Then and Now | Anna Price | Features | News

STARTING OUT

First team

I would’ve been around eight or nine-years-old when I first started playing football and that is because of my brother. I used to go watch him play and then I started to play in primary school. After that I went to something called Champion Coaching, which was a football program for girls that had links to the Wolves junior setup. My first professional game would have been for Wolves, probably under-12s

First ground

They were very basic, just normal Astro turf but I was quite lucky to have trained with Wolves from a young age. We used to train at Compton Park which is just a stone throw away from where the training ground is now. It was just a normal park pitch, you’d see people walking their dogs, it’s very difficult to what it is now. Usually we’d play local teams, like a Midlands league against Birmingham City, Aston Villa, teams like that. I remember playing against Birmingham when they had players like Karen Carney and Eni Aluko.

First icon

A lot of my first footballing idols were men, back then women’s football wasn’t as accessible as it is now, so I used to look at players like David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes. It was Manchester United players because they were the best at the time, so they were who I’d look up to.

First challenge

Back then I didn’t really see football as a realistic career option. If I were a young player now, I’d have been able to see but it was a different time. You played football because you enjoyed it and I never felt like I could do it as a way of earning money like girls now. I was always lucky to stay at Wolves throughout my career, so it always provided me with an opportunity to play, I also played at school so I never really ran into any barriers. Maybe if I didn’t stay with Wolves, I would’ve faced more but they always provided me with an opportunity.

Progression

The growth has been massive over the past ten years. Being a PE teacher and coaching girls has made me realise how much the standards have improved because there’s a lot more girls who can play compared to when I was younger.

CAREER

Best moment

Winning the league last season. I didn’t think I’d be a part of a team to win that division, so to captain the team to win the league was incredible. The play-off final was a moment that will live with me forever even though we lost the game.

Best result

It was probably last season against Derby at home. They were title contenders at the time, and it was such a big win at a pinnacle point of the season for us. We needed to win to stay in the title race and it was an even bigger boost to come from behind to get the win, it made us realise that it was possible to go on and win the league.

Best opponent

I’ve played against a few good teams. You have Birmingham City, Arsenal, Manchester City all before the Super League. We used to play against those sides in our division and league, so I’d say one of those.

Best stadium

I played at St. James’ Park which was incredible, getting to play in front of a 50,000-seater stadium was a special moment for me. However, it has to be playing at the Molineux at the end of the Covid year when we were granted promotion to the third division. We played Lincoln at Molineux and getting the opportunity to play there was a stand-out moment of my career.

Advice

My advice would be to keep working hard, you’ll have knock backs, and it is how you react to those that will define you as a player.