View From The Field: Ward’s Words (Helen Ward column)

Writing from inside England’s second national lockdown, Wales’ record scorer is glad the WSL and Championship were allowed to continue and does not hide her disappointment that everything from the FA Women’s National League down had to stop. Health comes first, she says, but shutting down an outdoor sport would not have been among her first moves, and the consequences for mental and physical wellbeing could be severe. Her sharpest point concerns the message sent to children: when two classmates play for their respective academies, why is it acceptable to tell the boy he can carry on and the girl she cannot? That, she argues, sounds like a judgement that girls’ football is not important or elite enough. Unable to train with Watford, she is on a treadmill while Wales prepare for Belarus.