Gwennan Mary Harries (born 5 January 1988) is a former

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

striker who had two spells with

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

club Bristol Academy, split by three seasons away playing for Everton. She was born in

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

and won 56

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

Wales women's national football team The Wales national women's football team ( cy, Tîm pêl-droed merched cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales and the th ...

, scoring 18 goals.

Club career

Harries played for Cardiff City and Bristol Academy before joining Everton Ladies in July 2009. She won an

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

winner's medal in 2010, but did not play in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Harries returned to Bristol Academy in February 2013. Her Cardiff City debut came versus Newton Abbot in October 2002, and she scored 15 goals in her debut season.

International career

Harries won 21 caps for the Wales Under–19 side, scoring nine goals. She made her senior debut against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

in the 2005–06 season. As a student at UWIC, Harries has twice represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in the World University Games, playing in the 2007 tournament in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

and in the 2009 tournament in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. Harries expressed disappointment at the Welsh FA refusing to allow its players to represent a Great Britain Olympic football team at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In February 2011, fluent

speaker Harries was appointed as a Welsh FA ambassador for female football. A knee injury sustained in November 2012 before a friendly with the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

eventually brought about Harries's retirement, after a three-year struggle to regain fitness. She said: "the decision was made with a heavy heart but a realistic head".

International goals

Personal life

In 2012 Harries qualified and began working as a PE teacher at Cardiff High School. She became the first female pundit on S4C's ''

Sgorio () is a Welsh-language football television programme produced by Rondo Media for S4C. First broadcast on 5 September 1988, it is one of S4C's longest-running shows and renowned for its coverage of European football, but for the first few years ...

'' in March 2015. And now works at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf

References

External links

* Welsh women's footballers Wales women's international footballers Cardiff City Ladies F.C. players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Everton F.C. (women) players FA Women's National League players 1988 births Footballers from Bridgend Welsh-language broadcasters Living people Expatriate women's footballers in England Women's Super League players Women's association football forwards Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain Universiade medalists in football Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade {{Wales-footy-forward-stub