Cardiff City Ladies have kickstarted the careers of Sophie Ingle, Natasha Harding and Jess Fishlock, their current goalkeeper was one game away from securing a place at the 2023 World Cup, and they recently knocked Burnley out of the FA Cup.
Cardiff are also a fully amateur, independent club, run by a backbone of dedicated volunteers.
Victory over Championship side Lewes on Sunday would see the club become the first tier four side in Women’s FA Cup history to reach the competition’s quarter-finals.
“It’s very much family orientated because we haven’t got the backing of a men’s team or anything,” long-serving captain Cori Williams tells 90min. “Our coaches and physios, they get paid nothing to be at the club. They’re there because we’re like a family and we love to be there.”
Cardiff were briefly attached to the Cardiff City men’s team between 2001 and 2003, but have been a fully independent outfit ever since.
Both Cardiff and Swansea have teams connected to their men’s sides plying their trade in the Welsh top flight. But in Wales, the independent Cardiff City LFC are the big fish; the only team playing in the English league and a regular home for Welsh internationals, including current Wales number one Laura O’Sullivan.
“We pride ourself on being the only Welsh team that competes in the English system and the FA Cup,” adds Williams, who has netted nine goals during this season’s cup run.
“For me it’s always been: however good a club is within Wales and playing in the Welsh league, that’s all they’re going to play against. We’re quite fortunate being in the English system and the FA Cup; we can compete against the best teams and the best players in England.”
The traditional formula for success in the women’s game is considered to involve being attached to a big men’s club; 11 of the 12 teams in the WSL are connected to a Premier League side.
Cardiff join the likes of Durham and London City Lionesses in bucking this trend.
“You know that everything is solely based on us, and everything we get in and the support and infrastructure that gets put in, that you are being looked after first,” Williams adds.
“We were linked to the men’s team at one point, but we pulled away from that because of the stuff that you get with men’s teams; you’re not the first ones to have things and you’re playing second fiddle to the men’s team. You know the club is there for you, and solely you as a team and a player, and that does mean a lot.”
Independence has…
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