David Edwards on playing for Bala Town: 'Biggest sense of belonging I've had at a club'
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David Edwards played for Luton, Reading and Wolves in addition to two spells at Shrewsbury
David Edwards won 43 caps for Wales, was a member of the squad that reached the Euro 2016 semi-finals and has also played in the Premier League.
Following his release earlier this year by Shrewsbury Town, the club he first joined as 10-year-old, Edwards could quite easily have decided to call time on his career.
But such is his love of the game that the 35-year-old accepted an offer from the manager of Cymru Premier side Bala Town, Colin Caton, and joined the Gwynedd-based club.
"I've always loved football and if I have the opportunity to keep on playing then I will do that - you're a long time retired," Edwards told BBC Radio Wales Sport.
"The opportunity to come and play at Bala and play in the Welsh Premier League was an opportunity I couldn't turn down.
"So far I'm loving every minute of it. It's probably the biggest sense of belonging I've ever had at a football club, it really is.
"That's from the family feel around the club, the committee members, the guys at the top, the coaching staff and the players.
"When you've got lads who turn up from work on a Tuesday night to train there's a different attitude than there is in the professional game.
"Footballers are notorious moaners and I've had 16-18 years in the professional game where everyone moans about everything from the warm-ups not being right to the pitches not being good enough.
"You get to this level and the boys just get on with it and they're here because they want to be here. They want to play football and it's not like a job where it can be at times in the professional game."
Edwards, who combines playing for Bala with a number of business interests - in finance and in property - had made his debut for the club against Northern Ireland's Larne in the Europa Conference League in July.
But his Cymru Premier debut came against Penybont on Saturday, a game in he scored to give the Lakesiders a 2-1 lead before the visitors stuck back to secure a point.
"I can honestly say it took me 15 to 20 minutes to get used to the tempo ," Edwards said.
"You do what you can in pre-season and the games, but it's never like that first game of the season at whatever level you play.
"It was a lot quicker than what I was expecting so it took me 15 to 20 minutes to get my lungs ready.
David Edwards scored six goals in 43 games for Wales
"But after that I was able to grow into the game a little bit, but as a team we didn't play as good as we know we can.
"Even though we didn't play that well we definitely had the chances to score three, four or five goals.
"But it's a point and it's better than losing the first game so we have to build on that."
Bala, Welsh Cup winners in 2017, have been regular Welsh representatives in Europe over recent seasons.
Although this year's adventure was ended by Larne early on, the hope among Edwards and others at the club is that they will have a successful campaign so they can be back in Europe next season.
"We have a real belief here that we can go and do something special this season," Edwards added.
"We've got such a good group of players. Technically we've got a good bunch.
"The team spirit is something I've never experienced like this before and the togetherness of everyone at the club from top to bottom."