Player Showcase: Danni’s Journey Back to Football

There are many reasons women have struggled to find their place in football. The FA's 50-year ban, introduced in 1921, set women's football back decades delaying accessible pathways into the game and pushing generations of women and girls to the sidelines before they ever got the chance to play. At Leeds Laces FC, we're changing that. We want football to be accessible, joyful and inclusive for our women+ community, many of whom never got the opportunity they deserved to play the game we all love.

One of our players, Danni, knows this story all too well. Here, she shares her journey back to football, in her own words.

‘Football has always been something I’ve loved. As a kid, I played whenever I got the chance, but girls’ football wasn’t what it is today. There weren’t girls’ teams around for me to join, so I played with the boys instead. Eventually I got to an age where I couldn’t do that anymore and, with nowhere else to go, I stopped playing.

I never stopped loving football though. I’d still have a kickabout with friends, but being part of a team became something I thought I’d left behind in childhood.

Fast forward quite a few years and I’m now a mum of three.

Four years ago, my daughter joined a girls’ team and suddenly football became a big part of my life again. Watching her have opportunities I never had was amazing, but it also reminded me just how much I missed playing myself.

When Nikita started coaching my daughter, that feeling grew even more. She’s a mum too, a similar age to me, with a busy life and plenty to juggle, but she still finds time to play football because she loves it. Seeing that gave me a bit of belief that maybe I could do it too.

I did try a training session with another team, but most of the players were in their late teens and early twenties. As a mum who hadn’t played properly for over twenty years and definitely wasn’t at peak fitness, it was an extremely humbling experience!

I felt completely out of place and came away thinking maybe I was way past it and that part of my life had passed me by.

Then Nikita told me about Leeds Laces.

She explained that it was a new team for women of all ages and abilities. It didn’t matter if you hadn’t played for years, had never played at all or weren’t particularly fit. There were no expectations and no judgement. You could just turn up, have a go and enjoy football.

That was exactly what I needed. Joining Leeds Laces has given me more than I expected. Of course, I get to play football again, but I’ve also got something that feels like it’s just for me.

I think, like so many women, I lost little bits of myself when I became a mum. Life gets busy and before you know it, so much of your time is spent looking after everyone else, taking the kids to their hobbies and making sure they have everything they need. The things you once did simply because you enjoyed them can easily get pushed aside.

I absolutely love being a mum, but being a mum doesn’t have to be our whole identity. We’re still allowed to have our own interests, passions and things that make us feel like ourselves.

For me, football does that.

When I go to training, I’m not the mum standing on the sidelines watching one of my children play. I’m the one putting my boots on. I’m part of a team again, having a laugh, doing something I love and enjoying a couple of hours that are just for me.

Our passions might look different as we get older. We have children, jobs and responsibilities to fit them around, and our bodies constantly remind us that we’re not 18 anymore! But that doesn’t mean we’ve missed our chance.

There’s something quite special about the fact that my daughter helped lead me back to football without even knowing it. She gets to grow up with opportunities in the girls’ game that I never had, while watching her has helped me rediscover a part of myself I thought I’d left behind years ago.

That’s what Leeds Laces has given me. It’s not about being the best player on the pitch. It’s about having somewhere women can turn up as they are, give football a go and feel like they belong.’

Danni’s story is one that so many of our players share, and proof that it is never too late to fall back in love with football, despite how long you may have been away from it. At Leeds Laces, we are building a club that women+ can show up, have a go and belong. If Danni’s journey is something that resonates with you come and see what Leeds Laces is all about, whether you’ve been playing your whole life or never touched a ball, Leeds Laces FC operates a space for anybody willing to give it a go.