Fozzy’s Fifty and More

Emma Pursey interviews Cheryl Foster, the PE teacher who is Wales’s most capped player and Liverpool’s longest-serving member. Foster broke Kath Morgan’s caps record without realising, focused instead on getting the points in Azerbaijan, and describes captaining Wales for the first time against Slovenia as something she never expected with Jayne Ludlow around; she jokes about her room-mate’s competitiveness. She tips Gwennan Harries and Emily Brown as rising stars, relishes World Cup qualifiers against Sweden, and is candid about the FAW’s support, improved but still not on a par with England’s. Foster recalls Bangor Ladies folding, pays tribute to former manager Keith Fearns, now at Caernarfon, and reflects without regret on turning down an approach from Arsenal at 18. Her pupils, she says, have taken to Googling her since the local papers covered the record, and she credits the school’s support for making her international career possible.