REID…my passion [for football] came through my childhood as there were no females around, so I had to learn the games boys did to fit in so I could just have fun

If talent were like precious stones, Ieisha “Pally” Reid would possess an infinite supply.

But, as logic teaches, talent alone takes you only part of the journey — it’s smarts, planning, and steely determination that ultimately takes one all the way.

Reid, who hails from the village of Middleton of east St Thomas, seems to have a handle on the key tenets that drive success.

She is not quite there yet, but like most success stories, she has a high appreciation that employing the philosophy of ‘one step at a time’ is often the basis of an unshakeable foundation.

Reid, a graduate of Morant Bay High School, has also learnt that one disappointment in life does not mean the end of the story but the start of a new chapter.

As a girl growing up in her rustic community, the Middleton Primary School alumna had lofty dreams of becoming a top flight footballer — a desire and passion she fuels to this day.

Even with a mountain of skills, it is still difficult to make it big as a female player from Jamaica, with poor organisation and infrastructure stifling the women’s game.

But the pint-sized Reid has not allowed her sputtering football career to hold her back. Instead, she has tapped into her reservoir of abilities to carve out a living.

Today she has stayed true to her roots by getting into a family tradition of livestock farming, getting down and dirty with the hogs she rears.

The resourceful 26-year-old also ekes out a living as an artist, specialising in portrait and mural paintings. Reid’s work as a muralist stands as proud testament of her talents in and around the parish capital of Morant Bay.

And between all of that, she holds down a nine-to-five at Chong Sang Hardware as a bill writer, and on weekends she is spinning music at local parties. Standing at 4ft 11in, Reid is a living demonstration that size does not matter.

But where does she get this raging spirit to compete and accomplish?

“My parents Arnella Miller and father Laurel Reid have six children, five of whom are boys, so I was born in a male-dominated family,” that was Reid’s short answer.

And it was this environment of searing male testosterone that shaped her into the tomboy she became and her subsequent love for football.

“My passion [for football] came through my childhood as there were no females around, so I had to learn the games boys did to fit in so I could just have fun.

“As a result, competition came in as to who was the better, although being a female. I was often sidelined or benched at evening games as the men thought I couldn’t handle the heat, but this made me push harder until I was on a level playing field with them,” Reid shared with the Jamaica Observer.

She first played competitively at the primary school level.

“I started playing at around age 10, where I ended up being the only female playing with the boys in the Lime League at primary school.

“But, as I got older, I represented St Thomas Strikers, which was later renamed Real Morant,” she noted.

Reid, who still plays with the boys on a Sunday evening and who claims to be adept as a “utility player and winger”, was eager to share a standout football moment.

“My greatest football moment would have been getting accepted by Mr Blackwood, my then primary school coach who turned me down based on gender at first.

“But I was able to prove myself to him that I could compete with the boys from top schools in the parish, which set me on my way to bigger things,” she recalled.

As her football stock grew, she took pride with her stints in the then Sherwin Williams Premier League, playing for “top teams like Barbican FC and Los Perfectos”.

“My worst football memory would have been playing in the Sherwin Williams women’s league and not winning a match despite all the hard work.

“Another phase would have been playing several matches in the parish [St Thomas] and not receiving suitable support from spectators or residents,” Reid said.

Even though she was not having the kind of team success she dreamt of, her individual performances did not go unnoticed.

“My only invitation came in ninth grade at Morant Bay High School, where I was invited with two other teammates to the national Under-20 training session for three days,” Reid said.

“For the girls who represent Jamaica now, I’ve played with some of them competitively or had the opportunity to train with them. They are Deneisha Blackwood, Trudy Carter, Konya Plummer, and I met ‘Bunny’ [Khadija Shaw] as an establish player at a Reggae Girlz training session, but those are moments I cherish,” she added.

The invitation to the Under-20 national squad did not go to plan, and with that, the prospects for football greatness for Reid faded with time as other factors conspired against her pursuit of her true love.

“I no longer play competitive football since most girls from my team went to other teams, and another factor would have been the suspension of the competition due to lack of sponsorship,” she noted.

Reid said that the success of Girlz skipper Shaw, specifically her rise in the professional ranks as a Manchester City player and her respect among the world’s best internationals, speaks to the possible outcomes when all the crucial elements align in a career.

“I think that Bunny Shaw is a living testimony of hard work and perseverance… for the few chances I got to train with her, she was always a fighter and a strong leader, so it’s no surprise the heights where she is now,” she reasoned.

“I really think Shaw has demonstrated that anything is possible with hard work as she has multiple awards to show, and the most memorable one would have been the Guardian newspaper’s award, which is not just given to anyone, but someone who would have overcome challenges while helping others to achieve their goals and being completely honest in doing so.

“She has also proven that is not where you’re from but where you intend on going despite the odds, as she hails from Spanish Town which is sometimes looked down on,” Reid went on.

She thinks that women’s football is on the up in Jamaica, and with back-to-back World Cup qualification, there could be few arguments to counter this narrative.

“The football talent coming out of Jamaica is really great. However, if spotted earlier, we would be producing twice as many as we are producing now.

“Qualifying for back-to-back World Cup for our women came as no surprise, as I said before, the raw talents are here, and if used the correct way, we can pose a real threat to other teams. I believe our girls have the right attitude and mindset going forward, and I’m just hopeful they can win or even become a runner-up at the World Cup,” Reid stated.

She said Jamaica’s football success to date will only become sustainable when there is a movement dedicated to building the product up from the roots.

“I don’t think enough is being done to properly develop football in Jamaica, whether it’s men or women. I think we should have more grass roots training in communities for both boys and girls.

“We also need more opportunities for players to move to the national levels because a lot of talented players get left behind, with some end up playing corner league or females finding regular jobs and forgetting they could even play football, like myself, who now only play for fun,” said Reid.

And even though the game is not at the top of her agenda these days, Reid has Jamaica’s football’s best interest at heart.

“My personal vision for women’s football in Jamaica is that we evolve, where we get past the gender bias where we would have as many supporters in our stands as when males are playing.

“I would also want us to get more funding and equipment so that we will develop as our male teams, and I would also like to see more competitions so that our people can get used to seeing women playing without discrimination,” she asserted.

What will surprise many people outside of her immediate community is that the “baller girl” from Middleton also supplements her income by rearing goats and pigs.

“Being a footballer for me is just natural, but I do have other passions which stem from farming as my philosophy is don’t put all your eggs in one basket, so I learnt early to spread my wings.

“I’m a very humble and down-to-earth female who has no issue in getting my hands dirty. I grasped most things that were taught to me by my male-dominated family, which I grew up seeing doing farming.

“Both my parents were farmers, may it be plants or livestock, and I’ve always had a love for animals, so farming was natural for me as well,” she noted.

Reid is looking to build out her farming project, looking to supply meat to the wider parish and not just her hometown of Middleton and surrounding villages.

“I do plan to expand my animal rearing into a complete business that supplies a wider market, but this would require a set sum of money or materials to take it to the next level. Who knows, this may help me to become a full-time entrepreneur where I can employ people from my community,” she noted.

When Reid is not on the farm, making masterful strokes of the paint brush, or playing a game of scrimmage with the boys, there are other things that demand her time.

“I also mix music and I am [a] lover of the 80s and 90s dancehall music, so I would be playing at minor events in the community,” she concluded.

— Sean Williams

Footballer-turn-farmer, Ieisha Reid attends to her pigs.

St Thomas native Ieisha Reid juggles the football.

A portrait of a baby crying by Ieisha Reid

One of many murals painted by footballer Ieisha Reid.

A portrait of St Thomas dancehall artiste Popcaan