Happy birthday to Bethel defender Jenna Allsup – who has another special date this weekend!
It’s a happy birthday to Dr Jenna Tugwell-Allsup – and she has another important date this weekend!
Jenna is expected to be in the CPD Bethel squad to take on mighty Cardiff Met in the Welsh Cup quarter-finals at Cae Seilo on Sunday.
It is the latest big occasion in the football career of this mother-of-two who has enjoyed plenty of success on the field in recent years.
Born on February 2, 1987, Jenna first played football with the boys at primary school.
She stopped when she went to secondary school and only joined back 20-plus years later after suffering a rugby injury in 2012. She had a baby in 2013 and returned to football in 2014, at the age of 28.
Jenna has played for four clubs since then – Caernarfon Town, Bangor City, Bethesda Athletic and Bethel, who she signed for in 2019-20.
A centre-back or left-back, Jenna enjoyed a memorable success in 2016 with a Caernarfon side which won the Betty Pickering Cup, beating Amlwch Town 1-0 in the final with a goal from substitute Lexi Crawley (then Musgrave).
Jenna then lifted the North Wales League title with the Canaries in 2016-17.
The defender moved to Bangor City and was part of a cracking squad in the 2017-18 season which included goal machines Ceri Lois and Lexi Crawley, midfield ace Cerys Gadd and star defender Tash Matthews.
Next came a switch to newly-formed Bethesda Athletic in 2018-19.
Jenna played a key role in a tremendous side clinching the North Wales League Division Two title with a run of 10 straight wins.
Pesda folded early the following season and Jenna became part of the Bethel side which in a shortened campaign due to the pandemic finished second in the North Wales League and reached the Welsh Cup quarter-finals.
With the 2020-21 season scrapped due to Covid, Jenna resumed her stint with Bethel this term and has been an outstanding performer, winning Player of the Month for October.
Jenna also excels at netball and is a member of the Tim o Walis side currently top of the Gwynedd and Anglesey League’s first division.
We started this article referring to Jenna by her correct title – Dr Jenna Tugwell-Allsup.
She is so prestigiously named due to her being a radiographer, researcher and teacher who last year was awarded her PhD from The University of Salford.
No doubt this weekend Bethel will be under doctor’s orders to produce a big performance against Met and dish out the right medicine to cause an upset (yes I know she’s not that type of doctor, but it’s getting late and those quips are the best I can do).