Claire Rafferty

An interview with Chelsea left back Claire Rafferty, 21, conducted at Loughborough while she watched her university’s women’s trials. Rafferty calls her first senior England call-up the proudest moment of her life, phoning her mother as soon as the email arrived, and expects to play left back for England and both full back and midfield for Chelsea. She is sad the National Player Development Centre has closed, crediting it with much of her progress, and is finishing a BSc in Economics with Sociology alongside Dan Buet, Kerys Harrop and Lauren Davy. Rafferty describes scoring the winner in England Under-23s’ first ever win over Germany with Hope Powell watching, disappointment at missing the Peace Cup squad, the World Cup qualifier in Switzerland and the coach breaking down on the way to the airport, the Under-20 World Cup in Chile, and a Chelsea prank she fell for.