Aylesbury's inspirational Ellen White fulfils lifelong dream by becoming a European champion

White led the line for the Lionesses side who became the first ever England team to win a major tournament since 1966.

As was pointed out by Aylesbury musician Scott Ottaway, the 33-year-old has had to endure many set backs and difficulties prior to triumphing at Euro 2022.

Like many girls looking to play a sport often ringfenced and dominated by men, the Manchester City star struggled to even participate in organised football sessions.

In his viral Tweet Scott shared an old Bucks Herald cover from 1998 highlighting a much younger Ellen White.

The story was also shared on Facebook and posted on Reddit, by a relative of the late Jennifer Timber had the kept the 1998 paper as a memento.

Then a talented nine-year-old, the footballing prodigy was banned from playing with the boys in a move which was labelled as ‘sexist’.

She had shown the other sex up the previous season by blasting in 100 goals.

Fortunately, she didn’t just dominate the Chiltern Youth League.

Eventually, Ellen found her way to Arsenal’s Youth Team and social media is littered with stories about how the striker would dominate underage games.

White’s astonishing professional career has seen her represent some of the most famous teams in the country.

She made her breakthrough at Chelsea, before re-joining London giants, Arsenal, after a spell at Leeds Carnegie.

Now, she stars for Manchester City where she has won two major trophies while bagging 24 goals in her first three seasons with the strongly-backed sky blue side.

In her decorated club football career, the imposing forward also claimed a further eight major team honours – seven with Arsenal and one with Leeds Carnegie.

But it is on the international stage where White has emerged as a global star.

She was a dominant force at the 2019 World Cup finishing as joint top scorer at the tournament, representing a Lioness side that narrowly missed out on glory, losing to eventual champions, the USA in a closely-fought semi final.

Ellen has represented her country a staggering 113 times and became England’s all-time top scorer last year, currently her record total stands at 52 goals.

There was an unforgettable moment at England’s trophy ceremony following their extra-time 2-1 victory over Germany.

Captain, Leah Williamson and her centre-back partner Millie Bright, gave over the trophy to Ellen and Jill Scott, giving the two longest serving leaders of the team a special showcase, in recognition of their longstanding service.

White’s role with the team changed this tournament, instead of the all-conquering goal machine seen in 2019.

The Aylesbury striker was tasked with wearing down opposition defenders before the skilful energetic reinforcements took over.

Throughout England’s historic run to the title the Manchester City star was withdrawn to make way for England’s super subs.

This was true in the final, when White’s departure allowed goal-scorer, Ella Toone, and Alessia Russo to takeover tormenting the German backline.

Since her ban at nine, Aylesbury has long since embraced its most famous athlete.

Councillor Clive Harriss called the performance of Ellen and her teammates ‘inspiring’ when speaking on behalf of the local authority.

An Aylesbury Town Council spokesperson described her as ‘outstanding’.

She has been immortalised in an mural which can be viewed on the High Street.

In 2016 she was made a Honorary Freewoman of the Parish of Aylesbury by town council officials.

Editor’s note: the story was updated to credit others who shared the 1998 edition of the Bucks Herald.