Ward’s Words

Watford captain and Wales record goalscorer Helen Ward’s View From The Field column, marking 25 years since On the Ball’s first issue by recalling a ten-year-old with a Watford season ticket playing for the Under-10s, and knowing of no senior women’s teams or role models at all. She contrasts that with the coverage and role models available now, and remembers the 2005 European Championship in England, and a young Karen Carney’s 91st-minute winner against Finland, as the first women’s football she saw on television. She describes a rocky return to the Championship with six straight defeats before a comeback point against Crystal Palace and a 2-1 win at Lewes. On the international front Wales are unbeaten in four, and she started her 96th cap and scored against Estonia, set up by her roommate Rachel Roberts.