Swansea City Ladies’ first signing, Natalie Ashford, has applauded the club for inviting ex players from the women’s team to join the Former Players’ Association, saying that she was not surprised that the Swans have used an inclusive approach.
Natalie Ashford has applauded Swansea City for inviting previous female players to join the FPA (Former Players’ Association). Within the English Football League, Swansea City is the only club welcoming previous female footballers to its FPA. Swansea City is the only club in the English Football League structure to welcome former female players to its FPA.
Natalie Ashford said “I think it’s really good that Swansea are the only club to do that. It is a forward step in the right direction for Swansea City and the women’s game. Considering that the women’s game has grown so much over the years and certainly compared to when I was playing, this is a brilliant step for the club to take and hopefully it will be one that others will follow. It was a great club to play for because there was a good set up in terms of the social side of things and Ian Owen was the manager for much of my time and we trained more and harder than most of the clubs in our league and we reaped the benefits of that because of things like the Champions League. I did a lot of work in schools when I worked for the club and I did see myself as a role model and someone other young girls would look up to and learn from and that was important, particularly back at that time because there weren’t so many of us about.Swansea was good to me and I have positive memories of my time at the club so being able to continue that through involvement in a different way with the Former Players’ Association is something I’m really pleased to be able to do.
🗣️“It is a forward step in the right direction for Swansea City and the women’s game.”@SwansLadies‘ first signing, Natalie Ashford, on the club inviting ex players from the women’s team to join the Former Players’ Association.
👉 https://t.co/pnD7lb6xto pic.twitter.com/ZVWlYIKStL
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) October 5, 2021
Further reading:
https://www.soccerpunter.com/players/139678-Natalie-Ashford
https://www.swanseacity.com/news/ashford-applauds-swansea-city-fpas-inclusion-policy
