THE STAR STRIKER of the Wrexham AFC Women’s team has opened up on what life is like playing for the club – while also being a prison officer by day!
Rosie Hughes’ record for the Reds’ women’s side is nothing short of sensational, having netted 97 goals in just 41 appearances to date.
That sort of scintillating form saw the team win the Genero Adran North League title last season and promotion to the Premier division.
During an incredible campaign, Hughes also memorably scored a late winner in front of 9,500 people at the Racecourse in a 2-1 win over Connah’s Quay Nomads.
And the star striker has revealed that news of her deadly form in front of goal has also spread to her place of work at HMP Berwyn.
Rosie works as a prison officer at the Wrexham jail in her day job and has revealed that inmates there have recently spotted her on screen.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Rosie said: “Not that I was ever shy to talk about playing for Wrexham, however I did keep it inside.
Rosie added: “It started getting spoken about, and once something is spoken about in prison it’s exciting, it is something new to talk about.
“Prisoners would come up to me and ask ‘do you play for Wrexham?’ and I couldn’t hide it in the end.”
Wrexham AFC Women were a big part of the project Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney envisaged when they took over as co-chairmen in February 2021.
And, they have so far brought about the same level of success as the men’s team and have become a semi-professional side since moving up to the top-flight.
Talking to BBC Sport about meeting Ryan, Rosie said: “I felt like the superstar because I’d just scored the winner at the Racecourse ground in front of nearly 10,000 people, so when he [Reynolds] grabbed me to introduce me to his wife, kids – it felt like I was the star.”
In the interview, Hughes also revealed that she uses the football pitch and gym at HMP Berwyn to carry out her football training during her lunch break.
She says she has been working there for six years and adds: “You definitely need some resilience, good communication skills, an excellent listener and some emotional intelligence to do the job.
“Communication and working as part of a team is massive for both football and as a prison officer. You need confidence in this job because you’ll get eaten alive if you don’t.
“It’s the same with football, you need to be confident on the ball. I’m so good at scoring goals and putting the ball in the back of the net because I’m confident to do it.”
“Last season I found it a bit difficult. I struggled to get the time off for every game so there was a couple [of games] that I missed during the season.
“mmitments, so I’ve asked to do that and hopefully some time in the future that will be for me and I can focus more on the football side of thiI have asked to drop my hours as a prison officer, the Prison Service can be good like that – if you have other con
because that is what I would love to do.”
Rosie and the women’s team’s success of last season is set to be told on season two of the Welcome to Wrexham documentary which is currently being released on a weekly basis via Disney Plus.
