Ruesha Littlejohn

Ruesha Littlejohn (born 3 July 1990) is an Irish footballer who plays as a striker for FA WSL club West Ham United. She has also had four spells with Glasgow City and stints with Norwegian First Division club IL Sandviken and English sides Arsenal, Liverpool and London Bees. Despite having played youth football for Scotland, Littlejohn chose to feature at the senior level for the Republic of Ireland.[4][5]

Ruesha Littlejohn
Littlejohn (orange) playing for London Bees in February 2019
Personal information
Full name Ruesha Littlejohn
Date of birth (1990-07-03) 3 July 1990
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Playing position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 West Ham United
Number 16
Youth career
Clydebank Girls
Baillieston Girls
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Arsenal North[1]
2007–2009 Glasgow City 43 (53)
2010 Arsenal 1 (0)
2010 → Rangers (loan)
2010–2011 Glasgow City
2011–2012 Liverpool 13 (2)
2011 → Celtic (loan) 2 (1)
2012–2013 Glasgow City 26 (14)
2014 IL Sandviken 22 (19)
2015 Celtic 19 (11)
2016 Glasgow City
2016–2018 Celtic 22 (13)
2018–2019 London Bees 17 (5)
2019– West Ham United 0 (0)
National team‡
2007–2008 Scotland U19[2] 15 (12)
2012– Ireland[3] 37 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:30, 06 July 2019 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13:30, 2 January 2020 (UTC)

Club career

Glasgow-born Littlejohn played youth football with Clydebank and Baillieston girls before joining Arsenal North. She signed for Glasgow City in January 2007 and won four successive titles with the club. In January 2010 Littlejohn signed for English champions Arsenal and made an immediate debut in the Gunners' 2–1 home win over Chelsea.[6] Shortly afterwards Tony Gervaise, who had also been Littlejohn's coach in Scotland's youth national teams, stood down as Arsenal manager. With Littlejohn then out of favour she returned to Scotland on loan with Rangers, where she featured in the first women's match to be staged at Ibrox Stadium.[7]

Littlejohn then returned to Glasgow City. She hit seven goals in the final game of the season against Inverness, as City secured another Premier League title.[8]

Along with Megan Sneddon and Suzanne Lappin, Littlejohn signed for Liverpool Ladies ahead of the 2011 FA WSL season. The Scottish trio made their Liverpool bow in a friendly win over Hibernian Ladies.[9] On her competitive debut against Charlton Athletic in the FA Women's Cup, Littlejohn marked the occasion by scoring a hat-trick.[10] She also fired a last-minute goal as Liverpool held rivals Everton 3–3 in the opening match of the WSL campaign.[11] During the mid-season break Littlejohn and Lappin went back to Scotland, this time with Celtic, making their debuts against Rangers.[12]

In May 2012, the Football Association (FA) gave Littlejohn a six-match ban and charged her £500 costs for comments made on Twitter.[13] During the 2012 FA WSL mid-season break, Littlejohn returned to Glasgow City: "It is great to be back at City again. I know the club so well. I have been here since I turned 16 years old and City is like my home, as I always seem to come back here."[14]

In March 2014 Littlejohn signed for the Norwegian First club IL Sandviken, based in Bergen.[15] By August she had scored 11 goals in 13 games to top the goalscorer's chart.[16] She finished the season as the league’s top goalscorer with 19 goals from 22 matches as Sandviken were promoted to the Toppserien as 1. divisjon champions.[17]

Littlejohn was called into the Ireland squad in February 2015, listed as a free agent. After a year with Celtic in 2015, Littlejohn returned to Glasgow City for her fourth spell with the club in January 2016.[18] She departed during the mid-season break, and was back in Celtic colours for the second part of the campaign.[5]

In July 2018 Littlejohn signed with London Bees.[19] In 2019, she joined West Ham United on non-contract terms. On 25 January 2020, she signed a deal until the end of the season. [20]

International career

Scotland

Littlejohn represented Scotland at Under–15 and Under–17 level. At the Under–19 age group, Littlejohn was part of the side which qualified for the 2008 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in France. She scored Scotland's only goal in a 3–1 defeat to England at the final tournament group stage. Littlejohn scored 12 goals in her 15 appearances for Scotland's Under–19s.[21][22]

Scotland's senior national team coach Anna Signeul excluded Littlejohn due to personal differences: "Em, well, the senior manager wasn’t a fan of mine. I think she thought I had too much carry on, a little personality, and she wasn’t really into that."[23]

Ireland

After three year of not playing internationally, Littlejohn situation caught the eye of Arsenal teammates Emma Byrne, Yvonne Tracy and Niamh Fahey. They alerted the FAI to her eligibility through her maternal grandparents.

In February 2012 Littlejohn received her first call–up to the senior Republic of Ireland squad, for the 2012 Algarve Cup.[24] She made her debut with the Irish national team against Hungary at the final game of the Algarve Cup on 7 March 2012. Ireland won 2–1 to avoid a last place finish.[25] Altogether Littlejohn has so far been capped 54 times by the Irish.[1]

International goals
Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentResultCompetitionScored
16 March 2013Tasos Markou, Paralimni Northern Ireland5–12013 Cyprus Cup1
212 March 2014GSP Stadium, Nicosia Canada1–22014 Cyprus Cup1
34 March 2015Veli Jože, Poreč Hungary1–12015 Istria Cup1
414 May 2015Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill, Florida Haiti1–0Friendly1
59 March 2016Tasos Markou, Paralimni Finland2–02016 Cyprus Cup1
67 April 2016Stadion pod Malim brdom, Petrovac Montenegro5–02017 UEFA Women's Championship Qual.1

Personal life

Ruesha's twin sister Shebahn is a travel reporter on 102.5 Clyde 1 radio. The family has a Northern Irish background and grew up in Old Drumchapel.[26] She is openly lesbian. In June 2019, fellow player and captain Katie McCabe revealed that they are in a relationship for three years, and that women's association football is very accepting of LGBT people.[27]

Honours

Club
Glasgow City
IL Sandviken[17]
  • 1. divisjon: 2014

Individual
  • Glasgow City Top Goalscorer: 2009[28]
  • 1. divisjon topscorer: 2014[32]

References
  1. "Ruesha Littlejohn". Extra Time.ie.
  2. "Ruesha Littlejohn – Women's U19 Squad". The Scottish FA. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  3. "Ruesha Littlejohn".
  4. "Player Spotlight: Ruesha Littlejohn". Glasgow City FC.com.
  5. Campbell, Alan (30 July 2016). "Football: SWPL title up for grabs with focus back on league". The National (Scotland). Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. "Ruesha Littlejohn". Arsenal.com. 6 February 2012. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  7. "Ladies Snatch Late Point". Rangers Football Club. 17 May 2010. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  8. "Glasgow City finish with victory". Women's Soccer Scene. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  9. "Liverpool give Scots trio debuts". She Kicks. 1 March 2011. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  10. Leighton, Tony (26 March 2011). "Lady in Red looks toward FA Women's Cup Final". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  11. Hudson, Louise (15 April 2011). "FA WSL: A derby thriller on Merseyside". Sports Sister. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  12. Gillian Campbell (24 May 2011). "Celtic women triumph in derby clash". Celtic FC. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
  13. "Littlejohn suspended for six games". TheFA.com. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  14. "Glasgow City welcome the return of Ruesha Littlejohn". Glasgow City FC. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  15. "Irish player to Sandviken". Womens Football.eu.
  16. Karlsen, Thomas (18 August 2014). "Skotte til topps". Fotballmagasinet.no (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  17. Karlsen, Thomas (30 October 2014). "Delt toppscorertittel" (in Norwegian). fotballmagasinet.no. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  18. "Ruesha Littlejohn: Glasgow City re-sign Ireland striker". BBC Sport. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  19. Frith, Wilf (23 July 2018). "London Bees land Littlejohn and Pickett". shekicks.net. She Kicks. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  20. "West Ham United Women: Ruesha Littlejohn agrees deal with Hammers". www.bbc.com. BBC Sport. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  21. "Ruesha Littlejohn". Scottish FA.co.uk.
  22. "City stars in European Under 19 Championship Finals". Glasgow City Ladies FC.co.uk.
  23. O'Malley, Carl (13 November 2014). "Ruesha Littlejohn has no regrets about defection". Irish Times. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  24. "Irish women depart for Algarve Cup in Portugal". Sports News Ireland. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  25. "Ireland Women complete Algarve Cup with victory". Football Association of Ireland. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  26. Fotheringham, Ann (1 March 2012). "WOMEN'S 10K: Countdown To The Big Run". Glasgow Evening Times. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  27. Fallon, John (4 June 2019). "'The women's game is very accepting' - Ireland skipper Katie McCabe publicly confirms relationship with teammate". The Independent.
  28. "City Awards Night". Glasgow City Ladies FC.co.uk.
  29. "Glasgow City win Scottish Cup to complete domestic treble". BBC.com.
  30. "Hibernian 0-1 Glasgow City, Scottish Cup Final". Youtube.com.
  31. "Scotland (Women) 2008/09". RSSSF.com.
  32. "City retain SWPL Cup". Scottish FA.co.uk.
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