Natasha Harding: Wales forward 'never believed I'd go on to win 100 caps'

Natasha Harding has scored 25 goals for Wales in her 99 appearances

Aged four years old, Natasha Harding's mother wanted her to stop kicking things around the house and sent her to play football with the boys.

Instantly, she could see the attraction. Kicking boys and scoring goals was more fun than kicking household items.

The year was 1993 and the Wales men's team were enduring their latest 'nearly' moment as they sought a World Cup place, with Paul Bodin's penalty miss against Romania breaking hearts across the country.

But in her home town at Bargoed YMCA, a young girl with an insatiable appetite to succeed and prove she was as good as the boys was falling in love with the beautiful game.

Fast forward almost 30 years and Harding is ready to play for Wales for the 100th time.

"I'd have never believed I'd go on to win 100 caps," the 33-year-old told BBC Sport Wales. "I think most of the girls I have played with would tell you they can't believe it either."

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Battling in Bargoed

Harding, unlike many of her team-mates, played football and rugby throughout her childhood, enjoying, she freely admits, the feeling of proving she could do whatever the boys could.

"I loved football and rugby as a kid, I played both as in the valleys rugby is in your DNA," she said.

"I played football and rugby at the same time. I played football at Bargoed YMCA who took me in when I was four years old and I never looked back, I joined the under-six team.

"I loved shoving and pushing the boys, I loved the aggression side of it. I never wanted to lose to the boys. I had a mindset of wanting to win constantly, that never left me."

But while Harding was all-in on football, this was a different time. This was a time when girls were told they could no longer play alongside boys when they reached the age of 12.

"I won player of the tournament at an under-seven tournament with boys, Cardiff City wanted to sign me. Then they found out that I was a girl, so they couldn't," she recalls.

"I was playing 11-a-side when I was nine. I was always good enough to be playing with or against 21 boys at the same time.

"There was one other girl when we were 11 who also played, but she didn't last very long. She didn't enjoy it.

"I loved it, but then it stopped."

Aged 12, clutching her pound coin for entry to Bargoed YMCA, Harding was told she was no longer allowed to play with the boys.

"I remember it vividly," she said. "I had just played for Wales in an under-13s Ian Rush tournament. I was feeling good and then got told I had to go away. I was upset.

"I went to a ladies' under-16 team at the time when I was 12 and I hated every minute of it. I thought I'd have to give up football. I did for a while.

"I stopped playing outside of school, but my teachers at school allowed me to play with the boys. Then a teacher set up a girls' team and that was how I fell back in love with football again."

Natasha Harding spent nine months at Manchester City before being released, joining Liverpool four days later

Overcoming setbacks

Harding's career path followed that of her formative years as she overcame a setback or two on her path to the Women's Super League.

Harding played for Cardiff City for five years, captaining the side, before switching to Bristol Academy and really establishing herself as a top-level player.

Her career looked set to rocket, but instead it stalled.

Harding signed for Washington Spirit in 2014 ahead of what she described as a "dream move" to play in the United States, but visa issues prevented the switch. Instaed she signed for Manchester City.

However, the move to Manchester did not work out and within a year Harding had been transferred to Liverpool.

Neither move to the north west turned out as well as hoped, with Harding switching to Reading in 2018 and finding her form again, becoming the club captain and establishing herself as one of the WSL's most versatile performers.

"Someone said this season for Reading I've played full-back, winger, centre-half, four, sweeper, nine and a 10," she said.

"It's not too bad, I'm ticking them off the list. I try to be as versatile as I can. If I know what centre-halves or full-backs do it gives me an edge as a forward player.

"That's what we've seen playing for Wales. I've played my best football for Wales."

Natasha Harding made her Wales debut in 2008 against Switzerland

The exclusive club

Harding is now one cap away from 100, a feat she should achieve in Wales' World Cup qualifier in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

It is not a glamour game, there probably will not be a single Wales fan in the stands, but Harding knows the rarefied company she will keep. She knows what it means.

Loren Dykes, Jess Fishlock, Sophie Ingle, Gareth Bale, Chris Gunter and - in the past month - Wayne Hennessey and Helen Ward, are the only other players to represent Wales 100 times.

"It's amazing. It's a long time coming. It's great I can say I will be in the history books for a little while," she added.

"It's a great achievement and a great moment for my family and my career. To put my name in with the list of names who have 100 caps is very special."

For Harding, much as with fellow 100-cap club members Fishlock and Ward - Ingle, 30, should have a few more chances - it is the motivation of a last chance at a major tournament with Wales that is the number-one item left to tick off the career aspirations list.

"I have pushed my wedding back to 2024 because of the World Cup, it would be amazing to go," she said.

"When we qualify for a major tournament you will see an eruption of emotions from a lot of us. It's been a big shift for the past 16 years.

"For me, qualifying for a major tournament with Wales would undoubtedly be one of the greatest achievements of my life."

Wales know three wins from their remaining qualifiers - after Kazakhstan they face Greece and Slovenia next September - would secure second place in Group I behind runaway leaders France and with it a play-off chance to reach the 2023 World Cup.

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