TWO female sporting heroes are among the Scots who feature in the New Year Honours list.
Scotland’s most successful female footballer, Rose Reilly – who won eight Serie A titles, four Italian Cups, and a world championship medal – receives an MBE and golfer Catriona Matthew, who captained Team Europe to victory over the United States in the Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in September, gets an OBE.
Other well-known names on the list include actor Maureen Beattie and singer Gary Lightbody, who is from Northern Ireland but formed his band Snow Patrol while studying at Dundee University.
Reilly, 64, from Stewarton, Ayrshire said: “My first reaction was that I went up to the cemetery to tell my mum and dad. I was so proud – proud for them.”
She added that she had struggled to keep the news a secret. “I was walking about beaming, smiling at people in Stewarton I didn’t even know,” Reilly said.
When she broke the news to her Argentinian husband, he started crying. “I was very happy because it was for us women from Scotland, for women’s football generally,” Reilly said. “It’s usually our male counterpart that get the honours, not so much us. So it has come at a good time. I’ll pick it up for them as well.”
Reilly left her Ayrshire home to become a professional footballer in Europe at the age of 17. After winning the league with Reims in France, she moved to AC Milan and picked up two titles at the club.
Matthew, 50, has been made an OBE for services to golf, 10 years after becoming an MBE.
Also made an OBE is Beattie, who stars with David Tennant in the upcoming TV drama Deadwater Fell. Beattie, the daughter of actor and comedian Johnny Beattie, is recognised for services to the entertainment industry, having become the second female president of the Equity trade union last year.
Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Ross McEwan, who stepped down in October, becomes a CBE for services to the financial sector. Ian Curle, who was chief executive of spirits company Edrington – which owns brands including Macallan, the Famous Grouse and Highland Park whiskies – is made a CBE for services to the Scotch whisky industry. There are also OBEs for two people involved at the V&A Dundee – Lesley Knox, the former chairwoman, for services to culture, and director Philip Long for services to heritage and culture – and one for Joanna Baker, former managing director of the Edinburgh Festival and chair of the National Youth Choir of Scotland.
The UK-wide list includes singer Olivia Newton-John, who is made a dame, and Bond director Sam Mendes, who gets a knighthood. Also knighted is former Tory Party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
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