Kerys Harrop is a Women's Super League record breaker.
Since the competition, the highest division of Women's football in England, was established in 2010, no player has played more games in the league than Kerys.
Having equalled Gilly Flaherty's record of 177 matches in the north London derby on 25 March, Kez then took the honour for her own when she stepped out at Walton Hall Park against Everton on Saturday (1 April) making appearance 178.
To commemorate the defender's incredible achievement, we have caught up with the people who have been at the centre of her career to date as we tell the story of our number six's phenomenal journey.
We begin with Kerys' former trainer at Birmingham City, David Parker, who first coached the defender as she looked to make the step up into senior football just as the Women's Super League was being established.
David was Kerys' coach when she scored her first-ever goal in the competition - and the former FA Cup winner admits our number six's goalscoring celebrations have not changed a bit in the 12 years since, remarking that she still has the 'same old cheesy celebration'.
“I was there working with the reserve and youth teams at the time before becoming head coach,” David recalls. “Kerys was a youth international, she was moving into the under-23s at the time and would have been 19 or 20 years old when we were just starting the Super League in 2011.
"She was a player of good potential who needed to be pushed on.
“I think we were three games in to the start of the league and Kerys actually scored the winner against Lincoln City. We were playing against Casey Stoney and Sue Smith, and Lincoln’s team were really up and coming at that time, a new team to the league.
“Kez scored the winner that day and I always laugh that she was definitely a centre-half because she had no idea how to celebrate! Even the last one. I know she came back and scored on her return from injury for Spurs earlier this season, and she’s still got the same old cheesy celebration.”
David Parker
David Parker
During the same inaugural season of the WSL, Kerys scored “an absolute worldie” against Everton, described by David as a half-volley from 40 yards out.
“Basically, I took a throw-in,” Kez told us, “the ball got set back to me and I just drilled it with my laces and it flew into the top corner. I got Goal of the Month for that!”
The Toffees were then made up of the likes of Fara Williams and Jill Scott .
"You name it, they had all the big hitters at the time,” David said.
“That was a really big coming of age year for her and she played for England Under-23s. She had her eye on a senior spot further down the line as things were developing. The disappointment for Kerys, although I don’t want to speak for her, was maybe not getting that England senior call-up. It was always at the forefront of her mind and she was performing great, but always had great players ahead of her. She was always really close and never quite got that breakthrough.
“Moving into the second season, Kerys went through a few evolutions of her development. We brought in Rachel Unitt, who had 100 plus caps as an England left-back from Everton. Kez actually moved to left wing, so we had a frontline of Karen Carney, Eni Aluko, Jodie Taylor, Rachel Williams and Kerys Harrop for most of the year.
“We won the FA Cup and Kerys started that day. Eni was on the bench and came on as an impact player for Kerys as we moved the game forward. That just shows you where her ability was at - even as a young player, how much we trusted her as staff to perform in big moments in big games.”
Kerys recalled: “Looking at me now, you’d think, 'bloody hell, how did Kez play on the wing with her lack of pace?' But I was a bit quicker then so I was able to contribute a bit more. I wouldn’t say I was a dribbler, but I’d pass it and move on.”
After one season on the wing, Unitt got injured and Kez moved to left-back, and eventually to centre-half.
“Going into 2014, we lost some big names but we were in the semi-finals of the Champions League,” David said. “Kerys played and we had Rebecca Spencer in goal, who was 22 or 23. We had Chelsea Western at right-back who was 22 or 23, and then either side of Kerys was Aoife Mannion, who was 18 years old, and Jess Carter, who was 16 years old.
“We’d beaten Arsenal in the quarter-finals and we went to play against Tyreso from Sweden. They had Marta, Christen Press, Caroline Seger, Meghan Klingengberg… who else? Boquete. It was an absolute all-star team. It was up there with Lyon.”
Kerys led the backline, holding Tyreso to a 0-0 draw in the first leg, and playing 70 minutes of the second leg away from home without conceding a goal against “world superstars,” as David describes the Swedish side.
Karen Carney was the captain of the Blues that night.
“I wouldn’t say she’s blessed with pace (Kez: “She’s stitching me up there!”) but you very rarely see her get beat because she’s strong, her positional sense is really good and her work rate is really high,” Karen said. “She’s got a good mentality and you’d always want her in your team. Sometimes it’s a little bit under appreciated how good she is and was.
“Because one of her strengths is her understanding of the game… To be fair, when you’re at Birmingham, if you look at the players who came through, our coaches were really educated and tactical, really good at explaining the game to you and had good game understanding.
“Once you have that, you’re already a step ahead and that gives you longevity in itself. The fact that she’s adaptable in her playing position as well gives her that aspect, but she’s done brilliantly and I’m really pleased that achievement is being recognised.
“She’s never fazed by anything. It doesn’t matter who she’s up against, if it’s a big name or not, she’s never intimidated by that. Maybe that’s because of how she was brought up in and around the Birmingham culture and that’s transferred now to Spurs. She’s had a great career and there aren’t too many players that have played in a Champions League semi-final, so you want that experience and knowledge from big games in your dressing room.”
Kerys also picked up the theme of fearlessness,.
“When you’re young you’ve got no fear," she said. "There’s no real expectation on you so you try to play out of your skin. I certainly didn’t feel the pressure, I just enjoyed playing.”
Way back in 2011, could anyone have predicted that Kez would go on to have such longevity in the WSL, playing more games than any other player? Well, those records weren’t at the forefront of anyone’s thinking, David explains.
“The Super League was new and we told the girls that it was only licensed for two years. I don’t know how many people remember that, but it was only licensed from 2011 until 2013. 2013 was a single application stage on its own.
“I was pretty confident that women’s football would take off. The point it’s at now, after we got past the second year, I thought this is where it was going to go. It was just a matter of time and how many years you want to put on it because it was going to boom, but in those first two years we told the girls to enjoy them because they might be the only two years you get in terms of a semi-professional/professional league.
“The American league had all the money in the world and all the players and they couldn’t make it work three times in a row and the league folded. For England to pull that off with the sponsorship and TV deals, we’ve had some great people over the years and everyone has put in so much time and effort in so many different areas to build it to where it is now, but to think about an appearance record in those first two years was probably the last thing on anyone’s mind.
“It was about ‘can we make the product great, entertain the fans and build a foundation for the future?’ Even going into 2013 or so, we only had eight teams in the league so it was a 14-game season, so to add up to almost 200 appearances now is a very different landscape to those first two years, I can tell you that for sure.”
“The growth of the game is brilliant,” Karen added. “The stadiums, attendances and resources are all improving. Don’t get me wrong, it can get a lot better and we want it to because this is still only the start, but these conversations five, six or seven years ago… maybe Kez wouldn’t have got the recognition for the massive milestone.
“That’s just another part of women’s football really being pushed and rightly so. It’s great that Kez is getting this massive moment because she deserves it. It’s not a small feat; it’s a massive accomplishment.”
Fast forward to 2020 and Kez was being offered the chance to make a career change with a move to Spurs.
“It was in lockdown, so I was having a chat with [then co-managers] Juan [Amoros] and Karen [Hills] on Zoom. I didn’t actually get to come and see the facility or meet the coaches and players. They were really enthusiastic, keen to have me on board and made me feel really valued.
“At that point, I’d done 20 years at Birmingham and so I felt it was time for a change. I always wanted to live away from home and London seemed like a good option.
“We were originally training at The Hive, but the Club had told me early on that the vision was to move to Hotspur Way."
Spend any time in Kez’s company and you’ll soon find out why David can’t think of a player that doesn’t like her as a person. Bubbly and funny, Interim Head Coach Vicky Jepson recently described the Stourbridge-born defender, not just as an incredible leader, but also someone who “can be the clown of the group; she likes to have a laugh and a joke. Sometimes you need people to be jesters and lighten the mood.”
"I think she’s funny without knowing it as well,” David adds. “She’s got a Masters degree from good old Wolverhampton and a thick accent that goes with it. Even the intelligent things she says come across funny, so it’s a bit of give and take!
“She’s a lovely, down to earth light-hearted person who is as sweet as anything and wants the best for everyone around her and will give everything. That character goes a long way. To have someone like that in the dressing room, she’s what we call a low-maintenance player and is wonderful to be around.
“She’s definitely got some good banter,” Karen agrees, “but equally she can be serious as well. There were times to knuckle down and do the simple things really well and Kez is really good at that.
“She is someone I really admire with what she’s doing on and off the pitch. It’s a massive asset to Spurs that she’s in your corner and I think she’s done a tremendous job. She comes up with some good goals and is good from set-pieces, has a really good left foot and is technically good. I think she’s had a brilliant career and it’s still not over, which is exciting.”
“You’ve got to enjoy it and have a laugh,” Kerys adds. “In any work place, you have to try to enjoy it or you won’t get the best productivity. You focus when you need to focus, but I think I’ve been in the game so long because I’ve always enjoyed it. I still want to treat it as my hobby and release from everyday life.”
Karen alluded to Kerys’ actions off the pitch, which are testament to the selfless personality she has, and David has another story to tell that illustrates the point.
“There was an FA sister club programme and Kerys was the one player that went out on behalf of the club in the community for Birmingham as the FA was trying to grow the fanbase.
“She was always out with the little kids, setting up matchday events, going to the local schools, clubs and communities, and that’s something she stepped forward to do when not many people were looking at that sort of thing.
"I think that speaks volumes of her character and how she wants to grow and do good in the game and help people along. It’s not always about herself. I think that’s another great little story that’s gone under the radar.
“Those kids now are probably coming up to their late teen years and have season tickets at these games as we grow the fanbase. Kerys was out there doing that work way before with no recognition at all.”
Kerys is now 32 years of age, but Karen sees no reason why her former team-mate can’t have a few more years in her at the top level.
“At the end of the day, it comes from your heart, desire and passion,” she says. “Kez has got that, she loves football, so I’m sure she’ll want to play for as long as she can.”
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