IT IS 22 years since Cas Stewart and Laura Montgomery set up Glasgow City FC.
Denied a pathway into football when they were growing up, the two women were determined to change things for future generations of girls and young women.
They succeeded. Glasgow City is Scotland’s most successful women’s football team.
Formed in 1998, the club won the league in its inaugural season and recently secured its thirteenth domestic league title in succession.
Remarkably, and against the odds for an amateur side from Scotland, the club has reached the quarter finals of the prestigious Champions League twice.
Tomorrow, a new documentary on BBC ALBA tells their story. The Women Who Built Glasgow City will be shown on Sunday, April 5 at 9pm.
Laura, now 44, from Clarkston, said: “Even as a young kid, I would never accept that girls shouldn’t be allowed to do something …. even though everyone perceived that as the norm, I certainly didn’t perceive it as the norm and I set out to change it.”
Cas, 53, from Newlands, agreed. “I just remember thinking, ‘I’ve just got to change it,” she added. “I’ve just got to do something to make this possible and keep pushing forwards so that it is possible because it’s not fair.”
BBC ALBA’s critically acclaimed feature documentary Rose Reilly, also produced by purpleTV, provided an insight into the deep-rooted misogyny in football in 1970s Scotland that forced one remarkable woman to travel abroad to realise her dreams to play the game professionally.
The Women Who Built Glasgow City delivers the next chapter, exploring the inspiring journey of Cas and Laura, trailblazers who rebelled against the patriarchal constraints still in play in Scottish women’s football.
Writer, producer and director Margot McCuaig, said: “Since childhood, Cas and Laura have pushed against stereotypical perceptions that football is a man’s game and have worked hard to break down gender barriers.
“In realising their ambition to create their own football club they have subsequently created opportunities for girls to follow their dreams in a welcoming environment.
“Their ongoing work ethic has been consistently remarkable and this film goes some way to providing an insight into Cas and Laura’s role, not just as trailblazers in women’s football, but as pioneers creating a transformation in Scottish society.”
The film features interviews with Cas and Laura, their families and friends, as well as former and current City players. Drama reconstruction scenes depicting childhood Laura are played by her niece Emma Montgomery. Current Glasgow City youth players Sarah Gibb and Erin Stewart also feature as Cas and Laura in later scenes, building to the club’s formation
In exclusive interviews for the programme, the two women also reveal they were close to giving it all up at the height of the club’s success in 2016.
It was around this time that Cas and Laura were dealing with crippling personal issues. Laura’s partner of 16 years, Kat Linder, was struggling with mental health illness and Cas’s brother was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND), and they discussed whether they could continue running the club because they wanted to be there for their loved ones.
Cas’s brother sadly died in August 2017, aged just 48, and in February last year Laura received the devastating news that her partner Kat had tragically taken her own life.
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