Councillors today voted to recommend awarding a civic honour to Harrogate-born England footballer Rachel Daly.
Rachel’s first club — Killinghall Nomads Junior Football Club — launched a petition this year in conjunction with the Stray Ferret calling on North Yorkshire Council to officially recognise their former player.
The council has done nothing to mark Rachel’s achievements, which include winning Euro 2022, playing in the World Cup final and winning the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award this year.
The petition received more than the required 500 signatures to make it eligible for debate at the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, which met today.
The petition was introduced by John Plummer, the editor of the Stray Ferret, who said:
“It’s difficult to think of anyone in North Yorkshire who has achieved more in recent years or done more to put Harrogate on the map.
“It is time for the council to wake up and realise Rachel Daly is a local superstar who should be celebrated — and honour our home-grown Lioness.”
Mr Plummer said it was “inconceivable that the council would not be falling over backwards to honour, say, Harry Kane if he was from Harrogate”, and it would “raise uncomfortable questions about the council, whose ruling executive is 80% male” if it denied recognition for Rachel, particularly as councillors had set a precedent by renaming Ripon leisure centre after Olympic diving champion Jack Laugher, who grew up in the city.
Rachel Daly on the pitch named after her at Killinghall Moor Community Park.
The petition suggested renaming Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre but Mr Plummer said the council was welcome to come up with an alternative “but it has to be meaningful and on a scale befitting her accomplishments”.
Cllr Michael Schofield, an Independent who represents Harlow and St George’s, said he had spoken to Rachel, who used to visit the Shepherd’s Dog pub he runs, and she had indicated that although she appreciated the support she didn’t feel naming the leisure centre after her was appropriate.
Cllr Paul Haslam, a Conservative who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said he felt others, including Harrogate’s Paralympic powerlifter Charlotte McGuinness, had an equal right to be recognised.
The council currently has nothing in place for bestowing civic honours.
The 13-person Liberal Democrat-controlled committee voted in favour of recommending the council “develops a civic honours-type scheme for the council and that Rachel Daly’s achievements are recognised through the new scheme”.
Cllr Peter Lacey, a Liberal Democrat who represents Coppice Valley and Duchy, said he hoped the matter could be dealt with swiftly.
Area constituency committees are advisory bodies to the council. It is now up to the council’s Conservative-controlled executive to decide whether to act on its recommendations.
Read more:
- Harrogate’s Rachel Daly ranked 10th best player in world
- Football pitch in Killinghall named after local Lioness Rachel Daly
