Captain’s Chat: Ashley Hutton

An instalment of Captain’s Chat with Linfield Ladies centre-back Ashley Hutton, who has more than 100 caps for Northern Ireland and voluntarily gave up the national captaincy for security reasons on becoming a PSNI police officer. She describes being handed the armband at 21 by Alfie Wylie, not as the most senior player but for her leadership and reading of the game, and learning from Sara Booth, Gail Macklin and Stacey Hall while also looking up to Roy Keane. Her 100th cap, the 2-2 draw with Wales at Newport in September 2019, brought a late header and ranks among her proudest moments. She praises current captain Marissa Callaghan and Sarah Robson, describes a five-strong senior committee under Kenny Shiels, and credits Electric Ireland’s sponsorship with televised games and rising participation.