View From The Field: Kerys Kicks (Kerys Harrop column)

The Tottenham defender’s regular column, written in the weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and opening on solidarity before it turns to football. Spurs, she notes, are still in the running for a Champions League place after a narrow home defeat by Manchester City, and have just moved into a facility built for the women’s team alone – which prompts a useful piece of first-hand history. When the WSL began in 2011 she was at Birmingham, using a local university’s facilities, entirely separate from the men’s club; the move to the men’s training ground came around 2018 and still meant fitting in around their schedule. On wages she is unsentimental, having come from an era of win bonuses, and argues hard for a dual career, citing a team-mate who plastered until early afternoon then drove to training.