With Harding hanging up her boots, Stephen @stephenjbaker looks back at a stunning career,
Another Cymru legend has retired from football. Natasha Harding, the Cymru midfielder called it a day on her illustrious playing career.
Embed from Getty ImagesA career that includes an amazing 103 caps for Cymru, one of only nine centurions for our nation*. And an equally impressive 26 goals, generally playing in midfield. A total that has only been beaten by four other players; Ian Rush, Jess Fishlock, Gareth Bale and Helen Ward.
Tash made her debut for Cymru aged 19 in May 2008 when she came on as a late substitute in a 2-0 defeat to Switzerland. The first cap in a 14-year international career. Her first goals for Cymru came in June 2012, when she scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win against Israel at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham. Tash became a centurion on the 12 April 2022 against Kazakhstan.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs well as an impressive international career, there was a club career where Tash played for some of the top clubs in the country. After leaving Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni (same school as fellow international Aaron Ramsey) she signed for Cardiff City Women making her first team debut in January 2007 vs Newport Strikers. As a side note, she came on for the now excellent pundit/commentator Gwennan Harries.
Embed from Getty ImagesAfter Cardiff, Tash signed for Bristol City Women, followed by a move to Manchester City Women. A move was then made to Liverpool, followed by Reading Women and Aston Villa Women.
From the start of her career to the end, Tash has seen women’s football in this country change beyond recognition. Playing for Cymru with one man and his dog watching, where games were criminally not reported on by our national media. The team wearing hand-me-down kits from the men’s team, to ending her career in front of record-breaking crowds and Cymru games being shown live on the BBC during Prime-time. Although there is still a long way to go.
Embed from Getty ImagesI hope that Tash realises that these changes in women’s football in Cymru would not have happened without players like her. She has helped start something very big for our country. Hopefully, whatever she plans to do next in her life, it’s not too far from the National Team.
At the end of Tash’s retirement statement, she thanked The Red Wall, but it’s Y Wal Goch who should be thanking the Cymru legend.
Diolch Tash!
Embed from Getty Images* For those of you that want to check you have the right nine: Wayne Hennessey, Sophie Ingle, Chris Gunter, Jess Fishlock, Gareth Bale, Helen Ward, Angharad James and Loren Dykes… and of course Tash.
Opening image courtesy of: Oharriesfaw, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons