Sport / Nicolson within touching distance of ‘really special’ Sportsperson prize after trophy-laden year
“I DO believe in having that winner’s mentality.”
That mentality has stood footballer and hockey player Rhea Nicolson in great stead this year.
The only person to be nominated at Friday’s Shetland Sports Awards for their contribution to two sports this year, Nicolson is hoping that a remarkable 2025 will end with her lifting the Sportsperson of the Year prize.
She will need a bigger trophy cabinet, if she does. Nicolson helped Shetland Hockey to lift the Scottish District Cup in April, before going on to hoist the Highlands and Islands League Cup as the women’s football team captain in September.
Add to that the inter-county shield – won after the women’s football team routed Orkney 8-0 – and Nicolson could complete an unprecedented quadruple of trophies tomorrow (Friday).
In amongst that has been the Island Games in Orkney, where Nicolson became the first women’s footballer to score for Shetland at the games for 20 years before leading them to their maiden victory in the competition.
“It’s definitely been a big year for me and the teams I play for,” she told Shetland News this week.
“Going to the Island Games was one of my dreams growing up, so that has been pretty huge.
“Through it all I’ve tried to stay present and take in all the moments.”
There have been plenty of those – including the news that Nicolson had been nominated for the Sportsperson award, which came as a huge surprise to her.
“It’s wild,” she said. “I was at work when I got the message through, I didn’t really know how to react.
“I was quite overwhelmed to be honest. It’s not something I was aiming for or really thought was a possibility.
“I’m very grateful. It’s special.”
District Cup win
Nicolson’s bumper trophy-winning season started with Shetland wrestling the Scottish District Cup back for a second time in three years in April.
It came after a nail-biting final, which saw Shetland trail Edinburgh Hockey 2’s by two goals before Nicolson scored to drag them back into the game.
They would go onto lift the cup after a penalty shootout, which similarly shredded the nerves.
“It was important for me and the hockey team to get back the District Cup and win it again,” Nicolson said.
“We’d lost the final 1-0 year before, they had scored early and we just couldn’t find that goal, so it was really important for us to get it back.
“We definitely did have to dig deep on the day. We definitely don’t make it easy!
“But even when do go 1-0 or 2-0 down we have that strong belief and mentality to come back. I do believe in having that winner’s mentality.”
League Cup success
In between playing for Burra on the hockey pitch, and training and travelling away to represent Shetland, Nicolson was also putting in the hours to captain the Shetland women’s team.
That process began late last year when its new coaching team – Kevin Main, Niall Bristow, Carrie Morrison and Adam Priest – took the reins, leading to a first-ever League Cup tie against Orkney in mid-April.
“We had done a lot of work over the winter on fitness and how they would be asking us to play,” Nicolson said.
“It was totally different from where we had been.”
Orkney posed a tough test, having beat Shetland 4-1 the following year. But Nicolson said all their winter work suddenly clicked as they thrashed their rivals 5-0.
“The League Cup was crucial just to get game time before the Island Games,” she said.
“We scored quite early against Orkney, we didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves but we controlled the game and it really went well right from the beginning.”
Nicolson said the clean sheet – and their strikers hitting form – helped them to “trust the process” from their coaches, which had been their message to the team.
“Each game the confidence in us grew and grew. Everyone bought in to the style of play they were pushing.
“It was nice to see the start of it and just everyone starting to figure it all out. There was a real togetherness, and we wanted to keep pushing ourselves.”
That led Shetland all the way to the Highlands and Islands League Cup final in September, where Sutherland stood in the way of maiden mainland silverware.
But again it was Nicolson who led by example, making a captain’s contribution by scoring within 36 seconds as Shetland went on to win 7-0 and lift the trophy.
Nicolson said the pride of being Shetland captain exceeded the joy of that victory.
“Just stepping out leading the team out every time, it’s just so special for me. Not many people get to do that.”
Island Games
The Orkney Island Games was “like the unknown for us”, Nicolson admitted. Having drawn Isle of Wight, Bermuda and Jersey – a veritable group of death – expectations for the team were dimmed.
Inside the camp though, there was a steely confidence that they could make their mark.
“I think we shocked a lot of teams,” Nicolson said. “I think some of them thought we were going to be easier.
“We heard that some of the players from one team had said we should be an easy win.
“So to hold Isle of Wight to a 2-2 draw, that gave us a really big boost because we didn’t really know where we were going to land.
“I think everyone else in our group sat up after that.”
Shetland had trailed Isle of Wight early in that match, their first action at the competition since 2005, but there are no prizes for guessing who equalised for them on the day.
That point was itself a massive achievement for the blues, who lost their final two group games 2-0 to Jersey and Bermuda – who are a semi-professional side.
Nicolson said the Island Games was an “amazing experience”, with the players – already a tight-knit group – “spending so much time together” over the week.
Their crucial early point earned them a seventh/eighth play-off match against Hitra, and a chance to make history in their last game.
“Some of the lasses were saying ‘we’ve got at least eighth place’, but I really wanted that seventh place,” Nicolson said.
“There was no pressure on us to go out and win, but we all believed and thought that we could do it.”
It was – you guessed it – Nicolson who stepped up on the day to give Shetland the lead, before Hitra levelled early in the second half.
But Josie Mitchell scored to endure Shetland’s women won their first ever match at the Island Games, sparking wild and deserved celebrations from the team.
“It was such a special moment, and quite an emotional one,” Nicolson said.
“It was crucial to get that win. It wasn’t easy but I think we made it a little bit more difficult.
“I think if we played them again it wouldn’t be so close. You can get a little bit nervous in that situation, but it was huge for us.”
Sportsperson award
While her achievements will rightly grab the headlines, what cannot go under the radar is the incredible level of commitment Nicolson has put in across the year in training, travelling and playing two different sports at such a high level.
She admitted it “would mean a lot” to her to hear her name announced on the stage as the winner tomorrow night.
“I wouldn’t really know how to react,” she said.
“It’s really special just to be nominated, it means a huge deal.
“I’ve put in a lot of really hard work and effort this year. I have pushed myself to my limits, and learned a lot about myself.
“I did give up a lot of things to put the teams first, so this would mean a lot.”
The Shetland Sports Awards 2025 will be held in the Clickimin Leisure Centre’s bowls hall on Friday 14 November.
You can read our interview with fellow nominees Maggie Adamson here, and Grant Ferguson here.
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