“We’re all coming under the pressure of it now, we have to accept that because we want to grow and grow and grow. We have to deal with the positives and the negatives that come alongside that,” she said. “I think we’re learning very quickly how to deal with all of it. There is a long way to go for some of the girls who are just coming into it but we want the game to grow in the right way and football is a game of opinions – you’re going to be under pressure no matter what you do.”

Explaining what she’d like to see happen in national women’s sport over the next few years, Kirby said media coverage plays a key part. “I think it is getting better and there are more TV shows and channels getting involved promoting women’s sport, like Sky Sports has Netball, and we’re going to be on BBC,” she continued. “You see now more girls getting involved in their sports because they can see it on TV and see these people playing and I think the more and more it’s exposed and is out there – it will continue to grow and grow. They watch it on TV and think, ‘Well that could be me!’.”

People are STILL surprised that women can be professional footballers in 2019