Tuesday 2 August 2022 11:00 AM Lionesses hero Ellen White was not allowed to play in her league aged nine ... trends now

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The Lionesses' all-time leading goalscorer Ellen White was banned from playing football by her local league when she was aged just nine.

The ban, which at the time was accused as being discriminatory, would not stop her playing football and going on to create history with England as they lifted the Euro 2022 trophy on Sunday.

White, 33, who has been a stalwart of women's football, started up front against Germany in front of a record-breaking 87,192 fans wearing the iconic number nine on her back.

The Lionesses won the nation's first major tournament since the men's win in 1966 with a 2-1 triumph hailed as one for the ages.

But the Aylesbury-born striker, who played a more supportive role in this tournament, was once banned in her local league because she was a girl.

The 1988 front-page of the Bucks Herald, which has resurfaced 34 years on, shows a glum looking White in her Arsenal Academy shirt holding onto a football lying down.

The headline is: 'Soccer girl banned by league for boys'. A quote from her father, John White, is also highlighted. He said: 'Ellen is only nine and can't fathom out why she can't play football'.

But White would only temporarily be knocked back. She would go on to be one of the most recognisable names in women's football, not only for her record number of goals but her trademark goggles celebration which has been emulated by young fans across the country.