We Are Chelsea - How It Started: Hannah Hampton

Episode Date: May 29, 2024

This is We are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Škoda, the official car partner of Chelsea Women and proud supporters of women's sport. www.skoda.co.uk This week, Caz De Moraes is joined by Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton! After a promising first season at the club, Hannah takes us back to her early life, and makes us through her journey to becoming a Chelsea footballer. She talks about growing up in Spain playing in the Villarreal academy, how she learned multiple languages, including sign, to make sure she wasn't bored, and how she always enjoyed running, despite somehow ending up as a goalkeeper. Did we also ask her to give us a rendition of her famous 'Gimme gimme' chant? Of course we did... Remember to subscribe and leave a review, wherever you get your podcasts! Send us your questions to [e-mail] To watch the full episode on YouTube, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@chelseafc/videos #WeAreChelsea Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Give me, give me, give me a keeper from the Midlands. She plays for Chelsea, but she grew up in Spain. Give me, give me, give me a keeper from the Midlands. Oh, 24, her name is the hollays. Do-da-da-da-da-da-da. Hey! Hello and welcome to We Are Chelsea, the official podcast of Chelsea Women, brought to you in association with Skoda,

who are the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's sport. I'm Casimir's and part of the reason for doing this podcast is to inspire the next generation of players but also give you all an insight into what it takes to reach the very top. We're going to find out how it all started with the biggest stars from the Chelsea team. Their origin stories, what inspired them to get into the game and what setbacks they have had to overcome along the way.

Today I'm very excited to be joined by goalkeeper Hannah Hampton. Well, Hannah, thank you so much for my. coming on to the podcast. How are you today? I'm a good, thank you. Yeah, I'm okay. I'm not too bad. Everything's always better when the sun's shining. Yeah, definitely. So I want to start with you a little bit on your early life. I know that you've talked about this a lot, but we want to hear it on the podcast. You've emigrated from Spain, to Spain even, from Birmingham when you were just five and eventually scouted by Villarau youth team. So I think you've taken quite an

interesting path that not many other players have. How did you get into football and what was the story behind you getting scouted? I think just in Spain it's quite normal for the boys and the girls at like obviously play times at the end of the day to play sports together on the playground and obviously in Spain the big thing is football. So a lot of times all everyone was just playing football on the playground and yeah, I thought let's go join in. Let's have a bit of fun with my friends and stuff and before we even moved to Spain I was like obviously

kicking a ball around chasing around all the balls when you're a little kid and sat on the side of my brother's sports matches being too young to play, moning with my parents, being like I want to go join and all this so yeah in Spain it was just normal

so I joined them with the lads and the school that we were at was like the main school in Villareal so all the men's players sent their kids to the school so at the end of the day they would be there picking up their children so they would see all of us playing on the playground

and they came up to myself and it was like you should trial for Villarreal and see how it goes. So yeah, I didn't expect much of it. Do you remember which player it was? Yeah, it was Fabio Fuentes. His daughter was in my class. So it was him who came up to me

at the end of the school day one time and said you should go trial. And when I first moved there, I didn't know any Spanish. so he was speaking like foreign to me so I had to get at the time one of like the translators to translate it for me

and for my parents so yeah I remember once I'd had the trial and you had the phone call whether or not you'd been picked to obviously be in the club or not we were driving out at the school gates once and my mum just got a phone call

and it was a Spanish number and she answered it and they were just speaking really quickly in Spanish didn't have a clue so she stopped the car behind, which was like another teacher from the school who could obviously speak both English and Spanish and she translated it for us and that's how I found out

if I was in the club or not. Oh my gosh. And have you maintained any contact with him since? Fabio Fentes, no, but obviously his daughter. I'm my school friend and all the friends that I made when playing football over in Spain. So that was nice.

And do you ever say like, your dad should be a scout? He was absolutely right. look where I am now. I mean, it's not really ever come back up into conversation, to be honest, in terms of his dad are scouting me, but yeah, it's just nice being able to stay in touch with all the Spanish lot, so we just speak about all the stuff we used to get up to in school rather than her dad's scouting me.

Okay, fair enough. And you obviously can speak Spanish now. Do you think that comes in use with some of the players coming in overseas and have you found it, I guess, especially useful with maybe Myra in particular? Yeah, I was laughing last night with Myra at the awards night because obviously she didn't know in English when she first came over. So I've been the translator for her, like in meetings and everything. But it was funny because when obviously we first knew we were getting Myra, a few of the

staff came up to me and was like, oh, we're getting a new place. She doesn't speak any English, just Spanish, so we're just wondering if you could help out with her. And it'd been a while since I'd obviously last spoken Spanish. oh my gosh I've got to remember it and all this and the other and then by the time they told me this and I was upstairs and I walked downstairs Myra just walked through the door on a very first day so I was like oh so you want it like this this soon you want me to be able to speak Spanish again so I was like right okay and um one of the staff was with Myra like obviously welcome her in

and we're like oh Hannah perfect timing you can you can speak Spanish like come say hi At the time, I was learning in Italian. So I was like improving my Italian and I was getting my Spanish and Italian completely mixed up speaking to Myra and the first day. So she must have thought, who enough is this girl? But yeah, once I'd obviously been around Myra for a couple of days, the Spanish just comes back to you. So yeah, it was good. But the first day was a bit of a struggle trying to remember everything. But that happens, I think, when there's a side of your brain that goes to languages.

I speak some languages as well. So I know. And then if I'm speaking French, say, a lot. And then I have to switch to Spanish, it will, I'll start mixing French and Spanish. So I think that's really common. Hopefully, she didn't think anything of it. And then, like you said, eventually it all comes back. And it's fine.

Yeah. I mean, it still happens now because I'm still like messaging my friend in Italian. So I'm writing an Italian, but then I'm trying to speak in Spanish. And I'm trying to listen to her in Spanish and reply in Spanish. I'm replying to all the messages in Italian. Italian. It's just like, what is going on? I love that. Why did you choose to learn Italian? Just another language. It keeps me something to do most times after training.

Obviously, when we're finished, I think people realise I'm not really a person who can just sit around and do nothing. I've got to be able to do something. I get bored quite easily. So it's been quite nice being able to learn Italian and knowing other languages as well. It's quite easy to pick up. It's quite similar. And I have friends who are Italian anyway, so it's quite nice being able to speak to them rather than expect back to them to speak English. Yeah, that's amazing. I feel like that's not the norm in Britain, though.

People don't just naturally as a hobby want to speak other languages. So it's great that you're doing that. And, you know, if there's, you can communicate with even more people. So very interesting. And I don't know if this is right, but I read that you also can communicate in sign language. Yeah, I know a little bit of sign language. Why did you decide to learn sign language? My cousin's deaf.

Okay. And so... growing up I could see the struggles with how it would be for him communicating with with normal people and yeah obviously there's lip breeding that he's quite good at so if you speak to him obviously he can lip read but I didn't think that's fair on him being able to just always have to lip read people it's quite nice having someone who can obviously sign with him as well and it was always just my uncle who was signing with him and whenever we need something in the family it would always be our Pete can you translate this for Ethan or can you tell Ethan this

So, yeah, I wanted to try and learn a bit so at least I can speak with my own family and my own cousin. And I also know when it's out in public and the one odd person is able to sign, like, how much it made Ethan happy. So just being able to see the joy on his face that other people who aren't got hearing disabilities are still learning sign language is quite nice. So I thought if I can do a little bit like that, it'll go a long way for. for certain people. Absolutely. Have you found that if you've communicated with somebody who's got a partial hearing or a hearing impediment when they're a fan and they maybe don't know that you can

communicate and then you started communicating, can you see that they're just like, oh my God, yes, Hannah. Yeah, you can tell when people are not struggling but don't know how to say what they want to say. So there's been a few times when I've stepped in to assist and, you know, You can see the smile it brings to their face and seeing the smile on their face, like, makes me happy. So if I can help anyone in any way,

then I'll try and do as much as I can. Oh, that's brilliant. Going back to the football now, I know that you originally played as a striker. When did you make the transition into goalie and who helped you realise that that was your calling? I'm guessing is it that in Spain, everyone starts off as a striker and then slowly moves,

like, into different positions? No, no. In Spain, I was always a striker, a winger, midfielder, wherever they wanted running, I would be there because I enjoyed it. And even when I moved back to England and I was at Stoke, first, I was still a striker or a winger. And it was only when, I think, I was like 12 and a cube got injured in the warm up. I said I'd volunteer to go in goal like you do your round, that everyone goes around and takes their turn. So I thought, yeah, it's my turn, so I'll go in goal. and yeah after the game there was an England scout on the side that said we'll want you as our England goalkeeper so I thought nothing of it at first I was like that's not a position

no chance when the week after went out of the position did you say yeah I was just thinking in my head like I never said it to them like my coach obviously told me and I was just thinking that we'll brush it aside or we'll decide what to do in it in a couple of weeks but the week after it was another game and another scout came to watch and I was playing out field and they said, we'll take you as our England, England winger or England striker kind of thing, like as an outfield player. And that was it. And just had to choose. And I thought, let's have a bit of fun with it. I'll go, I'll play in goal for England, but I'll play outfield for Stoke still. So I did that. I mean, I went to an England camp when I was 12 as a goalkeeper

and I didn't even have any clue about goalkeeping. So that was fun. And then I don't think I properly made the switch to goalkeeper until I was 14. I think I did like two seasons at Stoke when I was just playing outfield or I'd play like half game outfield, half a game in goal. So I was guaranteed 90 minutes every single week. Nice. Yeah. Being smart with it.

Yeah, you have to. You have to. And I guess when you were younger, was there a, I guess, what was the difference in your mentality of being a goalkeeper compared to an outfield player and compare that maybe to now? I just like scoring goals and running. That was my only reason of not wanting to go in goal. Fair enough.

You wanted all the glory when you were little. But now I guess... I just enjoyed running and I thought goalkeeper, you don't get a run. Yeah, okay. Now the tables have completely turned when you're kind of professional. He was like running. No, thanks. I was going to say, what is it compared to now that you're a professional?

No, to be fair, I do try and push the boundaries a bit with the fitness with the staff. And they tell me after to calm down. But we try. got to push your luck at sometimes, haven't you? Yeah, absolutely. I also read that you were told by doctors that you had some issues with your vision and perception in particular. So as a goalkeeper, or even as an outfield player, I guess I'm assuming that sight and death perception plays a major part. How have you adapted your game around this? Everyone says this, but I don't know how. Oh, really? I guess because it's super interesting. I guess I've just sat to put up with it, so you have to just

get on with it. Okay. It's not really ever been something that I've had, so I don't know what it would be like if I did have it, do you know what I mean? Yeah. No, it's just I get on with it. If there's been a few times in the past when you'd get like a few blooded noses and stuff when you've misjudged the ball or a few broken fingers when the ball's called it wrong.

Okay. Yeah, you just have to deal with it. But, yeah, everyone says like how you're a goalkeeper with no depth perception. and I have no idea. I don't get it. I'm a bit of a weird weird situation, but it's worked, so we'll take it.

It absolutely has worked. Now, our little birdies told me that you love a game of Uno when you're travelling. And I spoke to Fran earlier in the season and she talked about how competitive she is with football, but not in other areas of her life.

Are you competitive in other areas of your life as well? Do you get competitive when playing Uno? I wouldn't really say, competitive, I think it just goes back to the thing of not wanting to be bored, so I just have to do something. Yeah, we have a little table, table on the bus, where we play a few card games and a few games, but yeah, I think that the Oona, I play with one of the staff, like one of the photographers. Okay. Very competitive. Very competitive. And I've got it all tallyed down on like scores and points and everything. I mean, I am winning, so she's losing by quite a lot.

which does give a head loss sometimes but yeah I'm just there for the fun and not being bored but it obviously helps me winning so you're not goading her as you're winning no I just thought you know what let's put it out in here let her listen to it and see what happens when we next play

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something in the range to suit teams of all shapes and sizes. Don't just take my word for it. search the Scoda range today to jump in and see for yourself. Let's talk a little bit about the incident when you were playing for Aston Villa. But for those who, like lots of people have probably seen the Ball Boy incident. But for those who haven't, can you give us a bit of a rundown of what exactly happened? Of the Ball Boy one? Yeah. I mean, I was a bit confused myself, to be honest.

City thought I was just time wasting and I was a bit like, your ball kid is literally not giving me the ball back and it was so awkward because there was a camera like right behind right behind her so I was like can I please have the ball can I please have the ball please can I have the ball and I was like like signalling

give me like can I please have the ball and she was like oh we're not allowed to give it you like COVID says we can't give it you I'm thinking like can I please have the ball I've got the ref then whistling me going like hurry up on And there was at the time, like, the guy who was going famous, like, viral for pointing out the obvious Ghabi or something like this. So I've literally turned around to the ref and I've gone, well, like this to the ball kid, he's then retweeted it, like, Carb has retweeted it going, obviously, like, I'm copying him.

I'm thinking, like, what is going on here? I'm like, I just want the ball so I can play football. But, yeah, see, I like, thinking I'm time wasted. And I'm like, your kid's not giving me it back. I come back to my phone. I mean, we lost the game and I come back to my phone and my phone's gone mad of everyone posting this clip. Everyone, all my friends are messaging me going,

it's absolutely hilarious. You've gone viral. I'm thinking, for what? I've just lost. And so, yeah. I know, literally, literally. Oh, brilliant. Let's talk now a little bit about Chelsea.

You signed to Chelsea last year from Aston Villa. Tell us about what it was like before you signed when you knew they were interested and I guess what influenced you to come to Chelsea. It's hard to put into words like what it's really like being at Chelsea. From when I first got involved in the professional game and my very first game, I was involved with at Birmingham. I was against Chelsea.

I was 15 and I was involved like on the bench just like as a standby. keeper and it was against Chelsea so seeing all the players and the qualities that they had and back then and that'd be my very first game I was always hoping and dream and I imagine one day I've got to be there I got to be at Chelsea I got to have Emma Hayes coach me and all the staff thinking it'll never be possible but you can always like dream and then obviously going to villa. I was thinking, hopefully it's still on the cards, maybe in the future, just had to take like a step in the right direction, going to villa. And, yeah, as soon as Emma showed interest in the summer, it was a bit of a no-brainer, no matter whatever. However many other clubs came in

for me, I was, I was always wanting to go Chelsea. I've always, as everyone says, I always bleed blue. I can't think of me being at any other club, especially not a red club. So, So, yeah, I definitely bleed blue. And being here and being under Chelsea is a special foot for me. I mean, I've lived out my dream on wanting to be at this club. So it's a lovely feeling. And it's funny because when I was in England, Camps and Carly was playing, she kept saying to me, oh, one day, Stuart Sell, the keeper coach here,

he'll be your coach one day. Like, he's unbelievable, he'll be your coach. I was thinking, Carly. come on like be sensible this ain't going to happen and carly was like no no it's going to be happening you'll go to Chelsea one day and I was thinking like Carly I'd love it

I'd love it if you could put in a good word I would love it but it's never going to happen and yeah I mean it's happened and having Carly at the club still and her telling me I told you it'll happen and having Stu and Emma as your coaches it's been unbelievable and they're both so deep

detailed so driven in success and you can see the success that they've had is from all the hard work that they put in and the dedication that they give to the football club and to each individual in helping them improve so yeah it's been it's lovely having them as coaches what do you think it will be like when knowing that this is going to be emma's last season what do you think you've learned from her during the past season gosh you've gotten that in a short answer Blimey. No, I think there's so much I've learnt for Emma, off-pitch, how it affects you on pitch

and how you can deal with things and training your brain and loads of things like that that you don't realise are so important but make a huge impact for you when you're on the pitch and obviously improve your game and play the best you can, but obviously you've got all the technical

and tactical stuff from her, but for me, yes, they're important, but I think I'll value all of the stuff that she's done for me off the pitch and help me with gaining a bit of self-confidence that I never had from before. So, yeah, I'll always owe a lot to Emma, and it's obviously sad to see her go, but you can understand the opportunity that she's been given, and I wish her all the best, just not all the best when she plays England. Well, touching on England, very briefly,

let's talk about winning the euros and can you even sum up what that felt like? Yeah, it was an unbelievable summer I think it was made even special by the fan's engagement and how much everyone got involved and yes

we might have been in our little COVID bubble but you definitely saw all the videos from afar and people going to the pubs and watching the games or people out in the gardens watching the games and little things that are going on so it definitely gave us the push that we needed to to go all the way and win the tournament.

It will obviously always be a special moment and I just hope we can recreate it again next summer and yeah, just hope I can contribute in a different way this time. Now, talking a little bit about social media, I've seen on the Chelsea Women's TikTok, I've seen you singing your gimmee, gimmee chan. Did you come up with that yourself?

No, everyone thinks I've come up with this myself. I'm thinking like, I'm sorry, but I'm really not that sad to make up my own challenge. I was thinking clever. I wasn't thinking sad. No, I was, no, well, everyone's like, it's so sad that she had to make a brooch. I'm thinking, trust me, if I could have made up that chant, I would have been buzzing with myself. So, no, I didn't make it up. But it was when I was at Villa and everyone was like, she plays for Villa, but she grew up in Spain.

And then it was like, oh, number one, her name was double head. So it's just, like, changed from, obviously, from Villa to Chelsea and number one to 24. Okay. But everyone's like, she's made of her own chant. I was thinking. For those who have not heard it or maybe. I really haven't. I wish I did because it was a great, it's a great catchy chant.

Well, I was going to say, for those who don't have TikTok and haven't heard it, can you give us a little chant rendition now? Oh, I knew that was coming. Come on. We love to hear it. Go on. You've got to join in. Okay. Do you know it?

well let's hear it maybe i do maybe i don't oh you can't stitch me up and just get me to sing my own people think i've made it up again i think it's i actually thought you had and i was like brilliant because it's a great charm but but no i would claim it if people think it just claim it right come on give me give me give me give me a keeper from the midland she plays for chelsea but she grew up in spain give me give me give me give me a keeper from the mid learns are 24 her name is double-a-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da hey it's so good it's so catchy I was thinking whoever's made that up is like unbelievable like you've done well but yeah I wish I could take credit for it but I'm also not that sad to make up my own

chance sorry guys um who do you think at the club has the best chant her and does it help you when you hear chance during a game yeah we we do love a good chant like on the pitch obviously it's encouraging when you're off the pitching you hear the fans singing it. It gives you a smile to brighten up your day. So even the other day against Bristol, loads of us on the side on the bench, we're joining in with the fans' chance.

It gets you going. We love them. Everyone's going to think I'm biased, but we definitely have the best fans. So we join in with them whenever we can. Well, I especially do anyway. I love it. Hannah, I've got some listener questions for you. We ask them to email in their questions every week. And

Bani is asking, who is your funniest teammate. I'd say when Sam Kerr, Millie Bright, Erin and Guru get together, those. Yeah, I've seen the TikToks of those four. They're very funny. Osmond is asking, what has your favourite match been this season? There's a few. Just because it's

everyone more like it, I think, when we beat Arsenal at home. Yeah, I'm sure that was a very good one. But there's a few contenders. I like it. Maybe Barcelona too. Yeah, Barsa, Man United at home. Yeah. I'mie is asking, have you taught any of your teammates any Spanish? And if so, who has picked up Spanish the best?

Ez is learning Spanish. Yeah, Erin's learning it. Millie's doing some duerlingo, and each day we teach her a new sentence. Me and Maya, we teach her a new sentence. So there's a few who know Spanish already, but there's a few that are learning it. Oh, that's good to know.

What was Millie's sentence today? I'm a footballer for Chelsea. I'm a football for Chelsea player. I'm a football for Chelsea. Love it. For Millie, who I know will be listening, what is your impression of Millie speak in Spanish? Oh, it's the Spanish-English accent.

It's like, I'm like, Hugodora, a Chelsea. She's not yet quite, got the accent. Like, even when we went like tough, obviously for her to say it, miama, mili, like, I'm fine, grazi. Like, she didn't have the accent.

She was just like, me gama, Millie, so very bien. And we were like, okay, Mill, we can understand you, but, you know, we might have to work on the pronunciation. A little bit like the bridesmaid speech. Yeah. When she stops going. I mean, it's the effort of learning that counts.

It is the learning. We love you, Millie. We know you're listening and we think your Spanish is great. Keep going. Hannah, you've had a great season. How are you feeling about your future in blue? And can you sum up the excitement or feelings ahead of next season? Yeah, I mean, from the day I signed for Chelsea and I think I did all my, my

media photos before I actually signed the contract, I was that happy to come here. And from that day, I'd had a huge smile on my face from here to here, and I don't think it's left from the whole season. Yeah, I love being at this club. I think, obviously, I've been here for a short time, but it feels like I've been here for years already. It feels like home, and I hope the future is a long one, long run here, and we can go on to win as many trophies as we possibly can. Yeah, I'm excited for the future and things to come. our way and like I said I hope it's a very long journey I get to be on at this great club. Hannah, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I'm hoping that we can have you on again

in the future for a longer time so I can ask you more questions. But I know you've got run off. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening to We Are Chelsea. The official podcast of Chelsea Women brought to you in association with Skoda, the official car partner of Chelsea women and proud supporters of women's Remember to subscribe to the feed and give us a review. There will also be video content from the show across all of Chelsea's social media channels. And if you want to write in, make sure that you send an email to we are Chelsea at chelcfc.com. See you next time.