Proudly powered by Ogi Pro

On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we sat down with Mikey Loveridge, the driving force behind the remarkable transformation of female football at Haverfordwest County FC. His dedication and vision have helped create a thriving girls section that continues to grow and inspire, so it was a pleasure to catch up with him to talk about his work.

First up Mikey, can you tell us your official job title at Haverfordwest County FC?

"I'm the Head of Women and Girls Football at Haverfordwest County FC."

How long have you been with the club, and what initially drew you to this role?

"I started working with girls' football through my own organisation "Rising Stars" in 2023 which I did for roughly 18 months, At the time, there wasn't much available for girls in the county who wanted to play at a higher level so I became really passionate about giving the girls that opportunity. There are so many talented Female Footballers in Pembrokeshire and they deserved more of a spotlight to be shone on them, so we had to take it to the next level. Haverfordwest approached me last season to effectively bring the programme over to the county, and we officially joined in June 2024."

Walk us through your typical week - how many days are you dedicating to the programme?

"It's an everyday commitment, and it never stops. Before you rang, I was sitting here arranging fixtures for April at 9pm at night, but Football is my life and I absolutely love it, seeing the Girls so happy, really does give me great feeling"

We've seen tremendous growth in the female section. What age groups are you currently running, and how has that expanded since you started?

"We currently have Under 10s, 12s, 13s, 14s, and 16s Girls Teams. When discussing this with Beccy Nuttall, our Chief Operating Officer, at the start of the season it was important we focussed on quality rather than quantity. Getting our provision on and off the pitch to the highest standard we could and showing everyone the effort that was going to be put into the female section of the club and building on it. Everyone at the club from the Chairman Rob Edwards, Beccy, Mared, Myself and all of the incredible staff and coaches of each age group are so passionate about the evolution of the Girls Section it's so exiting to be a part of it. I have a meeting with the FAW on Thursday to discuss next season, including the possibility of adding more teams to our provision."

The training schedule must be quite comprehensive now. Could you break that down for us?

"Our Under 10s train once a week, while our Under 12s, 13s, 14s, and 16s train twice a week. These sessions are high quality and as previously mentioned the coaching team we have are top class, we have Rhys Mansell, Imi Scourfield, Aaron Thomas, Leanne Jones, Martyn Lewis, Gareth Owens, and myself, because of quality, structure and regularity of the training sessions we have, I believe this is why we've had great results throughout the season. All of our teams are playing with the same philosophy and the development of each team in a relatively short space of time has been really pleasing, We typically have two games a month – one development centre fixture and a friendly that I arrange. At points throughout the season we've also held tactical classroom sessions, strength and conditioning sessions and we also have an Individual Development Program for each player within the Girls Development Centre which tracks their individual progress throughout the season."

The teams have been making waves on the pitch. How have the matches been going?

"They've been going really good. In the development centre fixtures, we've played against the likes of Briton Ferry, Aberystwyth, and Connah's Quay, plus the u12s have had a Development Centre Festival in the University of South Wales in December where they performed at a high standard against Briton Ferry, Newport and Cardiff, Our u13s have the same Festival in 2 weeks so good luck to them. We have also had games vs local boys teams which have been great not just for us and our girls development but for the local boys to have a chance to play on the Bridge Meadow too. Id like to think that every coach and player that has come to play our girls leaves with a completely different view on girls football after they leave the games, which is also what its all about, spreading awareness out there that girls can play football too, and at a high level."

It must be incredibly warming to see such progress from when you first started to where you are now. What's been the most rewarding aspect of this journey?

"The most rewarding thing for me personally is probably the on-pitch performances, before I'm Head of Women and Girls Football I am still an incredibly passionate coach who wants my teams to be playing the highest standard of football possible, I believe all of the teams throughout Haverfordwest County Girls are putting in really high level performance levels, and that comes from great coaching which is incredibly rewarding. Its also nice to see how proud the Girls are to represent Haverfordwest County. We are getting people talking about our set up throughout Wales and that's really rewarding too because as we tell all of our players, hard work pays off."

Do you have any standout moments or favourite memories from your time building this programme?

"A real highlight was when Angharad James-Turner, the captain of Wales, came to the club. She stayed behind, had a photo with every individual player, watched the girls train, and gave them great advice throughout the evening. Seeing the girls faces light up when they saw her was definitely something I wont forget, and really to see for themselves that a local girl, now captain of Wales, its possible for them to achieve their dreams too. Another standout that always springs to mind was our Connah's Quay trip – it was an eight-hour round trip up to North Wales, but we had fantastic results across all age groups showing teams around Wales what girls from Pembrokeshire can do, competing against a highly regarded team in Connahs Quay so we were all delighted with the experience."

Looking ahead, what are your plans for the future of women's football at Haverfordwest County FC?

"Our long-term goal is having a senior women's team playing at Bridge Meadow at the highest level of women's football in Wales – the Genero Adran Premier League. These young players we're developing now could become the core of that women's team in the future. While we don't have a women's senior team at the moment, we're building the foundations properly to give us the best chance of success in the future"

Is there anything you'd like to add about the importance of developing women's football at the grassroots level?

"I feel that girls grassroots football is going to play a pivotal role in Women and Girls football moving forward, with the Welsh Women's Team playing in the Euros this summer it's a vital time to increase participation levels in Pembrokeshire, ultimately the more girls that are playing football locally the more talent that will come through at a higher level. We are in talks currently with the Pembrokeshire Girls League and between us all in Pembrokeshire we can hopefully work together to create a pathway for local girls to showcase their talents, whether that be locally, at county level or hopefully for Internationally one day, to be a small part of that players journey will be an amazing feeling."

And finally, is there anything you would like to finish on –

"I would really love the whole of Pembrokeshire to really support the Girls at Haverfordwest County, these girls are so talented and are honestly doing the county so proud, I know how much it would mean to the girls them having their local community back them and cheer them on. We are really excited about the future of Women and Girls football and cant wait to see what the future holds."

Photo Gallery (click to view in full)