool, but I was just delighted to be called in. I wasn’t going to rock the boat.
“When I spoke to the manager I asked, ‘Can Rosie visit when I’m in there ... what is the policy?’ And she was saying, ‘Rosie’s coming,’ They just wanted to make sure that I was at my best from a mental and physical perspective, and they understood that I had never been away from Rosie, because I was on maternity leave. They were incredible. They want to create a policy for the FAI and for me to help them with it.”
Rosie was “included in absolutely everything” at camp, Julie-Ann says, “just not the training or team meetings”.
“She came to all the meal times. She was allowed into the players’ lounge and everywhere. Everyone loved having her. She brought a really good energy. My husband came as well. He was my support person.”
Along with playing for Galway United and representing Ireland on the football pitch, Julie-Ann works as a sales manager in Microsoft for the UK market. Even with all of this success, Julie-Ann says she can’t escape the dreaded parental guilt. “I always heard about mum guilt being a thing and I can truly say it’s real and that I experience it as well. The fact that I’m back to work now and Rosie is at a childminder, I don’t see her for the day.
“And then in the evenings I try to pick her up at about a quarter to five and then I’ve to be at training for 6pm. And so see her for only an hour and 15 minutes and it breaks my heart leaving her. She goes to bed at 7pm, so it’s only another hour, but in her little life that’s so much.
“I totally have guilt when I’ve to go for training in the evenings, and even at the weekends when I’ve games. When they’re away, I’m gone for the day.”
But she says she gets huge comfort when Rosie can go to her matches. “It just makes it extra special.”
Julie-Ann is thoroughly enjoying motherhood, so far. But she knows if she was to have another child at this stage of her life (Julie-Ann is now 33), it could well mean the end of her sporting career in its current form. “Even just my age, trying to get pregnant again, it becomes more difficult as you get older, so I am thinking about when is the best time to try,” she admits.
“It’s way more front and centre in my mind than ever before. And I suppose if I was to have another child, the chances of getting back to an Ireland elite status, wouldn’t be high.”
It’s a difficult one she explains, because she knows she would like “Rosie to have a brother or sister. It’s a big decision.”
Julie-Ann says having Rosie come to see her play for Ireland is a highlight she’ll never forget. As she looks towards upcoming away games which, she says, “I hope I’ll get picked for”, she’s considering the logistics about how it might work. Julie-Ann is in the Irish squad for the Euro Qualifying double-header against Georgia, with the first game in Tbilisi this Friday.
And she dares to dream about how it all might work too if Ireland qualify for Euro 2025 and Julie-Ann was part of the squad. “I’d have to bring her,” she says. “Not a hope” she’d leave her behind.
But she doesn’t really care if Rosie follows in her football boots. “I feel when kids are pressured into something, they don’t like it and they resent you for it. I’ll just give her the opportunity to do as much as she wants – all sports and all activities be it music or dancing.”
Parenting in My Shoes
