A Dunfermline school janitor has revealed how he saw superstar potential in future Real Madrid player Caroline Weir.
Weir, 29, grew up honing her skills in the playground at Pittencrieff Primary before going on to a career as a professional.
Her rise to stardom – including her move to the world’s most famous club – is told in a new film released by the Scottish FA.
Galactica looks back at Weir’s childhood and her subsequent achievements.
In the documentary, Weir reveals how her love of the sport was born in her back garden in Dunfermline.
Caroline Weir honed football skills in ‘always sunny’ Dunfermline
She said: “The earliest memory is probably when I was four and playing in the garden.
“One of my sisters and my brother love football as well.
“I feel like it was always sunny, that’s the memory – obviously it’s not true, because it was Dunfermline.
“In the garden, kicking a ball about; birthday parties being football, everything was just football.
“My dad saw that we were really into our football.
“When we were quite young, he built this wooden board, painted it green and then drew white goals on it.
“My brother and sister, we just spent hours kicking the ball against that board.”
Dad Lindsay said: “It was our next-door neighbour who said to me one day, ‘I think you’ve got a good wee footballer there’.
“She spent hours and hours pretending she was Zinedine Zidane.”
Caroline played among the boys at Pittencrieff Primary.
Speaking in the film, the school’s janitor Andrew Patterson said: “The playtime bell would ring and the first person you’d see out, ball under her arm, would be little Caroline.
“My main worry was, when she was playing games, that she was going to get knocked over because she was that small.
“I didn’t have to worry, because of the ability Caroline had on the ball.
“She was nutmegging kids, her pace, her left foot, the goals she was scoring.”
Life in Dunfermline helped shape Caroline Weir’s career
Caroline’s obvious skills resulted in her playing for Elgin Star FC, an all-boys team.
The Scotland midfielder said: “I think I liked proving myself – obviously I knew there weren’t many other girls playing, if any.
“The odd comment that I would hear, like, ‘Oh, they’ve got a girl in their team, we’ll beat them’ – it does impact you a little bit, even when you’re young.
“I enjoyed trying to prove people wrong, even at a young age. I do think that’s still within me, for sure.
“As much as the game has gone to these amazing heights, and there’s still a long way to go, there’s still a bit of me that is always trying to prove people wrong, or maybe just prove to myself.
“It’s probably a bit of both, but I think that started back then as well.”
During her time at Dunfermline High School, she would spend her weekends playing for Hibs.
Weir nearly quit after dad told her ‘just come home’
Her time at the club resulted in a move to Arsenal, where – despite her aspirations – she started to doubt herself.
Weir said: “My parents were so supportive.
“My dad always said, ‘No matter what, you can always come home. If it doesn’t work out you can come back and we’ll figure it out’.
“I always had that in the back of my mind, and there were moments where I was super-homesick, not really enjoying the football, finding it really difficult.
“I was like, ‘This is my dream, but it really doesn’t feel like it. I’m really not loving it’, and dad was like ‘Just come home, it’s fine’.
“As soon as he said that, I was like, ‘I just can’t’.”
Galactica is now available to watch on YouTube.
The Courier has taken a closer look at Weir’s life and career so far.
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