Everyone’s talking about Sam Kerr – she has lit up world football in recent weeks. But who is she?
Sport is in her blood
Sam’s father Roger Kerr played 85 games for East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League and Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League, and later coached WAFL side Claremont.
Her brother Daniel was also an Australian Rules player, chalking up 220 games for the West Coast Eagles between 2001 and 2013. Sam dabbled in the sport herself before switching to the round ball at age 12.
Good enough is old enough
Kerr was just 15 when she made her full international debut, coming off the bench against Italy in a 5-1 loss in Canberra in 2009.
A year later she scored her first international goal, opening the scoring in the 2010 Asian Cup final against North Korea, which Australia eventually won 5-4 on penalties.
Since then she’s been a fixture in the Westfield Matildas, and has featured in 10 of their last 11 internationals.
Down for the count
In a 2015 international against Nigeria she was elbowed in the face by Nigerian Ugo Njoku, forced from the field and reduced to tears after the ugly incident.
The outpouring of disapproval was fierce, with former Matildas centurion Heather Garriock, who was commentating the match for SBS, saying, “You can’t do that…you can’t do that at any level.”
Online all the time
She has a large (and rapidly growing) social media presence, with 13800 Twitter followers and nearly twice that number on Instagram. On Twitter, she’s @samkerr1 and on Instagram you can find her at @samanthakerr20
Best on the planet?
In case you’ve somehow forgotten, Kerr led Australia to their first trophy in seven years last week, scoring a goal and creating three others in the 6-1 hammering of Brazil to claim the Tournament of Nations.
In the previous game she netted her first international hat-trick (all in the first half) against Japan. Many are now calling her the best female footballer in the world.
…. AND YOU CAN SEE SAM KERR LIVE IN SEPTEMBER
