She’s just 15 and a match for Wales’ senior squad
Like other 15-year-olds, Carrie Jones goes to school, relies on mum and dad to ferry her around and is passionate about her hobbies. Unlike other 15-year-olds, she’s just won her first cap to play football for Wales. Katie Sands caught up with the teenage
THE return to school every September after the summer holidays often brings the usual questions between schoolmates and teachers about what they got up to during their time off.
“What did you get up to over the summer?”, “Did you go on holiday?” “Bet you’re happy to be back?!” We’ve all heard them.
But when Carrie Jones goes back to school in the coming days, the 15-yearold pupil will likely be met with a very different set of questions.
For the football-mad schoolgirl made her senior Wales international debut on Thursday, while – at the same time – she is actually too young to play for her new club, Cardiff City, just yet.
Carrie is now the youngest squad member of Wales manager Jayne Ludlow’s 22-player squad, announced earlier this month, as they prepared for their opening two Euro 2021 qualifiers – last Thursday’s match against the Faroe Islands and Tuesday’s game with Northern Ireland – as the squad begin their bid to qualify for their first major tournament.
She came off the bench in the second half in Thursday’s match to earn her first senior cap for Wales as the team enjoyed the perfect start to their campaign with a 6-0 victory.
The quietly confident youngster, by all accounts, adores football.
She fell in love with the sport through playing with her older cousins on her grandmother’s farm in Powys, and joined a boys’ football team aged seven.
“I’ve got older male cousins and they’re big football fans”, she explains.
“We used to go over my nan’s farm and start playing football in the fields, and we’d set up little five-a-sides with the family on a Sunday, and then it’s just progressed from there.
“I played for a boys’ team at Newtown White Stars, then a rule came in that I couldn’t play for a boys’ team until I was 12, so I moved to a girls’ team, and then that rule went, so I joined back to a boys’ team.”
She was still playing for a boys’ team just last year, for Welshpool-based Berriew Junior Boys.
“It’s been a big journey, but this has been my dream since I was seven years old. Where I’m from, our local clubs try to do so much within the community. Paul Inns, my local coach, he’s done so much to help girls’ football grow within the community.
“I’ve just signed for Cardiff for this season, but I can’t actually play yet until my birthday [on September 4], so where I’ve been called up for the international team at the age where I can play, it’s crazy.”
While some may assume Carrie’s inclusion is simply an experienceenhancing opportunity, Wales manager Ludlow has been quick to dispel any assumption along those lines.
“I see her challenging for a place”, Ludlow said.
“If she wasn’t going to do that, she wouldn’t be selected.
“The reality of the youngster we’re talking about, she’s competing very well in her domestic performance programme, and we have high hopes for her in the future.”
First senior cap or not, plenty will be sitting up and taking notice of her involvement in this camp.
She’s hoping her schoolmates will know what she’s been up to, too, before the new term.
“Hopefully they’ll know, because of the BBC playing the games.
“But I don’t actually know when I’m going to go back to school because I’ve got my first Cardiff game on the second day when I go back, and I’ll miss the first day of school as I’ll be on camp. I’ll probably get a warm welcome!”
Despite her talent and potential, Carrie says she wasn’t expecting the call-up at all, with one of her two dedicated “taxi drivers” – parents Joyce and Andrew – delivering the good news after a Cardiff City pre-season fixture.
“I got in the car with mum, and she goes, ‘You’ve made the squad.’
“I couldn’t believe it. It’s a proud moment for me and my family. The victory is sweeter when you’ve put so much hard work into it.
“I haven’t actually celebrated yet, it’s dad’s birthday the day I leave for camp so I’ll probably go for a meal with the family before I leave.”
It will be fitting to share the celebra