Paula Howells

Paula Howells (born 22 March 1997) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for the FA Women's Championship club Lewes. She has previously played for England Under 19s and 23s and for the London Bees.

Paula Howells
Howells in 2022
Personal information
Full name Paula Howells
Date of birth (1997-03-22) 22 March 1997
Place of birth Sussex, England
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
–2014 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 (0)
2014–2019 London Bees 105 (20)
2019–2023 Lewes 46 (5)
International career‡
2019 England U19 9 (0)
2019– England U23 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 June 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 October 2022

Life

Howells was born on 22 March 1997[1] in Sussex and she was an Arsenal fan as a child. She admired their striker Thierry Henry and she tried to follow his style.[2] When she was at school she suffered early with discrimination against her as a female footballer. When there was a special match when she was thirteen then the boys at her school would be allowed to miss lessons. However the girls were expected to attend normal schooling. She protested, but this made no difference, and she got into some trouble.[3]

Club career

Brighton

Howells played for Brighton WFC[4] until July 2014.[5]

London Bees

She joined London Bees in 2014.[5]

In 2017, Howells started playing with FA Women's Championship club London Bees playing as an attacking midfielder and making seventeen appearances. She got her only yellow card that season and she scored six goals. In the next season she scored just one goal but she was only in four line ups.[1]

Lewes
Howells vs Megan Wynne of Charlton Athletic WFC in January 2022

She joined Lewes for the 2019 team.[1] The team are unusual as they pay their men's team and their women's team the same amount. The matches cost the same to see and Howell's has noted that the women and men practice together regularly.[3] She is a midfielder who scores goals. In October 2021 she scored the opening goal against Charlton Athletic.[6] It was a long range goal and she scored another against Coventry when her team beat them 4–1.[2]

In June 2023, Howells announced her departure from Lewes, citing "sadly, the women's game hasn't grown enough yet for people like myself to not struggle each day, especially with the current climate."[7]

International career

Howells has been capped by England at two youth levels. In 2016 she appeared for the England under-19 team; once in a draw with Sweden and again in a win over Austria.[1]

She received her first call up for an under-23 match in 2018 for a goalless draw against the USA.[1]

Other

Howells helped to organise her team mates to support a virtual Bingo night during the pandemic to support MindOut.[8] MindOut is a mental health charity that supports the LGBTQ community.[9]

References
  1. "England – P. Howells – Profile with news, career statistics and history – Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  2. "Lewes FC: Paula Howells talks Thierry Henry, Rachel Yankey and scoring wonder goals". GiveMeSport. 21 November 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  3. Dobres, Karen (August 2022). "Using women's football for social change". HRZone. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  4. "Women Gallery: London Bees". www.brightonandhovealbion.com. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  5. "London Bees strengthen with two additions". Times Series. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  6. "Charlton's top spot hopes blown away by Lewes at the Dripping Pan". www.sussexexpress.co.uk. 17 October 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  7. Pentland, Daniel (23 June 2023). "Lewes midfielder Howells announces departure". FAWSL Full-Time.
  8. "Brighton Magazine – The Big Gay Bingo Night: A Night Of Fun & Organised Chaos Helps Lewes FC Raise Funds For Brighton Charity". Magazine.brighton.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  9. "MindOut | Mental Health Charity for LGBTQ community". MindOut. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.