Here are 15 players worth watching in the 2023-24 North Wales women’s football season.
It has been a difficult pick, with many clubs releasing no details on who they have signed for the summer, or otherwise just publishing a name and very little else.
Well, that’s where building up years worth of information on many players myself comes in handy I guess.
Another hurdle is the amount of new teams starting up this season who have not really released any gen about themselves or their squads.
Sadly, these have to miss out, but no doubt whatever golden nuggets they produce will soon be available to write about when the season starts.
On the plus side, we have the established players moving clubs or staying put who we can rely on to be class acts this season, all being well.
So on the heels of Dave’s Dynamic Dozen here we have The Fab Fifteen – a sort of Beatlesque play on words 🙂
The signing of the summer in North Wales women’s football? Has to be right up there.
The 20-year-old has achieved an awful lot since making her debut for CPD Bethel women aged 16 back in 2018-19.
She was already a Wales Under-12 international and stood out for Bethel’s junior sides, so it was inevitable she would shine as a senior too.
And in typical style she marked her first game with a hat-trick in a 9-1 win for the all-maroons of Bethel, who went on to jointly lift the North Wales Women’s League title that season with Catrin scoring 18 goals in 12 matches.
At the end of 2018-19, Catrin won the Grassroots North Wales Young Player of the Season award, then in summer 2019 went on to represent Ynys Môn in the one-off Inter Games Football Tournament held on Anglesey.
Môn’s women made it all the way to the final, losing 2-1 to Isle of Man, with 16-year-old Catrin scoring her team’s goal (if anyone has footage of that goal please get in touch – she would love a clip of it).
In 2019-20, Catrin joined Amlwch Town, where in a shortened season due to Covid she won the North Wales League Division Two title and netted 14 goals.
The 2020-21 season was cancelled due to the continuing pandemic and in September 2021, Catrin moved away to study in Liverpool.
While based there, she played for Cheshire club Runcorn Sports and represented her university.
Now she is back where it all began – although Bethel have since changed their name to CPDM Y Felinheli.
Catrin made her debut for Felin this week in a 7-0 NWCFA Challenge Cup win over Kinmel Bay.
She will undoubtedly be a player to watch in Tier 2 this season.
How does her manager Aaron Jones-Evans feel about her return to Felinheli?
“What more can I say about this player that hasn’t already been said. The capture of Catrin along with all the players we retained and recruited just puts the icing on the cake for us, with a cherry on top!!!
“She is one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen on a football pitch and that includes the men’s game. She is a game changer.
“She left us when she was 16 and she has come back a more mature and a more complete footballer and we are all looking forward to seeing her do her thing this season, and beyond.
“She is an absolute gem and I as a coach am over the moon that she is back, and the squad is absolutely buzzing to have that sort of quality in the team.”
This young talent was one of the most talked about players in the North Wales Women’s League last season.
She won’t be 18 until mid-September, but Rosie has already made her mark in senior football, scoring 10 times as Flint Town United’s top-scorer last season.
With the Silkwomen having strengthened their squad considerably over the summer, busy attacking midfielder Rosie can only benefit from playing alongside such quality.
And they can only benefit from playing alongside her!
A true standout player for CPD Merched Bangor in their invincible North Wales Women’s League title-winning season of 2022-23.
She scored 14 goals last term, but this lively attack-minded player has decided not to remain with Bangor as they test themselves in tier 2, but instead sign for tier 3 Amlwch, based on her native Anglesey.
Mia was part of the Ynys Môn squad which performed marvels to claim fifth place in the 2023 Island Games in Guernsey, winning two of their three matches.
A past star of the great Penrhyn Bay junior side, Mia is expected to be a major force in the NWWFL West Division this season.
Goals is what this striker is all about.
She was the first-ever player to reach the 50-goal mark for NFA before deciding to rejoin Rhyl 1879 this summer.
Sade netted a tremendous 27 goals last season, finishing joint-second highest scorer in the NWWFL.
How will her net-finding talents serve her in tier 2? Pretty well we expect.
While last season was largely about volume of goals for runaway North Wales Women’s League champions Bangor, they were also watertight at the other end of the pitch.
Much of this was down to a great defence, but especially the goalkeeping skills of Becca Elliott.
The champions conceded just eight goals in 22 league matches – much of that down to their star saver.
With past experience of playing in the Welsh Premier Women’s League with Llandudno, Becca has been a real star for Bangor.
She has been playing football for around 15 years, starting with Mostyn Dragons Girls, moving to Flint Girls, and was then in the star-studded Prestatyn Girls FC legends who won the Welsh Cup in 2014/15,
Joined Flint from Connah’s Quay Nomads in February this year and was an instant hit for the Silkwomen with her dynamic attacking play.
Her work ethic and upbeat personality has bonded perfectly with the Flint squad and she has every ingredient to be a key player at the Essity this term.
Jennifer was part of the Connah’s Quay squad which formed in 2019-20. She scored a hat-trick on debut and helped the team finish second and unbeaten in North Wales League Division Two, plus reach the Welsh Cup semi-finals.
What more can we say about this evergreen marvel?
She has been a success with every club she has played for, whether it be as a defender, midfielder or goalkeeper.
Perhaps her biggest achievement was winning the tier 2 Adran North title in 2021-22 with Llandudno as a keeper, but she also landed numerous trophies with the likes of Caernarfon Town and Colwyn Bay in seasons gone by.
Sara joins Pwllheli for the first time, and intends to operate as an outfielder this season.
She will need no introductions to the squad as she will have played alongside many of them and come up against most.
Sara says this is her last season (should we believe her? 😄) but if so, it would be no surprise if she went out with more silverware for her CV.
Having been a star performer for Llanystumdwy for the past two seasons in the North Wales Women’s League, midfield maestro Hana looks the perfect fit for tier 2 and a Felinheli squad nicely balanced between youth and experience.
She scored what Grassroots North Wales considered the Goal of the Season last term and over two seasons with Llan netted 16 times.
Y Felinheli manager Aaron Jones-Evans can now take over: “Hana has been a player I’ve admired for a long time, tall, strong and exceptionally good with her feet.
“Her football knowledge and her anticipation sets her apart from a lot of players, not only in tier 3 but in tier 2 football as well. She is a very good addition to this squad and will only strengthen us. She will definitely be a player to watch this season.”
Zoe has signed for Flint Town United after spending 2022-23 with NFA, where she netted 18 goals and played a key role in the team’s promotion to Genero Adran North.
She was named Tier 3 Player of the Season by Grassroots North Wales for her amazing consistency over the campaign.
The talented, compact, mainly attacking player was a member of the Prestatyn Girls team which reached the 2011-12 Welsh Cup semi-finals.
She later joined Rhyl and Prestatyn, scoring the club’s first ever national league goal in a 1-0 win at Aberystwyth in 2014, before moving away to study at Edge Hill University.
Zoe returned to Rhyl for the 2018-19 campaign and notched her share of goals.
In 2021-22, she signed for Holywell and brought a lot of quality to the team.
An absolute standout in the NWWFL last season, she can be the same again and do a lot to bring this exciting young Flint squad along even more.
Already a young star before this year’s Island Games, Jess returned home with her reputation at least tripled!
The 17-year-old Llangefni Town ace came on as a second half substitute for Ynys Môn in their opening group game against Western Isles and scored a consolation goal in a heavy defeat.
One could say that goal and the dynamism Jess brought onto the pitch helped inspire the squad to turn things around rapidly and win their next two games.
Môn next beat hosts Guernsey 3-2 in a truly epic performance, Jess grabbing the winner with a marvellous right-foot finish into the corner.
And Anglesey followed up by battling back from two-down to defeat Jersey 3-2 to clinch fifth place.
After a prolific few years in the juniors, piling up the goals for a Caernarfon Town side which reached the Welsh Cup semi-finals, Jess joined Llangefni last season and chalked up seven goals. One amazing prospect!
It’s a big welcome home for Jenna.
Last season this mum-of-two almost reinvented herself as she joined CPD Merched Bangor and reverted from a lengthy stint as a defender into a more attacking role and scored 11 goals as the blues won the North Wales Women’s League title without losing a single game.
Now she has returned to Felinheli, where she previously stood out playing at the back alongside class acts like Llio Henshaw, Kelly Jones, Anest Roberts, Erin Allen and Becca Dafydd.
Jenna has been a winner all of her career, earning medals for the likes of Caernarfon Town and Bethesda Athletic. She would love to help guide Felinheli to success in Genero Adran North.
Here’s Aaron again: “Jenna will be a squad regular and we are so happy to have her be a part of our squad again.
“The energy she brings to the changing room is priceless. She will also be a great asset while we try to bed in our younger players, not forgetting the quality she brings to that pitch week in week out.
“Felinheli are over the moon that she’s come home.”
Nomads have lost some key players this summer, including the outstanding midfield goal machine Kirstie Kural and defender Sienna Strapp, who has been snapped up by Stoke City.
They have signed a few players from the English system, but not much is known about them yet.
Hopefully, as the season progresses, there will be plenty of reasons to write good things about these fresh faces.
Nomads are certainly expected to be in strong contention for the Genero Adran North title, with still a lot of quality players remaining at the club, including the ever-consistent Shannon Hobbs.
Scorer of 13 goals last season as Nomads finished league runners-up and retained the NEWFA Challenge Cup, Shannon is a gifted striker with a powerful shot.
She joined Nomads on formation in 2019-20, netting five times in her debut season, 17 in 2021-22 and 13 in 2022-23, making it 35 for the club to date.
Before that, she represented Rhyl in the Welsh Premier, plus Northop Hall and Prestatyn, and has previously been selected for Wales Under-16, U17 and U19 development squads.
Since she landed in North Wales as a student, Stevie has won a North Wales League title at football, been part of a cup-winning Bangor University side at rugby union and starred for the North Wales Crusaders women’s rugby league team.
What next for this Wonder from Down Under?
She hopes to make a mark in tier 2 this season after joining Llandudno in recent days.
Tudno missed having a prolific scorer last term, but Australian Stevie just might fit the bill.
She netted 27 times for CPD Merched Bangor in 2022-23 as they won the NWWFL title in a canter. The majority of her goals came in a prolific early spell, but she still finished joint second highest markswoman in the league.
Pacy and with fine finishing ability, Llandudno will be hoping they have landed another Australasian gem following the previous success of Indie Hassall.
Numerous Kinmel Bay players have impressed during pre-season as they plan a return to the North Wales League.
One outstanding performer has been goalkeeper Shelby Wild, who has won regular praise from opposing teams.
A great shot-stopper, Shelby will be hoping that along with the rest of the squad, Kinmel Bay can make their grand comeback a successful one.
Having spent recent months coaching in America, The Duke is back, refreshed and highly motivated for her return to action as a CPD Y Rhyl 1879 player.
The hard-working, strong-tackling defender had a brief spell at NFA last term, but has decided to return home to Rhyl, where she won the North Wales League title in 2021-22.
When asked recently about her hopes for the new season, 1879 captain Rachael Thomas said she expected Alicia to hit the ground running on her arrival back at Belle Vue.
A ball-playing defender, Alicia is young enough to still have her best playing days in front of her.
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