Mary Fowler has detailed a racist incident at her old club, saying she and a black teammate were given bananas instead of flowers when farewelling the team.
The Matildas star has recalled the shocking alleged incident in her new book Bloom, going into detail about her experience leaving French club Montpellier HSC in 2022.
Watch The Ashes 2025/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Fowler joined Montpellier in 2020 aged 17 and spent a couple of seasons playing in the south of France before joining Women’s Super League side Manchester City.
In a chapter in her book titled “Not so great days”, Fowler recalled a post-match presentation after her final home game for departing players.
Several departing overseas players were given flowers, but according to Fowler, she and another player Ashleigh Weerden, did not receive an acknowledgment and instead, were given bananas.
“Afterwards, when we got inside the changing room, some of our teammates questioned why we hadn’t received any flowers … A few of the girls laughed about it and then one of the other players came over and handed my friend and me some bananas, saying, ‘here have these’ …” Fowler wrote.
“Not receiving flowers was one thing, but as two of only six black girls in the squad, receiving bananas wasn’t something I could laugh off and forget about.
“Was it an accident? Was it the only thing in the dressing room she could give us? Did she mean well by it?
“I’ve tried to justify it in many different ways … But when I add in the many other times at the club when we were left feeling a similar way, it was hard to see it as merely a simple error.
Fowler said in the years since, she wished she handled the situation differently, “But instead, we just sat there holding those bananas”.
“Moments like this made it hard for us to not notice we were being treated differently to other players,” she said.
Fowler, now one of the premier forwards in the world, also said she had a negative experience at the club when the medical staff and coaches didn’t believe her when she said she was experiencing chest pain.
“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” she said.
“Frustrated, I told him I wasn’t making it up, that I could never make up something that could be related to my heart,” she said.
Fowler, who recently made her runway debut at Paris Fashion Week for L’Oreal Paris, wearing her natural curly hair out, reflected on the anxiety she had around her appearance during the 2023 World Cup.
“At the World Cup, I would straighten my hair before each game to put it up in the bubble braid,” she said.
“I couldn’t help but wonder if, as a black woman, I was unintentionally sending a message to young black girls that I wasn’t comfortable with my natural hair. That I thought straight hair looked more beautiful and professional than curly hair.”
Fowler has been open about her mental health battles over the years and revealed she once contemplated taking her life just before turning 20.
“One night, I got closer than ever before,” Fowler writes in Bloom. “In that moment, I didn’t follow through. But I did sit there for most of the night pleading for anyone up above who would listen to please just take me.”
The star says she seriously considered walking away from football.
“I was having a bit of an identity crisis, trying to deal with the expectation to perform and struggling to navigate a difficult work environment,” she revealed.
Fowler was praised by Matildas coach Joe Montemurro for speaking about her battle with mental health, saying: “We need to applaud the fact that she’s been able to face those issues … it’s so courageous to talk about these things and to come up with it.
“And the fact that she’s been able to deal with these issues, I think, is all credit to her, it’s amazing.
“I suppose it’s a little bit of a sign of the pressures that professional athletes and professional sportspeople are under these days, that there are challenges.
“The more we talk about it, the more it’s out in the open, the more that we’re honest about it, I think is amazing.
“This is a perfect example of someone that’s been really courageous and been able to come out with her issues, deal with it and know that there are people behind her, backing her and want to do what’s best for her.”
Fowler is recovering from an ACL injury she suffered in April and is hoping to return to action in time for the Asian Cup on home soil next year.
News.com.au has contacted Montpellier for comment.
