- Position: Centre-back
- Appearances: 35
- Goals: 4
- Joined Wolves: 2020
- Profession: Civil servant
ON THE PITCH
Journey to Wolves
I was six-years-old when I started playing because I was mates with the lads and they were playing for a local club. I went round one of my mates for tea and they were training, so I went along and have played ever since. I played for Aston Villa when I was about eight and when I was older, I spent five or six years at West Brom, I was at Nottingham Forest for two years and then before I came to Wolves, I did a very, very short stint at Derby County.
Joining the club
When I was at Forrest, I played with the likes of Bec Thomas, Summer Holmes, Amy Dicken and when we left Forest, they came straight to Wolves and I went to Derby. It didn’t quite work out for me there, but I was still in conversations with those girls who were telling me to come to Wolves. I spoke to Macca [Dan McNamara] and came to training at the end of the first season that was null and void, and from the minute I went, I knew I was going to sign.
Biggest influence
I will always be thankful for the coach I had when I was at the boys’ team, Joe Hemmings, and he really believed in me. When I was playing with the boys, there was a lot of stigma and a lot of stick coming my way being the only girl and he really drove me on and pushed for me to get into a girls’ team. Then in the female game, I’ll have to say Graham Abercrombie, my coach at both Forest and West Brom, he played a big part, made me captain and believed in me. I know I’ve only been with Macca a short amount of time, but he’s also showed me that belief only two people before in my career have done, and made me fall in love with football again.
Being a Wolves player
Right now, the togetherness is the best thing, especially with everything we’ve been through with Covid. Not just the staff and players within the women’s team, but also the togetherness across the whole club as we feel like one big team and that really plays a big part in the success we’re currently having.
OFF THE PITCH
Making a living
I’m a prison officer and it’s a really enjoyable job. It’s tough with football because I work shifts, which can be anything from early shifts, full-day shifts, late shifts and night shifts. I work on a weekend on, weekend off basis, so do rely on a lot of colleagues swapping shifts on a Sunday to enable me to play, or I use quite a bit of my annual leave.
Balancing job and football
It’s difficult and it is probably the biggest challenge for me personally, in making sure I complete all my shifts but also making training two or three times a week and having every Sunday off. That’s definitely a challenge, and even the time I do have off, I’m spending it at football, so it’s very rare that I have a day where I can rest up and relax. But I make it possible and wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy both.
Football conversations at work
My colleagues are really supportive and there’s plenty who are the same rank as me who come to games and cheer us on. At the West Brom game there were quite a few down and they had a big banner made for me. I’ve been put in the weekly staff bulletins a couple of times, congratulating us on our promotion, so they’re very supportive.
Hobbies and downtime
It’s very limited time, so if I do have the odd day off, we just try and spend it with my friends and family, whether that’s going for meals or days out with my niece and nephew as they like having sleepovers and days out.
What does being a female footballer mean to you?
It has changes season on season, but now it’s becoming more obvious that there’s a lot of girls out there who do look up to the women’s players within the club. I’ve noticed quite a lot lately with the girls’ dads going to the men’s games, seeing the women’s games promoted and they’re bringing their girls along and it’s the dads saying how inspiring that is and that the girls really want to get involved and they love coming down. It means a lot to me to see the young girls coming to the games and how inspired they are.
