University of West of Scotland Graduation Lunch and Award of Honorary Doctorate. December 2015

The Lord Lieutenant was a guest at the recent Graduation lunch at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Earlier in the day the university awarded Rose Reilly, who is arguably Scotland’s greatest ever female footballer, with an Honorary Doctorate at its graduation ceremony on Tuesday 1 December 2015 at Ayr Town Hall. Rose Reilly, who was voted the world’s best female footballer in 1983, was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2007. 

Rose, who was born in Stewarton in 1955, gave up a promising athletics career to follow her dream of playing professional football. At the age of 17, having already played 10 games for the Scotland Women’s Team, she moved to Reims in France to become a semi-professional player and within six months she was spotted by an AC Milan scout. This was the start of her 20 year career in Italian women’s football.  

She is one of the most successful women in the history of the Italian Women’s League, winning eight Serie A titles and four Italian Cups, as well as winning the Serie A Golden Boot, awarded to the highest goal scorer in the league, twice. She also had a hugely successful international career playing for Italy (after gaining dual citizenship), scoring 13 international goals, including one in the 1983 Women’s World Cup Final against the USA. Italy went on to win the 1983 World Cup Final making Rose Reilly the only Scot to have won a World Cup winner’s medal.