Hibs Women star opens up on ditching cleaning shifts to live 'dream' of full-time SWPL football

Down time never used to be a problem for Siobhan Hunter. Mainly because she didn’t have any, what with the demands of working full-time – everything from cleaning offices to working shifts in the Post Office sorting depot – leaving her not even a moment’s respite before dashing off to training.

And now? Well, life as a full-time professional footballer has required the Hibs defender to make a few adjustments. Including indulging in what you might classify as clandestine gardening activities … ssshhh, don’t tell the gaffer about that one.

The 30-year-old, whose playing career with her childhood club stretches back an astonishing 21 years, pauses for a moment when asked to pinpoint exactly when she began to think of football as something more than just a pastime. Even if she couldn’t have envisaged making 300 first-team appearances, a milestone reached last weekend, there must have been a day when the “dream” – her own word – appeared more than just some wild-eyed fantasy.

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“It's quite hard to pinpoint a time because you think, oh right, we're going part-time, things like that,” said Hunter, the defender adding: “But probably like four years ago I was beginning to think: ‘Okay, you can actually make a living out of this now.’

“Being full-time meant I didn’t have to work to five o’clock and then rush to training at six. That was quite nice, being able to drop that and just play football, purely football. So from about four or five years ago I would say I could see the dream.

“I mean, I did all kinds of jobs. Back then you had to work, there was no option. That was the hardest thing, doing a full day of work and then coming to training already tired; you just had to deal with it.

“I worked as a cleaner, I worked in the Post Office – fortunately just in the mailing centre, not walking a route. The cleaning job was quite full on, hard physical work pretty much nine to five every day.”

Contrasting those days with her current daily routine, Hunter – who signed an improved new three-year contract with the club in 2022 – admits to finding the transition tricky, explaining: “I'm a person that likes to be busy, so it is sometimes quite hard. I have to force myself to stop doing things and say to myself: ‘No, this is your job. Kind of just relax away from training.’

“It is important, that side of it. But, yeah, just kind of making sure I'm prepared to come to the training every day and then after, just making sure I'm refuelling, going home, chilling.

“It did take a bit of getting used to. And sometimes - I don't know if Grant (Scott, head coach) knows this - I cut my grass! Even that, you probably shouldn't be doing that.

“But you have to be able to do normal things in life as well. Enjoy going out for coffees or whatever before training after training. You do have to kind of manage it and it does take quite a bit of time to adjust to it because you're not used to it, having been used to working all day.

“But this is everything I wanted to do. I’m not going to waste it, so you have to be that top professional, make sure you’re resting as well as training.”

Asked to recall the opportunities available to girls and women when she started at Hibs as a nine-year-old, Hunter said bluntly: “Very few to be honest; we weren't even based at the training centre, it was kind of everywhere and anywhere at that point. Back then it was like Friday nights, eight till 10 at night and stuff like that. So the majority of it has changed.

“Obviously now we're full time, we're a training centre and you get food, all the kit and stuff, the little things that you now realise are a huge, huge part of it as a player. But back then you just never ever thought about it.

Hunter sees a bright future for the next generation. Picture: Michael Hulf, Hibernian FC

“I had an older brother so I kind of just played with him pretty much all the time and my dad was really big on football. He played and my grandad played, so it's kind of a football based family.

“Then I just kind of got in the swing of going to Easter Road with my dad and my grandad. I just loved it.

“Obviously when I was younger it wasn't really a thing that you could go and do that as a full time job, so I think my ambition was just to play or see girls play. Playing was nice. But to do it now as a job is so special.

“And, aye, I’ve been here 21 years now. People think I’m kidding. You get new players coming in they kind of just look at you twice, wondering if you're pretending or not. But I’ve loved every minute of it.”

A local girl, born and raised in Leith and Craigentinny, Hunter hasn’t moved far over the years; by her own precise calculations, she’s now just a 12-minute drive from Hibernian Training Centre. The women’s team have the run of the place for their afternoon sessions, making use of all the facilities available to the men’s team.

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As much joy as she takes from being a full-time pro, Hunter gets almost as much satisfaction from seeing the next generation of academy girls benefit from the trail blazed by their predecessors, predicting: “I think the future looks bright for them. You know, they’re based here, they can see us, so they can see that you can do this as a full-time job. That wasn’t a thing when I was in the academy.

“So even for them to just look up that, it has to be good for them. And the three or four academy players we’ve had in and around the squad recently have shown themselves to be really good players.

“We really want to bring those players into the first team – and move them on if we need to. There are a lot of girls in our team who came through that academy system, and you can tell we’re all really grateful to be here.”

Hunter hopes to rack up appearance 301 for Hibs Women as they make the short trip to play Spartans on Sunday, with a 1 pm KO at Ainslie Park.