Ian Wright's granddaughter blocked from playing by club for being 'too good'
UPDATE: Marlow FC were not contacted for comment before this article was published. We apologise for that omission. Their statement has now been added.
Former Chelsea and Manchester City ace Shaun Wright-Phillips has taken aim at Bury Rangers Girls football club for blocking his daughter's participation from any future tournaments.
The son of Arsenal icon Ian Wright took to social media to vent his anger towards the local club for rejecting Raphaelle's attempts to take part in an upcoming tournament as well as 'any general participation'. Wright-Phillips wrote on X: "So today I was told my daughter Raphaelle is NOT allowed to play with her friends in local girls tournaments or any general participation because she is effectively 'too good'.
"She is 10 years old! She simply wants to play football with her friends. There should not be an ability restriction. Players in general will have all kinds of skill levels, and it's my view any 'stronger players' should not be punished for this."
"There will naturally be all variations of ability in all walks of life, and it's important for everyone to be competitive and set bars to improve one another. Very disappointed to hear this BuryOfficial and MarlowFC."
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Wright-Phillips proceeded to then post screenshots of messages he'd received from what appeared to be tournament officials. In one, he was told that the competitions were "unable to accept entries from teams that are academies or strongly linked to academies as we are a grassroots standard tournament."
Another reply explained: "I am very sorry but we would not entertain your club entering. We are aware of your Arsenal pre-academy connection and therefore you are too strong a side to be considered at this time."
Last summer, Wright-Phillips revealed that his daughter had penned a youth contract with the Gunners. He also explained how Raphaelle certainly has shown the dedication required to make it at the highest level.
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"She’s probably the most dedicated child of that age I think I’ve seen, considering she only really started playing probably two years ago,” sthe ex-England international explained.
"And to show her dedication to it – I tell people this story all the time – I remember taking her to the beach one day and all she wanted to do is pull-ups and things like that, rather than go down the slide. That’s when I realised she was going to be more sporty."
Raphaella's grandfather and Gunners great Ian Wright has often championed her remarkable ability and uploaded clips of her training to his own social media profiles. During his recent announcement regarding his Match of the Day presenting gig coming to an end, the Arsenal legend claimed: "I'm going to actually watch more football - I'm going to watch my granddaughter."
A Marlow FC statement said: “As a grassroots club who actively promotes community football, especially for girls, Marlow FC are very disappointed in how this has been misrepresented. Marlow FC has had no dialogue with Wright-Phillips. All events have rules and these are published on the application form. The team that applied is ineligible.
"Given that Wright-Phillips states his daughter is 10 years old, she would not have been able to play anyway because the team that applied has a maximum age of 9. Marlow FC has a long history of promoting youth football and giving children of all abilities the opportunity to grow and develop.”
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