Ruesha Littlejohn

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Infobox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

Ruesha Littlejohn
File:Ruesha Littlejohn in San Jose.jpg
Playing for Ireland in May 2015
Personal information
Full name Ruesha Littlejohn
Date of birth (1990-07-03) 3 July 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Glasgow City
Youth career
Clydebank Girls
Baillieston Girls
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Arsenal North
2007–2009 Glasgow City
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
2016– Glasgow City
International career‡
2007–2008 Scotland U19[1] 15 (12)
2012– Ireland 29 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:59, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:59, 22 October 2015 (UTC)

Ruesha Littlejohn (born 3 July 1990) is a football striker who plays for Glasgow City of the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL). At club level she previously had short spells with Norwegian First Division club IL Sandviken and in England with Arsenal and Liverpool. Littlejohn chose to represent Republic of Ireland at senior international level despite having represented Scotland at junior level.

Club career

Glasgow-born Littlejohn played youth football with Clydebank and Baillieston girls before joining Arsenal North Ladies. 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.[2] 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.[3]

File:Ruesha Littlejohn.jpg

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.[4]

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.[5] On her competitive debut against Charlton Athletic in the FA Women's Cup, Littlejohn marked the occasion by scoring a hat-trick.[6] She also fired a last-minute goal as Liverpool held rivals Everton 3–3 in the opening match of the WSL campaign.[7] During the mid-season break Littlejohn and Lappin went back to Scotland, this time with Celtic, making their debuts against Rangers.[8]

In May 2012 the Football Association (FA) gave Littlejohn a six-match ban and charged her £500 costs for comments made on Twitter.[9] 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."[10]

In March 2014 Littlejohn signed for the Norwegian First Division club IL Sandviken, based in Bergen. [11] By August she had scored 11 goals in 13 games to top the goalscorer's chart.[12] She finished the season as the league's joint-top goalscorer with 19 goals from 22 matches as Sandviken were promoted to the Toppserien as champions.[13]

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.[14]

International career

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 goal in a 3–1 defeat to England at the final tournament group stage. According to the Scottish Football Association (SFA) website, Littlejohn scored 12 goals in her 15 appearances for Scotland's Under–19s.

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."[15]

In February 2012 Littlejohn received her first call–up to the senior Republic of Ireland squad, for the 2012 Algarve Cup.[16] 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.[17]

International goals

Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Result Competition Scored
1 6 March 2013 Tasos Markou, Paralimni  Northern Ireland 5–1 Cyprus Cup 1
2 12 March 2014 GSP Stadium, Nicosia  Canada 1–2 Cyprus Cup 1
3 4 March 2015 Veli Jože, Poreč  Hungary 1–1 Istria Cup 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.[18]

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Cite error: Invalid <references> tag; parameter "group" is allowed only.

Use <references />, or <references group="..." />

External links

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Irish player to Sandviken
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Ruesha_Littlejohn&oldid=721382878"