{"id":8236,"date":"2024-04-11T09:44:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T08:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/?p=8236"},"modified":"2024-07-04T22:40:56","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T21:40:56","slug":"helen-ward-hopes-to-see-genero-adran-leagues-players-in-future-cymru-squads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/news\/helen-ward-hopes-to-see-genero-adran-leagues-players-in-future-cymru-squads\/","title":{"rendered":"Helen Ward hopes to see Genero Adran Leagues players in future Cymru squads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Cymru\u2019s all-time top scorer Helen Ward hopes that the Genero Adran Leagues will one day become a source of players for the national team. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players from the top-flight of women\u2019s football in Wales have previously earned call-ups, but none of the current side ply their trade in the Genero Adran Premier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the inclusion of teenager Olivia Francis in February\u2019s squad \u2013 just six months after she departed Genero Adran Premier side Pontypridd United for Manchester United \u2013 shows the quality the league is producing and the platform it provides. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on BBC Radio Wales<\/em>, Ward applauded the development of the Genero Adran Leagues, particularly with some top-flight clubs adopting a semi-professional model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe standard is improving every single year,\u201d Ward said. I know Cardiff have won the league already this year but I think with Swansea and Wrexham coming up into the division it\u2019s three big clubs in Wales trying to make an impact in the women\u2019s game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCardiff in particular have taken that forward and driven the standards and it\u2019s up to the other clubs to keep up with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the standard is certainly rising and we\u2019re now seeing players getting plucked from the Adran Leagues to go and play in either the English leagues or into academies at a younger age at your top clubs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course in terms of Welsh football you want to keep as many superstars in the Welsh game as possible but, at this point it\u2019s probably more of a stepping stone for players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut in the future I hope that the league can develop and grow to become really strong and produce players in its own right that come and play in the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several players from the Genero Adran Leagues have been called up to the Cymru age-grade squads in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardiff City defender Megan Bowen and Aberystwyth Town midfielder Imogen Scourfield were both included in this month\u2019s WU19 squad for their UEFA Euro Qualifiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI think that\u2019s the opportunity – for the younger players at the moment to get their chances in the Adran Leagues and work through the under 17s and 19s in terms of the women\u2019s squad,\u201d Ward added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think at the moment with the WSL being such a highly regarded and high quality league within Europe and world football, that\u2019s probably where you\u2019re going to find the majority of the Welsh players playing in terms of the national team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s no reason why in the future you can\u2019t get a few that come from the Adran Leagues and come and make a few appearances in the women\u2019s first team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cymru\u2019s all-time top scorer Helen Ward hopes that the Genero Adran Leagues will one day become a source of players for the national team.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":8237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ftr_img_focal":{"x":0.63,"y":0.16},"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"class_list":["post-8236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adran-premier"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8241,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8236\/revisions\/8241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}