New Super Falcons defender, Ashleigh Plumptre, says she is proud to represent Nigeria, her father’s country, over England, where she was born.
The Leicester City defender who had represented England’s U-23 team but requested to switch nationality from England to Nigeria, which FIFA approved in January says people always thought she was white..
Plumptre debuted on a winning note for Nigeria as the Falcons beat the Ivory Coast’s Lady Elephants 2-0 in the first of their final qualifier for the 2022 Women Africa Cup of Nations.
Speaking in an interview with BBC East Midlands, the 23-year-old said;
“It’s always been an assumption that I’m white,”. “I get a lot of messages and people question my heritage a lot, but I can’t necessarily blame them. It comes down to education.
“What people see is what they think. People don’t want to have the conversation or want to consider anything deeper than what they see.
“It’s putting a marker down. It’s not just what you predict a Nigerian to be. For me, I know the importance of representing something bigger than me.
“I’m representing the mixed-race community and especially for the younger ones coming through. You don’t have to look a certain way or be told you are a certain way, you can feel it and you can be it.”
Plumptre helped the Falcons qualify for the WAFCON for the 12th time, following a 1-0 win (3-0 on aggregate) over Ivory Coast in Abidjan on Wednesday.