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Karen Bardsley's journey was different from those taken by her England teammates. She grew up in southern California among cornfields and cows. She was never told that girls don't play football. And she rounded off a successful season with a visit to the White House to meet President Obama. But that generation of Lionesses was every bit as united in spirit as the cohort reaching new heights at WEURO 2022.

Even before football, Karen was an energetic child: "I remember always being pretty active, going to a local park or the beach or something like that. Always being outside was my main source of entertainment." When the chance came to join a local team, her English parents were happy for her to take it – but despite making England's number 1 shirt her own in later life, keeping goal wasn't Karen's first choice of role.

"When I was a kid you just took turns, and I loved playing outfield – I had so much energy, all I wanted to do was run around. And at that level it's not very exciting in goal, so I did hate it when it was my turn to go in goal – but unfortunately I was pretty good at it! So people wanted me in there. Even at a young age they could tell. I wanted to play up top – I was a winger for a while because I love running. But it got to a point where I wasn't playing as much as I wanted to as an outfield player, so I just migrated further back and ended up in goal. That's how it found me."

Although playing in organised recreational leagues was standard for her peer group, Karen fully appreciates the struggles against prejudice that her British counterparts were undergoing at the same time. "Sophie Bradley was told she wasn't allowed to play with the boys any more because she was too good for that level, and I just thought 'that's so awful'. A lot of girls had a lot of barriers just participating, so I'm really really lucky that the generation two or three ahead of me in the States paved the way for me to be able to play without any negative perceptions or stereotypes. It was just completely normal that little girls wanted to play football."

Despite a year out with a broken leg, Karen's goalkeeping career burgeoned with her university team Cal State Fullerton Titans, and after graduating she ascended the ranks of the amateur game. In 2009 she was drafted by New Jersey-based Sky Blue FC (now called NY/NJ Gotham FC) for the inaugural season of the Women's Professional Soccer league.

After a poor start to the campaign, head coach Ian Sawyers was replaced by Kelly Lindsey, who oversaw an upturn in form before resigning only a few weeks into the job. At this point club captain Christie Pearce (then Christie Rampone) was appointed player-coach. The rest of the season, Karen recalls, "was pretty crazy".

 

Filled with drama

She continues: "I had a great time. My teammates were amazing. We'd gone through this whole process of not having a league and not having a team and then going through the draft, and then the trials and things like that, winning your spot, and it was such a crazy drama-filled season. We sneaked into the play-offs, we finished fourth, and after that the mentality was just like 'screw it, let's go for it, see what happens, y'know?' So we were quite lucky and had a couple of good performances in the play-offs, and we were on a crazy roll and kept finding ways to win."

The roll continued in the play-off final, where Sky Blue overcame Los Angeles Sol to secure the league title – an incredible achievement given their turbulent start to the season. By this point Karen and teammate Anita Asante were in Finland with the England team for Women's EURO 2009. But having contributed throughout the season, they reconvened later in the year when the champions were invited to the White House to be honoured by President Obama.

Karen (back row, second from left) and her Sky Blue FC teammates meet President Barack Obama at the White House in 2010

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This proved a memorable experience in more ways than one, as Karen had broken her collarbone in training and spent the visit in a painkiller-induced daze. "We were waiting for the president and it was taking ages. I had this little pillow and it looked like a doughnut, so I just plopped that on the table and passed out until he was ready for us. So there's this picture of me face down on this pillow in the White House! I just remember being in absolute agony, but it was pretty funny – we were filing into this room while he was making a speech and we had this shirt for him, and it was all a blur.

"But he was really great and said a lot of kind things about us being role models. His two daughters were there and we got to meet them. He's a huge advocate for female empowerment and women's sport, so it was amazing to meet him. In my opinion he's a real advocate of change, he's got a lot of integrity, and he tries to do the right thing. So I was excited when he got elected, and then when we got to meet him I was buzzing."

 

Crossing to Europe

In 2011 Karen moved to Europe, spending a season with Linköpings FC in Sweden and the next at Lincoln Ladies in the WSL. It was her subsequent transfer to Manchester City that proved the making of her club career – but even there, it wasn't plain sailing. In an echo of her earlier experiences with Sky Blue, it was only after a review of the set-up that the club started to realise its potential.

"We weren't doing well," Karen recalls. "I think we were sitting in mid-table at one point, if not towards the bottom, and the club realised that we're gonna have to have a few more full-time players, we're gonna have to train more often, and that's when they integrated us into the academy system. That's when we got the support we needed and got to train more frequently. You could see the immediate impact that had on the rest of the season, as we had a pretty good cup run, got to the finals of the Continental Cup and ended up winning that. So it took a while for City and the rest of the team to find a level but once we did, it started to accelerate really quickly."

Over the years that followed, Karen notched up multiple honours with City: four Women's League Cups, two Women's FA Cups, and a WSL title. At the same time, the England team she featured in was progressing in leaps and bounds. Personal highlights from her international career are several: saving a penalty against France during her first World Cup in Germany in 2011; reaching a quarter-final with Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics; the 2015 World Cup "where all my friends and family could be part of it – they drove up to Canada and followed us around for a while".

Karen was continuing to make significant progress on the pitch at this time. "We did so well to beat the Germans and take home the bronze medal. So it was a great experience for me, and it put me on the map in terms of some of the techniques that I was integrating into the women's game that I learned at City, things like blocks and spreads, and it was all paying off. I made a big save against Norway which kept us in it."

Right through to 2019 Karen was continuing to achieve highly – a spectacular save from a free kick against Japan in the France World Cup being another high point. Following further injuries, she announced her retirement in May 2022 at the age of 37, after more than 100 appearances for Manchester City and more than 80 for England.

"Looking back, I think I achieved a lot more than I thought I was going to," she reflects. "I had a lot of injuries and it could have been different – maybe I could have got 100 [caps] rather than 82 – but ultimately I did the best with the hand that I was dealt."

 

Next steps

While her playing career may be over, Karen's sights are set on more achievements off the pitch. Further down the line, she's looking to a career as a technical director or general manager, having completed a masters degree in sports directorship at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her aim is to nurture a set-up where "professional athletes are seen less as a commodity and more as a person. I want to create an environment that's more conducive to a holistic approach, looking after the well-being of players, which is really important when it comes to consistent high performance. I'm really intrigued by it."

In the immediate term, Karen has joined up with Sky and the BBC as a pundit for UEFA Women's EURO 2022. She's also part of the legacy project attached to the tournament in Manchester and Trafford. Having played alongside many of the current Lionesses squad, she'll be rooting for Sarina Wiegman's side. "It's a great opportunity to do something really special – but I hope they don't feel too much pressure and I hope they see it as an opportunity to showcase everything they've been working for.

"Obviously it would be amazing if they won the whole Euros, and that would really accelerate everything that we want to achieve in terms of that game plan for growing the game and changing perceptions in the culture. But ultimately I just hope they put on some really good performances and I hope they enjoy the process."

In the run-up to the tournament Karen has been following the progress of other goalkeepers with some interest, and singles out Germany's Ann-Katrin Berger as one to watch. "It'll be interesting to see if she actually gets to play or not, but she is rightly getting the attention she deserves because she's been outstanding for Chelsea in the WSL for quite a long time." Manuela Zinsberger of Austria is another tipped by Karen after "one of the best seasons of her career" with Arsenal.

As for the keepers in the England squad, Karen identifies distinct qualities in each: Mary Earps' confidence and communication with her defence; Ellie Roebuck's ability with the ball at her feet, "threading some beautiful passes"; and Hannah Hampton – "obviously a really good shot stopper and she's got two cannons for feet so she can absolutely launch a ball!"

In terms of the game's wider prominence and commercial appeal, Karen welcomes the interest we're now seeing, but adds: "I think you have to reward the people who were on board at the start and helped it get to the level it's at now. Hopefully we can continue to see the interest and investment that organisations like the BBC and Sky are making. I just hope that UEFA figures out that they need to continue and invest more. I find it quite shocking when I hear that people have been surprised by the interest and the uptake – I think that's pretty disrespectful."

 

Being a WIF member

So as a huge contributor to the game both on and off the pitch, what does it mean to Karen to be a Women in Football member? Challenging discrimination and inequality is key, she says – "getting people to realise that just because girls want to play football, doesn't mean there won't be space for boys to play football! it's not an 'us vs them' – it's just everybody wants to play football. I don't see why there's an issue! So having an organisation like Women in Football continuing to amplify that message is something really important, which I'm quite passionate about myself – so I'm happy to be a member.

"It's nice to see the #GetOnside campaign create opportunities for women and girls – grassroots football, pitch space, and finally give it the support it needs. Ultimately girls are great employees, great leaders. They're collaborative by nature, empathetic by nature, and I just think we need more of that in the world. So it's really great to see people are starting to understand that pathways need to become more visible for women and girls to get to the positions they aspire to."

Finally, after all she's achieved, what advice would Karen give to her younger self? "The only thing I wish I'd known when I was 18 is a lot of the social awareness pieces and the emotional intelligence pieces about understanding yourself, what makes you tick, those types of things. I think if I'd known that I could have maybe communicated a little better or known how to handle myself and my emotion and pressure in those types of situations maybe a little better. But the thing that I was always a bit frustrated with was maybe I didn't give myself enough credit or believe in myself as much as I should. So I would probably say to myself at 18, 'don't worry about what anyone else thinks, just go out and enjoy yourself and believe in yourself.'"

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