Aberystwyth Town Women’s first-ever Her Game Too matchday of action was very special for one of their players.
17-year-old Carys James, a regular for the club’s U19 side, is one of the Seasiders leading on the initative – a project that runs across the country and is aimed at eliminating sexism, promoting women’s football, and women in football.
And despite recovering from recent surgery to repair her torn ACL, she helped to organise a hugely successful day as they played hosts to league leaders Cardiff City in their final home game before Christmas – with guests including local Rainbows and Brownies as well as schools, and girls from the club’s Huddle and holiday coaching camps…as well as Santa Claus!
“It was brilliant to welcome so many children to Park Avenue for our last match of 2023,” says the Ysgol Penweddig student, who is currently taking A-levels in English, History and Politics as well as the Welsh baccalaureat.
Local MP Ben Lake, a longstanding supporter of the women’s team, was unable to attend, but popped down to training in the week to give his best wishes to the squad – something that meant a lot to Carys, whose interest in politics has extended to doing work experience in the constituency office.
“We all hope this will be the first in a long line of events in partnership with Her Game Too, because we at Aberystwyth Town Women are so committed to the message that football is for anyone and everyone. There’s so much interest in women’s football now and we want to spread it to our little corner of Wales and share that growing positivity with men, women, girls and boys.
“I said when we started this project that I hope our work with Her Game Too will help us to create the environment that I wish I could have had as a little girl – making sure that other little girls growing up in the area don’t ever face the barriers that I did when it comes to the game that they love, and that they will always feel supported and surrounded by other girls and women.”
