From Barriers to Breakthroughs: How Bethan is Continuing the Fight for Welsh Women's Football
Fifty-one years after Wales women's team was established, Bethan Woolley stands as Strategic Lead for Women & Girls' Football at the Football Association of Wales (FAW), watching Wales prepare for their first-ever major tournament at UEFA Women's Euro 2025. It's a journey intrinsically linked to three decades of National Lottery investment—funding that has transformed Welsh football from borrowed men's kits to European championships.
Standing on Giants' Shoulders
Bethan's work builds on foundations laid by remarkable women who refused to accept the status quo. In 1973, Wales women's team played their debut match in front of 3,500 people at Stebonheath Park, Llanelli, losing 3-2 to Ireland. For twenty years, they operated independently before Laura McAllister, Michele Adams, and Karen Jones-the founding mothers of Welsh women's football—convinced the FAW to officially take over in 1993.
The road remained steep. By 2003, the FAW withdrew the women's team from UEFA Women's Euro 2005 qualifying, citing costs and cutbacks needed for the men's team. UEFA fined Wales 50,000 Swiss Francs. It's a stark contrast to today, where National Lottery funding through Sport Wales has helped ensure Wales’s women have the support structure that led to Euro 2025 qualification.
A Personal Battle with Barriers
Growing up in Flint three decades later, Bethan was simply a football-mad kid who joined Flint and Bagillt Juniors' boys' team at 10. But after just a couple of games, regulations intervened. If a girls' team existed locally, she couldn't continue with the boys.
"I was told that if a local club has a girls team, I can't play within the boys section. All my friends were the boys, I was accepted. The coach wanted me to play, the parents wanted me to play," she recalls.
Without her parents dragging her to the girls' team despite her reluctance, Bethan's story could have ended there. Instead, playing for Flint and Bagillt's girls section, she was spotted by Terry Boyle, Wales Under-17s manager, during a match in Rhyl.
"Within weeks, I had a letter inviting me to my first camp," she remembers. The call-up required joining Tranmere Rovers at 14 for 11v11 football, where she would spend seven crucial years until she was 21. The club played a pivotal role in her development, providing the platform to progress right through to their first team while she was still 16.
It meant total commitment—training and matches on top of full-time education, paying subscriptions rather than receiving wages. "For us, you played because you loved it. It was never about money," she explains.
After university and working in England's football development system, Bethan would later return to Tranmere in 2021 when she rejoined the FAW, playing for them again for a couple of years before finally hanging up her boots.
Building the Modern Game
That experience of nearly being excluded shaped Bethan's academic choices. Studying Sport Development at Liverpool John Moores University, she had already explored these issues while still in school, comparing girls' football development in England and Wales for her Welsh Baccalaureate investigation.
"I could see how England was progressing, but we didn't have the opportunities in Wales," she reflects. By 2021, when the FAW offered her the chance to create change, her timing was perfect.
National Lottery funding, awarded through Sport Wales, was accelerating investment in Welsh football, with £750,000 invested in the National Football Centre in Cardiff and £250,000 for the Elite Centre at Colliers Park in Wrexham. The FAW received over £330,000 in National Lottery funding specifically for women's and girls' football in 2024/25 alone—investment that has quadrupled over recent years and has been spent on coaching development, equipment, facilities, and talent pathway programmes. Sport Wales has also funded many grassroots women's and girls' football clubs throughout Wales over the years, creating the community-level foundation supporting the entire pathway.
Working alongside the wider FAW team, Bethan has helped continue Welsh women's football's remarkable evolution. Since the FAW launched its current strategy in 2021, participation has almost doubled.
The FAW has created programmes like Huddle—fun sessions for girls aged 4-11—and BE.FC, launched on International Day of the Girl. After consulting 600 girls across Wales who wanted football in a "social, pressure-free environment," BE.FC offers "Turn Up and Play" sessions with reduced commitment, plus an app supporting girls through important life stages.
The Historic Moment
Wales’s qualification for UEFA Women's Euro 2025 represents the culmination of this 51-year journey. On 3 December 2024, in Dublin, Wales beat Republic of Ireland 2-1 to secure their place in Switzerland—their first major tournament qualification in 14 attempts.
For Bethan, who witnessed the moment, the emotion was overwhelming. "Every time I see the video from when they qualified, it's just so emotional because of the pure passion. These women have been on such a journey."
The team that once played in borrowed men's kits—who didn't get their names on shirts until 2019—will face Netherlands, France, and England. "This is going to be the catalyst," Bethan predicts. "The door has been opened, but I really think it's going to be flung open over the summer."
Building the Legacy
Preparation for post-tournament growth is underway. The "Ein Crys Cymru" tour sees a giant inflatable Wales shirt travel from Yr Wyddfa across Welsh towns, celebrating the team's purpose: "To play for change. To play to inspire. For Us. For Them. For Her."
The "Chwarae FOR HER" campaign runs from 5-13 July, with over 50 clubs delivering activities. The Cymru Football Foundation has invested £1 million in female-friendly facilities.
"What we don't want is for girls to want to be involved, and there's just not the space," Bethan emphasises. "We've been working really hard to ensure that clubs are ready for it."
The National Lottery's continued investment through Sport Wales has been crucial. As Bethan acknowledges: "Without the National Lottery and its players, we wouldn't have the investment to be able to have the infrastructures that we've got. We have been able to develop not only our pathway but also first-class, top facilities for our national teams to excel."
The Continuing Fight
From the founding mothers who fought for recognition in 1993 to Bethan's generation ensuring every girl has opportunities, Welsh women's football represents a continuum of determination. The 11-year-old who faced regulatory barriers now helps ensure no girl encounters those same obstacles.
"For me, it's around knowing that I've left women's football in Wales in a better position than when I started playing," she reflects. "That first step into football, and then there being an opportunity for every girl in every corner of Wales to play or be involved in football."
As Wales prepares for Switzerland, they carry 51 years of progress, three decades of National Lottery investment, and the unwavering belief of women like Bethan who transformed personal rejection into collective triumph. The journey from Stebonheath Park in 1973 to the European Championships in 2025 proves that barriers are meant to be broken.
