The striker with 102 England caps, who had to turn to the law to make a living, has now found arguably her most pioneering role to date

Eniola Aluko has been trailblazing since she was in primary school, first for her brother Sone who became an international footballer like his older sister. “She was always a couple of steps ahead,” he said. “She went before me, she gave me the belief.”

Those words have been echoed many times by those who have followed in Aluko’s wake, as she gained 102 caps for England while studying for a degree and later working as a lawyer.

Aluko was the first female pundit on Match of the Day and a guest editor of Women’s Hour, joining the ranks of JK Rowling and Angelina Jolie. But arguably her most pioneering role to date has been as a whistleblower, whose revelations of discrimination and deeply flawed investigations may yet cost the most senior individuals at the Football Association their jobs.

Eniola Aluko: ‘I won’t be paid the same as Wayne Rooney, because I’m not Wayne Rooney’ Read more

This week Aluko, a slightly built 30-year-old, who at 5ft 4in is normally the smallest player on the pitch, took on the might of the sport’s national governing body. For a flawless hour, she answered questions from MPs in the department of culture, media and sport select committee. Not once did she waver from a narrative that has remained constant throughout. While she was playing for the England women’s team in 2015 the then-manager Mark Sampson told her to make sure her family did not bring the Ebola virus to Wembley. He also asked Drew Spence – a mixed-race player – how many times she had been arrested.

Aluko complained and two inquiries followed, both of which cleared Sampson of any wrongdoing – one an internal review and the other a three-month independent inquiry, carried out by a barrister, Katharine Newton, on behalf of the FA.

But Aluko stuck to her guns. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport convened a select committee on Wednesday and, just an hour before the hearing, she received the news that Newton had now ruled that Sampson did make the remarks and that they were discriminatory.

It cut deep to watch women she had grown up with seemingly unite against her

“I finally feel vindicated,” said Aluko, “a sense of justice.” But the whole saga has left her scarred. While publicly she has remained admirably dignified, there have been difficult moments. Most notably when her former England teammates celebrated a goal in a world cup qualifying match in September by pointedly running to embrace Sampson on the touchline.

“After seeing footage of the celebrations,” she wrote on Twitter: “Tonight’s ‘message’ only shows a level of disrespect that represents division and selfish action.” Beneath the anger though, it cut deep to watch women she had grown up with seemingly unite against her. Some of them she still plays with at Chelsea. But those closest to Aluko were not surprised she weathered the storm.

A former teammate, Anita Asante, who played alongside her at Chelsea and England, says she has a very strict moral code. “Eni’s always very honest on and off the field and I was impressed by how courageous she was. To continue to voice your opinion even when you have a magnifying glass on you is difficult,” said Asante. “She is interested in doing the right thing and opening up the opportunity for positive change in the future.”

Aluko’s mum, Sileola, and dad, Daniel, a former MP in Nigeria, moved the family from Lagos to Birmingham when she was six months old. Growing up on an estate, Aluko spent her childhood playing in local parks with Sone and his mates. “I realised pretty quickly I was better at football than all of them,” she has said. “The boys would all boast about having me as a friend and it gave me a lot of confidence from a young age.”

At Broadmeadow junior school, Eni – as she is known – and Sone played in the same team for a year before she went off to play with the girls. A natural goal scorer, her talent was soon identified by scouts for Birmingham City Ladies and she scored on her debut, aged 14, against Leeds United and soon after earned a call up for England.

“My favourite story about Eni is the first England training camp she went on,” says her agent, Jo Tongue, who sat with Eni during the parliamentary hearing this week. “She turned up wearing a pencil suit while all the other girls were in tracksuits. But that perfectly demonstrates how earnest Eni is and also how proud the family were. She was going off to camp and they couldn’t imagine her turning up in anything less smart than a suit.”

Her electric form led Marcus Bignot, manager of Birmingham City Ladies, to describe her as “the Wayne Rooney of women’s football”. The FA named her young player of the year in 2003.

While Eni played for England for 11 years, Sone, who now plays for Reading, opted to represent Nigeria. Eni has said she still feels a very strong connection to the country. The pair speak regularly on the phone, assessing each other’s game.

“She’s very positive,” Sone has said. “Similar to me, she’s always thinking about the game. Before a match I’m thinking: ‘Who have they got? Do I go high? Do I go deep? Do I go behind?’ I can see Eni’s trying to solve some of those puzzles [in] the way she plays as well.”

But while Sone and other male players were making thousands of pounds a week, there was little money in the game for the women and Aluko – recognising she needed a second profession – turned to law. She qualified with a first-class honours degree from Brunel University and now works for the firm Slaughter & May in London. During the women’s Euro 2017 championships, Aluko did punditry work for Channel 4 and will do more this season for other broadcasters.

Her passion for law came from reading To Kill A Mockingbird at school. “I was obsessed with the character Atticus Finch,’’ said Aluko of the novel about the trial of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. “I really liked the idea of having a voice for the voiceless, getting someone justice against the odds. That really resonated with me.”

It is a storyline Aluko has reminded herself of throughout her battle to expose flaws in the FA’s investigation into Sampson, which she claimed deliberately set out to exonerate him. She is also still fighting to receive the second half of an £80,000 payment from the FA which was being withheld because they claimed she had breached a compromise agreement.

“I didn’t ever think for a single second think that she wasn’t telling the truth,” said Asante. “She’s a tough character on the field and is not afraid to give her opinion if she wants things to happen or needs to give people a kick up the arse. Like with all friends, sometimes you love them and sometimes you hate them. But with Eni you always know it’s real.

“She’s shown it just takes one person willing to have courage to stand up and talk,” said Asante. “Many who feel like this in their own sport or place of work can see there is someone who has dared to do it.”

Eniola Aluko

Born: February 1987

Career: A striker, Aluko signed for Birmingham City Ladies in 2001, aged 14, before signing with Charlton and then Chelsea, where she remained for two seasons before a short spell playing in America while studying for the New York bar exam. On her return to England, Aluko signed for Chelsea again and remains with them. She scored 33 goals in 102 games for England but has not played internationally since 2016. Alongside her footballing career, Aluko is a trained lawyer with a first-class honours degree from Brunel University and works as a consultant for the firm Slaughter & May, based in London.

She says: “I’ve always been interested in law. I remember when I was young I absolutely loved Atticus Finch [from the film and novel To Kill a Mockingbird]. I watched the movie over and over again and I used to walk around the house quoting him all the time. I loved the way he helped the defenceless and was a voice for those who didn’t have a voice.

They say: “We’ve been so used to an environment of silence where people daren’t speak up. For Eni to break that mould will hopefully create a shift that will give others confidence to speak out if anything comes up likes this again.” Anita Asante, footballer.