Sit down with the NZ Herald and a panel of experts to discuss how the Football Ferns can make history in the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup.
When Football Ferns goalkeeper Victoria Esson trains with her club team in Scotland, she’s always the last to leave.
Long after her Glasgow Rangers teammates have gone for the day, Esson is out there doing extras, even in the middle of the Scottish winter.
Esson, who will be a key figure in the Fifa Women’s World Cup opening match against Norway on Thursday, knows the value of hard work.
The 32-year-old also realises the precarious nature of football, after taking a far from usual route to the top – and having considered giving the game away on several occasions.
”I’m never in a rush to leave Rangers at the end of the day,” Esson tells the Herald. “We’re in from eight till three. And, people always say, ‘Oh God, do you live here?’ Because I never seem to leave. But I’ve lived the other side, which is working all day and then going to training.
“So every single time I turn up, I want to learn something, I want to develop and I want to train well, because you never know when your time could come to an end.”
If Esson appears hungrier than most, there’s good reason.
She didn’t turn professional until she was 27 and only became a Ferns regular at the age of 30.
It wasn’t how it was meant to go. As a youngster, Esson was a standout talent in Christchurch, which brought national recognition. She played all three matches at the 2008 Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup, in a team that included Annalie Longo, Rosie White and Katie Bowen. That could have been a springboard but didn’t quite happen.
Esson went to the next two Fifa Under-20 World Cups, in 2008 and 2010, but didn’t take the field, with Charlotte Wood, then Erin Nayler preferred, before she fell into a vacuum.
”It was a difficult time after the Under-20s,” said Esson. “I was told there was no resource to push me on to the Ferns. I was left at a crossroads, to finish football, or to try and carry on. That’s when I went over to the States, on scholarship to try and pursue a high performance level because I wasn’t able to find that here.”
Esson will be a key figure for the Ferns. Photo / photosport.nz
Esson spent two years at Texas Tech, setting several university records, before returning home. She got a job with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority and went back to domestic football.
The chance of wearing the silver fern again seemed remote.
”It was very busy, working full time and trying to play football at a high level as well,” said Esson. “Gym sessions were early in the morning and the trainings were at night. So it made the days really long.”
There were some crazy times, particularly if Esson was playing outside Christchurch.
”Sometimes I had to wake up at five, take a six o’clock flight to Wellington then be in a conference or sit in presentations all day, then fly to Auckland for a game,” said Esson. “I’d arrive at five o’clock, go straight to the field to play and then go home at 10 that night. So waking up and working the next day is pretty tough, as is focusing on the game.”
Unable to commit to the full extent that she desired, Esson contemplated giving up on her football dreams on several occasions.
”That’s something that goes through an athlete’s mind but I’ve always told myself never to make a decision when I’m too high or too low,” said Esson.
Her perseverance paid off. She made her Ferns debut in November 2017, with 10 minutes off the bench in a 5-0 over Thailand. It was a slow burn – with two appearances over the next four years - but the critical junction came in 2019, when she signed her first professional deal with Norwegian club Avaldsnes.
“That was incredible - I could take my game to a new level,” said Esson.
So when she got her first Ferns opportunity under current coach Jitka Klimkova, Esson delivered an inspirational performance in the 2-1 away win over Korea in September 2021.
”When goalkeepers get a chance, they either take it or they don’t,” said Esson. “And it usually depends on the work that they’ve done prior to that moment. No one just turns up on any given day and plays well.”
Esson started the warm-up game against Vietnam. Photo / photosport.nz
That was the beginning of a new journey and she hasn’t looked back, moving ahead of Nayler and Anna Leat to be the primary option, with big performances when it matters, from the penalty stop against Korea in Christchurch (a career highlight) to the remarkable defiance against Australia in Townsville or the two draws against Iceland.
Unlike some of her teammates, she’s also had plenty of big game experience, with fierce battles in Scotland with Celtic and Glasgow City, along with Champions League matches, at times struggling to communicate with her back line due to the noise of the crowd.
Being a goalkeeper brings unique pressure, especially in the New Zealand context, as the Ferns are not a free scoring team. If they have any chance of making history over the next two weeks, Esson will need to come up with the performances of her life. But she’s ready.
”It’s all of the games and the trainings leading up to this moment - that’s the pressure testing,” said Esson. “Hopefully come crunch time on July 20th and onwards, I’ll be able to draw on all that practice that I’ve had over many years.
“And that’s when it will all come out because you can’t just turn up on the day and go, ‘OK, now I’m going to perform’. It’s the accumulation of all the work that you’ve done. And then to be honest, on the day, it’s all mental, it’s just your head that is going to help get you over the line.
”People often say goalkeeper is the hero or villain position – though I don’t agree with that. But obviously we are the last line of defence.”
Did you know? Esson played as a midfielder and defender before moving into the goal as a 17-year-old.
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
