http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/_images/misc/blog_files/rant.gif Adam Leitch has a new - and rather unusual - sporting hero.

FAVOURITE story of the last week has to be the celebrations of the life of football star Lily Parr, some 30 years after her death. Parr played in an era around the Great War when women’s football was massive as many men were away fighting – in fact it proved so popular that the FA banned it for 50 years after the war as it was more popular than the men’s game.

She was widely regarded as a footballing genius and was the first woman to be inducted into the UK National Hall of Fame. Parr was also controversial for being a lesbian and an internationally mixed team from London Lesbian
Kickabouts will play a French lesbian Team, Paris Arc En
Ciel in her honour, for the Lily Parr Exhibition Trophy on February 9, at London’s Regents Park Hub, 3pm.

But the best bit of the story is her pay. Parr was so successful that she was paid to play football – unlike most top flight playing women now – but rather than cash she insisted on being paid in Woodbine cigarettes.

What a legend.