Legacy caps to be awarded to former Welsh football players

A special ceremony awarding legacy caps to all the women who played for Wales between 1973 and 1993 will be held today (Friday 4 October) at St Fagans Museum of Welsh History.

Ninety-four women represented their country during that period, but as the team wasn’t affiliated to the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the players didn’t receive Welsh caps.

The event, hosted by S4C and the Football Association of Wales (FAW), will coincide with a documentary telling the story of women’s football in Wales for the first time, Yr Hawl i Chwarae (The Right to Play).

The documentary will be broadcast on S4C platforms on 22 October.

Celebration

As well as the ceremony, the event will include a screening of parts of the documentary, and two panel discussions hosted by Catrin Heledd.

The first panel will look back at the history of the women’s game in Wales. For this, Catrin will be joined by former player Michele Adams; Former Head of Women and Girls’ football at the FAW, Lowri Roberts; and Hawl i Chwarae documentary presenter, Ffion Eluned Owen.

The second panel will look to the future of the game in Wales and will include Cymru U19 Head Coach Nia Davies; FAW Senior Women & Girls’ Grassroots Manager Beth Woolley; and UEFA Vice President and former player, Laura McAllister. This discussion will also look at the FAW’s work on its women’s and girls’ football strategy, ‘Our Wales: For Her’.

The evening will be broadcast live, online on the FAW’s social media platforms and its streaming website, RedWall+.

FAW CEO Noel Mooney from the Football Association of Wales said: “After working hard over the last 18 months collecting contact information about the former players from the 70s and 80s, the evening will be a very special one to celebrate the women who started the story of our national team.”

“Over 40 former players will receive their caps as part of the celebrations, and for those who can’t attend, caps will be sent out as far as Canada and Australia where some of our former players are now living.”

Importance

Geraint Evans, S4C Interim Chief Content Officer, said: “It’s fantastic to see the development of Welsh women’s football over recent years, and we at S4C are delighted that we can support the growth of the game by showing more matches each season from the Genero Adran Premier.

This documentary is also vitally important, to recognise the contribution of many inspiring women who put the foundations in place for the popularity and success of the women’s game today.”

Llinos Wynne, S4C Head of Docs and Specialist Factual, added: “The history of women’s football is a part of Welsh history that hasn’t been noted, and I am delighted that Yr Hawl i Chwarae will show this history for the first time. A few know that the game was banned for 50 years and that Wales even beat England once!”

Public appeal

Through the support of former player Michele Adams MBE and historian John Carrier amongst others, 94 players have been identified from the era, and contact details have been obtained for 70 of those players. Now the FAW is launching a public call of action to help find the remaining 24 contact details for players or their family to help celebrate their successes.

If you have contact details for a player or family member of those listed below, please contact [email protected].

Missing player list

Pat Griffiths, Linda James, Ann Rice, Julie Yale, June Houldey, Barbara Jones, Christine Ross, Karen Atkins, Jean McCarthy, Wendy Wood, Jacqueline Butt, Nikki Groves, Suzy Faul, Jill Anson, Chris Coyle, Gill Bellis, Paula Cleeve, Val Williams, G Day, Delyth Wyn Jones, Jackie Weir (nee Jones), Annette Jones, T Heaton, Caroline Brunt.