Last Updated on April 8, 2021
Lorraine Peel is the world’s oldest female football (soccer) player.
She is also an influential personality on TikTok, with 326.3K followers on her grooveynannygranny account.
Truly the best of both worlds.
At 66, Peel wears her veteran’s stripes well. She has been playing for Liverpool Rangers Soccer Club in New South Wales, Australia, over the last 27 years. Talk about a groovy grandma.
She’s also official, since the Guinness Book of World Records has acknowledged her as the world’s oldest soccer player, after breaking the previous record of 60 years of age.
“Football has taught me so much — mate-ship, teamwork, how to win and how to lose — I’ve devoted so much time and energy into football because I want my children and grandchildren to experience these things too,” she told Football NSW.
She’s a bit of a late bloomer, too. She didn’t start playing until she was 36.
“My husband and I were watching my son’s football game at our local park. As his game finished, two girls’ teams came out to play. We decided to watch a little bit. I turned to my husband after 10 minutes and said, ‘I could do this.’”
She definitely could. She made the team. The rest is, well you know, history.
As you may expect, Peel is very good at multi-tasking. Though the years, she has been a coach, committee member and a referee.
“I want girls to know there are no limits to what you can achieve,” she said. “It’s such a fun sport, you get to meet lots of friends. Football in this country is going to grow, I have no doubt about it.”
When she’s not on the pitch, Peel is multi-tasking on the Internet, active on TikTok and Instagram. She’s into self-deprecating humor, often dressing up in a bath robe and shower cap to play up the “old lady” schtick.
“Most people have smart phones. I have a smart wine bottle that tells me when its empty,” she wrote in one post, accompanied by a video of her dancing in the bath robe.
Rock on grooveynannygranny.
