Leeds United's Catherine Hamill on club's journey to 'surreal' FA Cup tie with WSL giants Arsenal

It is not so long ago that the players representing Leeds Ladies were turning up to games on a school bus.

This weekend, with the badge of Leeds United on their chest, they will travel in far more comfort for what for many will be the game of their lives.

Because Leeds United Women of the fourth-tier Division One North have been drawn to play 14-time winners Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

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It will be quite the occasion for United’s team of nurses, teachers and students to be playing against some of the biggest names in women’s football, Lionesses captain Leah Williamson among them.

Catherine Hamill in action for Leeds United Women (Picture: Leeds United)Catherine Hamill in action for Leeds United Women (Picture: Leeds United)
Catherine Hamill in action for Leeds United Women (Picture: Leeds United)

For Catherine Hamill, a Leeds United fan who grew up in Wortley and joined her hometown club as a 13-year-old, it is a ‘surreal’ moment, and thoughts of the tougher days will not be far from her mind when she takes to the field at Arsenal’s home of Boreham Wood on Sunday.

“I was 17 when I made it into the first-team squad with Leeds United Ladies,” she begins.

“Then the team got disbanded. It was frustrating for me at the time, I’d just come up and was trying to develop my game against fully-grown women. I was left to wonder ‘what do I do now?’”

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“In a way it felt like my footballing career was put on hold because there was no backing behind us. It was a dilemma for me - do I leave to help yourself develop, or do I stay because I’m a Leeds supporter?”

Catherine Hamill joined Leeds United when she was 13 (Picture: Leeds United)Catherine Hamill joined Leeds United when she was 13 (Picture: Leeds United)
Catherine Hamill joined Leeds United when she was 13 (Picture: Leeds United)

Hamill stayed and found enough like-minded players, manager and volunteers to keep the team alive, albeit outside the umbrella of United and now playing as Leeds Ladies Football Club.

“We’d still got quite a big following from previous fans and we had help from volunteers with funding and promoting the team. Without them we wouldn’t be here now,” Hamill, now 25, tells The Yorkshire Post.

“There was a bus driver who when the mini bus we were in broke down, had to go to get a replacement bus from where he worked. So we turned up to one game in a school bus because that’s where he worked.

“Without people like that we wouldn’t have kept going.”

Leeds United beat Stoke City 3-1 in the previous round (Picture: Leeds United)Leeds United beat Stoke City 3-1 in the previous round (Picture: Leeds United)
Leeds United beat Stoke City 3-1 in the previous round (Picture: Leeds United)
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Three years later Andrea Radrizzani took over the club and reintegrated the women’s team.

Still part-time, still in the fourth tier of English football, they at least now have stability, a roof over their heads at the Thorp Arch training ground they share with the men’s team and the academy, and a glamour FA Cup tie to look forward to.

Leeds have beaten two teams from a higher division to get to this stage. They were drawn against Arsenal in December, just a day after their original third-round tie against third-tier Stoke City had been postponed due to bad weather.

“We had all of Christmas to think about the possibility of Arsenal, but we still had to beat Stoke in early January before we could think about it properly,” recalls Hamill.

Catherine Hamill, second right, and her Leeds United team-mates have beaten three higher-league teams to set up a dream tie with Arsenal (Picture: Leeds United)Catherine Hamill, second right, and her Leeds United team-mates have beaten three higher-league teams to set up a dream tie with Arsenal (Picture: Leeds United)
Catherine Hamill, second right, and her Leeds United team-mates have beaten three higher-league teams to set up a dream tie with Arsenal (Picture: Leeds United)
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“We knew Stoke were a challenge being from the league above, fortunately we were at home where we’ve only lost once all season.

"With a few minutes to go in the Stoke game there was a break in play and one of the girls turned round to the team and said ‘as if we’re going to go and play Arsenal’.

“Even though it was 3-1 at the time I was saying ‘don’t say it, don’t say it yet’.

“You’d like to think you’d hold on to a two-goal lead no matter what was at stake but I just wanted us to get through those closing few minutes.

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“Once that final whistle went we could relax and look ahead to playing one of the top teams in England: Champions League players, title contenders, full of internationals.

“That’s their full-time job, the hours we train in a week they probably train in a day – the difference is massive.”

There will be no Yorkshire favourite Beth Mead in the line-up, nor Vivianne Miedema, the two world superstars nursing ACL injures back to health, but there is still plenty to worry Leeds.

Yet Hamill – who is so immersed in her beloved club that she works in the Leeds United Foundation – is looking at the positives of playing without any pressure on them.

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She has worked long and hard for an opportunity like this and is determined to seize it.

“It makes you realise that this is what you work for,” says the central defender and occasional captain.

“You work full-time, you go training twice a week, you do your own stuff outside of training.

“You’re up at 6am some days to go to the gym, then off to work a full day, then to training two nights a week, you might not get home until God knows when.

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“You’re making sure you’re eating right, not just at the weekend, but through the week.

“You’re missing out on a social life, but to turn up and play against Arsenal, this huge team in the women’s game, is quite surreal.

“It’s a bit of a dream, but once we get on that pitch it’s two teams in the same place at the same time, and you deserve to be on that pitch.”