14 The Rose Reilly Pub: Celebrating a Legend
A pub has been listed on the site since at least 1892 and was renamed the Rose Reilly in 2022 to celebrate one of the most successful Scottish women footballers.
Rose started her football career aged 7 with boys team Stewarton United, with the help of a short haircut and a new name of Ross, to disguise the fact that she was a girl. She made her debut for the women's side Stewarton Thistle in 1965 aged 9. Rose was part of the Stewarton side which lifted the inaugural Scottish Cup in 1971 and took part in the first final of the English Women’s FA Cup. In 1972 she moved to Westthorn United where she won the treble of Scottish Cup, League Cup and the first League championship.
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Rose played in the first ever Scotland v England women’s international football match in 1972 at Ravenscraig Stadium in Greenock - Rose scored in the game, but Scotland lost the match 3-2.
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After winning 10 Scotland caps, Rose was banned for life by the Scottish Women’s Football Association. The SWFA claimed this was for perceived criticism of the choice of Scotland manager but as Rose was playing in Italy by this time, she was unaware of the ban and never received an explanation.
Rose Reilly representing Italy.
Rose played in France and in Italy, including AC Milan. Following on from her initial spell with Milan, Rose continued to play in Italian football until the age of 40, including spells with the ladies' sides of Catania and Lecce. She twice won the Serie A Golden Boot during seasons 1978 and 1981, scoring 43 and 45 goals respectively. In spectacular style, Rose even won the French and Italian leagues in the same weekend! In the 1978–79 season, she won championship titles in both Italy and France, playing for Lecce on a Saturday night and then flying to France to play for Reims on Sunday.
Rose's incredible career includes:
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8 Italian league titles and 4 Italian cups
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Two golden boots, 1978 and 1981
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Named the world’s best footballer in 1983
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Rose was adopted by Italy and played twenty times for her new country.
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The pinnacle of this stellar career was Captaining Italy's winning team in the Mundialito (an unofficial precursor to the Women's World Cup) in 1984 and scoring in the final against West Germany.
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In 2007, Rose was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, and in 2019, she was given an Honorary Doctorate from Glasgow Caledonian University in recognition of her outstanding contribution to women’s football. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to women's football.​
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The frontage of the Rose Reilly pub.