Issue
April 2015 47 articles indexed
Read She Kicks issue 27 in full
Column / Opinion p.3
Jen O'Neill marks Kelly Smith's international retirement with an unusually personal editorial. There will be no Kelly Smith-shaped cavalry to answer England's call in future, she writes: whether rushed back too soon, patched up…
News pp.4–6
The FA Women's Cup final will be staged at Wembley for the first time, following the record crowd for England v Germany. Kelly Smith retires from international football after a twenty-year career and 46…
Tournament feature pp.8–10
A Lianne Sanderson goal beats Canada in the final and secures England a third Cyprus Cup, after they topped their group by beating Finland, thrashing Australia 3-0 with a Jodie Taylor hat-trick and drawing…
News p.10
The United States beat France 2-0 in the Algarve Cup final through Julie Johnston and Christen Press, with Hope Solo saving Amandine Henry's late penalty. Germany take third against Sweden after an early Anja…
Other p.12
A supporter's guide to Moncton, New Brunswick, where England play their first two group matches. The must-see attraction is the Tidal Bore, a scenic phenomenon caused by the Bay of Fundy tides and occurring…
Interview pp.15–17
Kelly Smith closes an England career that began at seventeen against Italy at Roker Park, almost two decades and 117 caps later. She expected to go away quietly and was surprised to be inundated…
Interview pp.18–19
Iceland international Katrin Omarsdottir, an integral part of Liverpool's midfield since January 2013, previews a title defence. Joining felt right rather than calculated, she says, and the club is almost like a family where…
Interview p.19
Arsenal midfielder Jordan Nobbs sets out her aims for 2015: to be a key player, contribute goals from midfield and help win trophies, alongside selection for the World Cup and a major role in…
Interview p.20
Bristol Academy captain Grace McCatty describes a positive if intermittent pre-season, disrupted by departures, arrivals and international breaks while the squad focused on grasping a new style of play. Her favourite part is manager…
Run-of-page feature p.20
Bristol Academy captain Grace McCatty will leave the club during the mid-season break to spend four months volunteering in Zambia on UK Sport's IDEALS project, which works with Zambian NGOs to use sport to…
Interview p.21
Millwall Lionesses defender Dionne Lennon calls pre-season fantastic, crediting a new manager whose different approach saw the side play better and look fitter with each friendly. Having missed six months through injury she found…
Interview p.22
Notts County defender Amy Turner reports a pre-season spent largely on fitness while helping quality new signings blend in, with high-scoring friendly results leaving morale good. Fitness training is her least favourite element but…
Interview p.22
Sunderland goalkeeper Rachael Laws picks the togetherness built through tough training sessions and games as her favourite part of pre-season, and the running as the worst, something everyone hated but simply had to get…
Interview p.23
Chelsea defender Claire Rafferty picks a pre-season trip to Glasgow as her highlight, three days together with a Sunday fixture giving the squad time to bond and focus off the pitch. The running and…
Interview p.23
Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, newly arrived at Chelsea, found pre-season easier than she is used to: accustomed to long, rough Swedish winters, starting at the end of January on turf made it feel shorter.…
Other p.24
Hannah Roberts, who runs the Chelsea Ladies' Fans Twitter account and blog, takes the magazine's recurring supporter slot. She praises a squad that improved from seventh to second in a single season and a…
Interview p.25
Birmingham City goalkeeper Becky Spencer notes that the volume of contact time is new to the squad, who now train near enough every day, and reports that players have adapted well and look sharp.…
Interview p.25
Doncaster Rovers Belles midfielder Sue Smith reports a pre-season of hard work under a new manager and coach, with a new style of play and plenty of useful friendlies, singling out a boot camp…
Interview p.28
Radcliffe Olympic vice-captain Beth Bailey describes turning a bottom-placed side into title hopefuls in the FAWPL Midland Division 1. Having played at Birmingham, Wolves, six years at Nottingham Forest and half a season with…
News p.28
A survey of all six FA Women's Premier League divisions. Sheffield FC hold the edge in the Northern title race after winning at challengers Coventry City, while Wolves are doomed to a bottom-two finish.…
Interview p.29
Maidenhead United vice-captain Amy Saunders explains the resolve to win the Southern League title after losing out the previous year to an agonising and belated points deduction. She has been with the Magpies since…
Interview pp.29–30
Worthing Minors midfielder Danielle Lane, who has scored thirty goals in sixteen games, insists there is no secret beyond pace, some accuracy and decent players picking her out. Now in her second season with…
Interview p.30
Boldon midfielder Melissa Simpson describes a club that almost folded three years ago and has just secured a second successive promotion, to the North East League Premier Division. New manager Adam Ferris got the…
Interview p.31
Portsmouth striker Ini Umotong, 20, is making her case for a place in Nigeria's World Cup squad having come off the bench to score on her Super Falcons debut. A centre forward who played…
Other p.31
A caption-led picture panel records results from the county cup circuit. Bromley win the Kent FA Plate final with a hat-trick from player of the match Becky Bays, pictured being denied by Prince of…
Poster p.32
A full-page image of Jodie Taylor celebrating her first hat-trick for England, scored against Australia at the Cyprus Cup on 6 March 2015 in a 3-0 win that helped England top their group on…
Poster p.33
A full-page team photograph of the Scotland side lining up for their opening Cyprus Cup game on 4 March 2015, with the complete eleven named in the caption. The back row shows Emma Mitchell,…
Run-of-page feature pp.34–35
Brighton and Hove Albion Women have come a long way from the Brighton GPO team formed by Post Office workers at the telephone exchange in 1967. They linked with the men's club in 1990…
News p.36
Captains and players from all twelve Scottish Women's Premier League clubs met at Hampden ahead of a season that kicked off on 15 March. Hibernian captain Joelle Murray, present at the launch, says she…
Interview pp.36–37
Midfielder Holly Dawson has returned to Scotland after ten years away and joined Aberdeen, bringing experience from Arsenal and Watford in England and the University of New Haven, CFC Passion and Long Island Rough…
Interview p.37
Hutchison Vale defender Nicole Clark, 28, believes her side can secure top-flight status and a top-six finish despite ninth-place finishes in each of the last two seasons that would now mean relegation. A varied…
Interview pp.38–39
Simon Wright, chairman of Manchester Futsal Club, describes a club formed in 2006 that added a women's section in 2014 where none previously existed in the city, and now has around 200 members across…
Interview p.40
Jenna Kiely of Kettering Futsal Club, who plays eleven-a-side for Thrapston Town and coordinates a Futsal Fives league, describes the format from a player's perspective. Her side play a month-long league against Corby, Northampton…
Other p.42
Durham University WAFC's first team are crowned 2015 BUCS National Champions after beating the University of Birmingham 2-1 at Loughborough, while the seconds finished runners-up in the Northern Conference Cup and a newly formed…
Interview pp.44–45
Eighteen-year-old Vivianne Miedema, who led the Netherlands Under-19s to European glory and then scored the play-off goals that took the senior side to their first World Cup, reflects on a year she never expected.…
Interview p.46
Scotland forward Lana Clelland answers ten questions over Twitter from Bari, where she plays in Italy's Serie A. She enjoyed the Cyprus Cup for the sunshine, the football and the new faces in the…
Interview p.47
Exeter striker Tash Knapman, 23, speaks just before dual-signing for WSL 2 side Yeovil Town, whose manager Jamie Sherwood says she scored every time he watched her and that if the ball drops in…
Interview pp.48–49
Karen Carney, newly the first woman inducted into Birmingham City's Hall of Fame and the first to appear on the men's team match programme cover, turns to music. Not a karaoke fan, she nonetheless…
Interview p.50
Twenty-year-old Jazz Hervin, working with Yeovil Town's WSL development squad and with Independent Schools FA regional and England Women Under-18 squads while completing her UEFA B licence, answers the magazine's recurring coach questionnaire. She…
Other p.51
Ella Williams, 17, a former Fulham and Chelsea Centre of Excellence player, is now on an athletic scholarship with the Louisiana State University soccer team. Known to team-mates as Ella, Eeee-la, Smella or E-dubz,…
Interview pp.52–53
Reading forward Fran Kirby, catapulted within a year from FA Women's Premier League football to a full-time WSL 2 contract and the England senior side, describes her matchday. She eats what she feels will…
Interview p.53
England and FC Rosengard midfielder Anita Asante answers the magazine's recurring kit questionnaire. Her first boots were Patrick, she now wears Nike Hypervenoms, and her favourites were old Mia Hamm Nike Air Zoom M9s,…
Interview p.54
Preston North End striker Keeleigh Savage describes tearing a hamstring tendon at the ischial tuberosity, at the top of the hamstring where it attaches to the bone. It began as a minor strain with…
Interview p.55
Everton and England Under-19 defender Millie Turner takes her turn at the recurring car questionnaire. Her Renault Clio is as yet unnamed, though she expects to settle on something that rhymes with Clio, and…
Other p.55
The magazine's recurring Twitter slot asks followers for the best track to get them in the right mindset before a big game. Helen Ward jokes that if her Wales manager had her way the…
News p.56
The magazine's recurring county slot turns to Northumberland FA, which works with a range of partners to provide regular playing opportunities for females across the county and calls women's and girls' football a key…
Interview p.57
Charlotte Carpenter, 26, from Newport on the Isle of Wight, has become Wales' first female FIFA-level referee. She was coaching and looking to get more involved when she saw a course advertised in a…
