Paddington Women in Safe Hands — Mills, Reevaldo & Elle

Paddington Women’s Football Club have laid down the marker this summer transfer window, with the signing of 24 year-old goalkeeper Elisa ‘Elle’ Henry.

Elle is a French international goalkeeper, who shot to stardom for France at the 2019 Women’s World Cup, earning all the plaudits for her imposing yet composed demeanour between the sticks.

A renowned shot-stopper, but equally comfortable with the ball at her feet (remarkably, her right foot is as strong as her ‘preferred’ left), Paddington’s signing of Elle is a clear sign of their intent to invest in and take their women’s team to the next level – and what better way to do so than build from the back!

Paddington WFC manager, Caroline Clarke was understandably thrilled with her new signing and stated, that she was “delighted that Paddington has been able to attract a player of Elle’s ability”, and there was no doubt that “she will be vital in ensuring that the club grows from strength to strength in the years to come”.

A few fun facts about Elle:

Her parents moved from Algeria to France in the late 1990’s and she grew up in the Parisian suburb of Bondy playing football in the streets with her four brothers and the other boys in her neighbourhood. Even at a young age, it was clear that she was better than most of them!
She got recruited to Champs-Élysées Féminine, Paris’s largest football academy for girls, at the age of 15, but due to the lack of infrastructure and investment in the women’s game at the time, she did not have as much opportunity as her male counterparts did at the same age.
Nonetheless, she carried on training while at the same time, graduating from high school and later going to university, where she has a degree in Chemistry!
Off the pitch Elle is somewhat of a youth icon in France and is a role model to many young boys and girls, particularly in the ‘banlieues’ (low income housing projects) like her neighbourhood, Bondy. She is a strong advocate for LGBTQ and minority rights and is a firm believer in the power of sport to drive social change.
She has moved to England with her partner, Anna Marie Monet, a data scientist, who she met at university.

Women’s football, particularly in England has been on an upward trajectory over the last few years. Much has been done by The FA to promote the women’s game, with a potential investment of GBP 50 million (approx. EUR 59.2 million) over the coming years, as part of the FA’s “Gameplan for Growth” strategy¹. Further, it was reported that an estimated 850,000 more women had taken up football since the World Cup in 2019². This is in keeping with the implementation of The FA’s four-year strategy, “Inspiring Positive Change”, unveiled in October 2020, which pledges to create a sustainable future for women’s and girls’ football in England³.

Indeed, with talent like Elle playing in the WSL, it is clear that the only way for the women’s game in England, is up.