Mary Carr visits Scottish Football Hall of Fame to celebrate induction

Mary Carr, who scored the first ever international goal for Scotland against England in 1972, has been inducted to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Mary was welcomed today, Monday 31^st August, to the Scottish Football Museum’s Hall of Fame Gallery with family and friends to mark the occasion.

Surrounded by her sisters, brother, grandchildren, great grandchild, friends and former fellow player Maggie Wilson, Mary was presented with a token trophy to mark her induction and shown her permanent plaque installed now in the Hall of Fame gallery at the Museum.

Seeing pictures of herself and the Scotland team from 1972 and the match programme from Ravenscraig on display in the Museum Mary said, “I loved playing with all the lassies, we always had great fun together and I’m delighted to be able to come here today. I’m very proud to be inducted to the Hall of Fame.”

A pioneering player

Mary played for Motherwell AEI, the works team formed at the factory where she worked as a machine operator. In 1972, the newly formed Scottish Women’s Football Association decided to organise an international football match against England to demonstrate to the SFA that they were serious in their mission to get women’s football taken seriously and restrictions lifted. For the first time, trials were held to select the team to play an official international match, and Mary was picked to play in the famous match at Ravenscraig Stadium in November that year.

It was a bitter day, and the pitch was frozen with a light covering of snow, but the women were determined to have a good match despite the treacherous conditions. A first half chip from Edna Neillis saw Mary dive to head the ball past a defender and the England keeper into the net, scoring the first ever goal for the official Scottish Women’s National Team. Rose Reilly then scored direct from a corner to put Scotland 2–0 ahead. According to Elsie Cook, the small crowd who had braved the weather to cheer on the team, celebrated like the team had won the world cup. The exciting game saw Scotland leading 2–1 at half time but England recovered to win 3–2.

An outstanding contribution

Matches were fairly infrequent at this time with only one or two played each year. Mary played in 6 matches for Scotland between November 1972 and July 1975. She played twice against England in 1972 and 73, twice against Italy and once against Ireland in 1974. Her last match for Scotland was in July 1975 against Wales when she scored her second international goal in a 3 -2 victory for Scotland.

Through the years that Mary played for Scotland she also played for Motherwell AEI who were, at the time, one of the top teams in Scottish women’s football. During Mary’s time with them they won the league twice, were twice finalists for the Scottish Cup, winning it once in 1974, the first time the cup was played for after the SFA had lifted restrictions on women’s football. Motherwell AEI also won numerous other competitions organised across the country. For example, in 1974, they won a six a side tournament at Kilmarnock, the Leven trophy and the Arbroath 5 a side tournament.

In 1973, Mary took part in a tour to Morrocco organised by Elsie Cook to help raise funds for charity. In 1975, Mary took a path well-travelled by Scottish women footballers who wanted to make football their career and went to Italy. She would have a memorable spell playing Messina, Alaska Gelati Lecce and was on the Rest of Europe side alongside Edna Neillis, Rose Reilly, and June Hunter before ending up in the Netherlands with Cesk. Mary later moved to Ireland and set up coaching for boys and girls between the ages of six and 15. She continued with her coaching role in Ireland for over 30 years.

At the time Mary played no official Caps were presented to those who played for the Scottish Women’s National Team. However, in 2019 the SFA began a project to award retrospective caps to all women who played for the SWNT from 1972 to 1997. Mary’s Cap was awarded in October 2022.

Words of thanks to a legend of the game

Mary was hosted by the Scottish Football Museum team including Head Curator Richard McBrearty, who spoke of his privilege and pleasure at being able to welcome Mary and all to the Museum and honour her in person.

Speaking in the Hall of Fame, Richard said,

“It is thanks to you, Mary, and fellow players like Maggie (Wilson) that the women’s game is able to be played today in the way it is. The confidence, tenacity and passion you showed as a young player to push women’s football forward and to move internationally to play the game you love, is to be admired and respected. We are delighted to see you inducted to the Hall of Fame, it is greatly deserved.”

Mary was formally inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in December 2025 at the Scottish Women in Football Awards event held by Scottish Women’s Football. As Mary could not be there on the evening, former teammate and friend Rose Reilly paid tribute to Mary and spoke of her incredible contribution not only to that celebrated match in 1972, but to football as a whole, both here in Scotland and further afield. Rose accounted that Mary's consistency as a player, tenacity and adventurous spirit made her the woman she was and she fondly recalled the 'two Scottish lassies' meeting up during their time playing in Italy.

The Scottish Football Hall of Fame 

The Hall of Fame aims to celebrate the successes of those in football who have made a significant, positive impact to the game in Scotland. The Scottish Football Museum team have recently refreshed the Hall of Fame, to bring its suite of inductees into a new, modern era and to reflect a more inclusive and current view of the game.

Speaking of the new wave of change to bring the Hall of Fame into a new era, Neal Ross, Chief Executive of the Museum said:

"We are delighted that the Scottish Football Hall of Fame has entered this new chapter to address the balance within the roster and to induct women who have made a outstanding impact on the game. We are thrilled to honour Mary today, surrounded by her family, friends and admirers, and her place on our walls is very well deserved. Her commemorative plaque is now officially installed in our new look Hall of Fame display which celebrates the women who have made the game great, a fantastic new attraction for our visitors to admire and learn more about these incredible women.”

In order to be inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, a candidate must:

Be a retired Coach, Manager, Player with a minimum of 5 years’ experience.

Have made a positive contribution towards Scottish football (not necessarily being Scottish-born or of Scottish heritage themselves) based on any/all of the following 3 principles:

·       Achieved significant success with a Club, League and/or national programme

·       Changed the game for the greater good

·       Pioneered or championed inclusion and/or diversity

There is no minimum requirement of caps for players to be considered for induction to the HOF.