Sam Kerr splashes out for family fan club to travel to World Cup

Sam Kerr is paying to fly a dozen family members to France and watch her at the Women’s World Cup.

Matildas captain Sam Kerr: ‘The best thing about playing football is when you look up and your family’s there.’ Picture: AAP

They say it takes a village, and Sam Kerr is rewarding hers by paying to fly a dozen family members to France to watch her at the Women’s World Cup.

When Kerr appears at her third global showpiece tournament from next week, an entourage more than half the size of Ante ­Milicic’s squad of 23 will be in the stands.

For the 25-year-old striker, that kind of support is priceless.

“I’ve got lots coming over,” Kerr told The Weekend Australian.

“For Christmas I got all of their flights because they always come and pay for me.

“My mum, my dad, my sister and her husband, my brother and his partner, my (other) brother and his partner, my little niece, my nanna, and my girlfriend and her mum.

“It’ll be fun. And the best thing about playing football is when you look up and your family’s there.

“It costs them a lot of money and my sister’s a schoolteacher so she has to take off work unpaid and it puts stress on their lives.

“(I’ll do) anything I can do to have them there because it means so much to me. And them too, I guess.”

A year ago, Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan paid for 27 family members to travel to Russia and watch him at the 2018 World Cup.

Sam Kerr with Nikki Stanton.

Among Kerr’s travelling clan is girlfriend and Chicago Red Stars teammate Nikki Stanton, her big brother, West Coast Eagles champion Daniel, other older siblings Levi and Madeline, and parents Roger and Roxanne. The latter, in particular, is the superstar forward’s sounding board for just about everything life and soccer throws up.

“I speak to my mum every day, without a doubt,” Kerr said.

“I’m always talking to my mum. And the best things about mums is that they just listen and say the right thing at the right time.

“I guess for me I like to talk to my teammates a lot, and I talk to my girlfriend Nikki a lot.

“It takes a lot to get a lot out of me. I like to keep it in. Sometimes things are just better left unsaid. I kind of have that boy attitude.”

Kerr will skipper the Matildas in tonight’s final friendly with the Netherlands before kicking off the group stage in France against Italy on June 9, and said the whole team was on the same page after 10 valuable days in camp in Turkey.

“It’s been learning in the video room and then on the field, so the message has been really easy to take in and really clear and repetitive,” she said.

“So we all know how (Ante) wants us to play and we’ve been held to a really high standard so it’s been challenging and really enjoyable.”