RGU student Bayley Hutchison has recently been named Player of the Year for Aberdeen Women’s Football Club. She has been playing with the team since she was 14 and shares with us the evolution of her career, how she juggles studying with playing football, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
Can you tell us more about yourself?
My name is Bayley, I am a 20-year old from Aberdeen currently studying Applied Sport and Exercise Science at RGU. I started playing football when I was five or six years-old because my friends were playing it, so I wanted to do it too.
What has been your football journey so far, including highlights and challenges?
At the start, it was difficult because there weren’t many girls teams. This meant I had to play with the boys until I was 11 when I signed for Aberdeen’s girls team. As I have grown older, it has been so much better. Women are better represented and appreciated in the sport.
In my first year in Aberdeen’s under-13s team, I won the Scottish Cup final. I then joined the first team at 14, scoring on my debut.
The woman’s team wasn’t affiliated with the men’s team until 2018, when it became a lot more professional. The standard of the game increased with better facilities and equipment.
A highlight of my football career would be finishing top goal-scorer this season, or the team’s previous back-to-back promotions. My biggest challenge was getting relegated early on in my career when I was just 14.
How do you juggle playing football and studying full-time?
Studying while playing football has been difficult but I got used to it. RGU is supportive with its sport scholar scheme which allows academic flexibility when playing, making life easier and less stressful.
Being on international duty is a challenge as you miss key classes and have to catch up on work, but it’s just a case of dedicating your time properly and planning accordingly to get everything done!
What are your hopes and dreams for your future career?
I hope to obtain my degree and then focus on football. I want to achieve a senior Scotland call-up and play professional football to as high of a level as possible.
If we are talking big dreams, then I would love to play for Barcelona, but I think that might always stay as a dream!
How do you think women’s football is going to evolve?
I think women’s football in Scotland will become completely professional and will give a platform for young girls to become athletes in any team in the Scottish Women’s Premier League 1 and 2.
The game is always rising as five out of 12 teams are now professional and I can see this growing further which will help develop players and provide more opportunities.
Bayley Hutchison
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