In the south western German state of Baden-Württemberg, lies a small town called Willstätt. On the outskirts of that town is a sporting club by the name of SC Sand, better known for it’s women’s footballing side.
The club would have little to no significance to most football fans in Australia, let alone Melbourne but for one thing. SC Sand has a New Zealander (and adopted Australian) on its books, former Melbourne Victory’s W-League defender Rebekah Stott who signed for the club in February.
It seems quite an obscure place to play football, but a little under 100 kilometres away as the crow flies is the city of Stuttgart, famous for among other things, the headquarters of automobile manufacturers Mercedes Benz. It is also home to VFB Stuttgart, the club which Victory fan favourite ‘Kiwi Messi’ Marco Rojas joined back in May.
Much like Rojas had done for the A-League side, Stott had become part of the furniture at Victory, proving to be an immovable object in the line up over two seasons at the club. Her performances for Victory and New Zealand ultimately drew the attention of the small German club, who signed the stylish defender up on a two year deal.
However, while Rojas seems happy to bide his time in his new surroundings following an unfortunate broken foot, Stott has since negotiated a release from her contract. The plan was to return to Victory for this current W-League campaign, a decision seemingly made on her own. Perhaps it was a bit of homesickness, missing her old teammates back in Melbourne with whom she is a popular figure. The only problem for Victory however, was SC Sand’s desire to have Stott play up until the winter break in Germany.
The club play in the 2. Bundesliga South division, the second tier of women’s football in Germany. It was an opportunity for Stott to ply her trade overseas, a dream for any footballer. The club have had a modest record in recent years, with a third place finish in the 2012-13 season being their best finish since the current league structure was implemented in 2004.
To everyone’s surprise, the club have been punching way above their weight this season. SC Sand have been an unbeatable force so far, winning ten and drawing one in their eleven league games this season, while progressing to the quarter finals of the Frauen DFB-Pokal. The most impressive part of it all was their defensive record, conceding only five goals in the league and none in the cup. Their next opponent in the Pokal is FF USV Jena, a Bundesliga club and one time Pokal finalist, who have fellow Kiwi internationals Amber Hearn, Ria Percival and Abby Erceg in their squad, and sit a respectable fifth in the top division. No wonder SC Sand have been keen to keep hold of their prized asset given the calibre and familiarity of opposition.
It is not hard to believe how important a player she is to have in their squad, given her recent performance for New Zealand against reigning Olympic champions USA. Stott received rave reviews for how she handled the task of marking Abby Wambach. One of the best strikers in women’s football was kept scoreless, quite an impressive feat for Stott given Wambach has scored 163 goals in 212 appearances for USA.
Stott’s talent has been sorely missed in Victory’s back line, and it would have been hard for her to watch the defence ship five goals in the Grand Final replay against Sydney FC in Round 1. While Jessica Humble and Emma Checker have done a solid job in the centre of defence since, there is no doubt the return of Stott to the squad will boost the team significantly, on and off the field.
As it is, SC Sand’s final fixture before the winter break is that cup quarter final against FF USV Jena on 15th December, meaning Stott could return to Melbourne by Christmas, with a view to play the big clash at AAMI Park on January 4 against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Victory will love to have her services for a tough fixture list in the run in to the playoffs, and the wait to see Stott back in a navy blue shirt should not last much longer. Until then, she’ll be doing her best to ensure SC Sand keep their unbeaten record intact.