When Katie Chapman hung up her boots in 2018, she did so as one of the most decorated England players to ever play the game.
During her 22-year career, she lifted 28 trophies, including a historic quadruple with Arsenal in 2006/07 and got the ball rolling on Chelsea’s modern era, when they won their first WSL title in 2015.
Along the way, she would win 94 England caps and was part of the squads that came third in the 2015 World Cup and was a runner-up at the 2009 European Championship.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the former Millwall Lionesses youngster, who stepped back from England duty in 2011, later saying she felt she was not supported enough as a mother in the international set-up.
“Things weren’t handled very well,” Chapman tells FourFourTwo. “I just needed a bit of time and understanding, but you don’t understand if you’re not a parent.
“I’d come back from Chicago – I’d been renting out my house while I was over there and couldn’t yet return to my home. I was living at my mum’s. I needed to get the kids back into school, so I took some time out to put them first.
“Things are much better for mothers in football now, with maternity leave in the contract. Players have children and the situation is managed. A woman can get pregnant but they can also do their ACL, or a man can be out for nine or 12 months due to a long-term injury.
“You take the time with those people – why can’t you do that with a woman who’s pregnant? It’s the same: manage them right and they’ll come back, no problem.”
Chapman – who ranked at no.79 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best women’s footballers of all-time – would go on to return to the side in 2015, ahead of the World Cup in Canada.
“[It was] a whirlwind, because I didn’t think I’d ever go back,” she continues. “I wanted to, but I’d spent a long period out of there. I made the 35-player longlist for the 2012 Olympics but didn’t get selected – me and Hope Powell didn’t have the best relationship in that period. Then the management was handed over and Mark [Sampson] gave me a call.
“They were completely different coaches: Mark was more about valuing the family side and you being comfortable and happy, which I found great because my children got to come and see me in Canada. I was grateful for the opportunity, because I’d been back in the fold for about six months before the World Cup and I thought, ‘What will people think about this? I haven’t been here very long’.
“But I’d also been there for years prior to that. It was a fantastic experience: we lost to a late own goal against Japan in the semis, but bounced back to beat Germany and seal bronze. I’d like to have reached 100 caps, but 94 is pretty good.”
Chapman was speaking in association with KickX, the world’s first indoor hybrid football arena. Visit kickxfootball.com
