Naz Ball is an Arsenal Ladies original. She played for Aylesbury Town at the time that they were absorbed by Arsenal in 1987. Ball was more than just a football player though. An accomplished squash and hockey player, she forged a long career in the Royal Air Force, which was what then led her to her football career.
“You wouldn’t want to play me at darts or tiddlywinks or even throwing two pence pieces at a wall. I am competitive and I don’t give up,” she says, as if it wasn’t already self-evident from her remarkable story.
Ball says sport was a big part of her life from a young age, “I had six brothers and I was very sporty. I had a younger sister but she wasn’t so keen on the sport, but I made up for that!
“That translated into the playground and I just played football with the lads. Most of the girls at school played netball but it wasn’t for me. There were no girls football teams around at that time.”
Born in the small village of Pwllheli in north west Wales, Ball and her family moved to Wigan when she was 12. She says that it was joining the RAF at the age of 18 that really accelerated her complementary football career.
“When I went into the RAF they really encouraged me because they are very sports-minded, so I played RAF football, country football, club football.
“I played squash, football, hockey and did athletics for the RAF. If they saw someone with good sporting ability they pushed you through. It was the same when I played for Wales – they saw someone playing for their country as good for the RAF.”
Ball says that moving to Wigan was crucial to both joining the RAF and to developing her passion for football.
When I was 17, my mum took me on a bus to Manchester and the company Foden Trucks had a girls’ team and I had a trial for Foden Ladies, I did a year with them before I joined the RAF. When I was at RAF Abingdon, I did a year with Oxford United and then I went to Aylesbury.
“When that team disbanded, a lot of us went to join Arsenal, who kind of took over Aylesbury. We fought for what we could get but most of us had full-time jobs and played for the love of the game.”
It is perhaps a little-known fact that Arsenal essentially absorbed the disbanded Aylesbury Town in 1987. Ball says the amalgamation of the clubs did not feel that seismic at the time.
“The amalgamation of the two teams was just one of those things and we got on with it,” she says. “A lot of the girls came over to Arsenal from Aylesbury, but there wasn’t really any financial reward in those days – you just did it for the love of playing football.
“I got posted to Stanmore Park, which was much closer to Arsenal. It was about an hour’s drive, which was about the same drive to Aylesbury from RAF Abingdon.”
“Clearly, those early days were far more modest than what we see today. “When it started there wasn’t any money, even for kit, so we used to get sponsored for our kit.
“I went back to my colleagues at the RAF and they would sponsor me: £10 for my socks, we paid subs, petrol, food. Myself, Michelle Curley and Kirsty Pealling used to put names in a hat on a Thursday night after training to see who would make the sandwiches for the game on Sunday.
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“Kirsty and Michelle lived at home in north London and I was in the RAF so we were best placed to do it. We would have sausage rolls, crisps, pork pies – really healthy food! We paid for it and made it all ourselves. But we burned it all off!”
Playing at a venue like Emirates Stadium was a distant dream, but Ball did play and score in an iconic game at Highbury against Doncaster Belles as part of a benefit day for boxer Michael Watson in 1993.
As part of the occasion, the Gunners' top-of-the-table clash against the Belles was moved to the club’s main stadium. Ball scored in a 3-0 victory: “It was ideal for us, we knew Donny Belles would be tough. There was a really big crowd, about 16,000 people. We had never played in front of that many spectators, so it was a really good energiser for us.
“It was the first time we had to use a crowd for energy but, at the same time, try to focus on what we were doing on the pitch. But everyone in that team knew their roles and that we would fight for each other.”
The game was part of a rivalry that fomented with Doncaster Belles in the 1990s as the teams fought for the top honours season on season, similar to Arsenal and Chelsea today.
“We had a rivalry with Doncaster Belles and that was really good – it pushed both of us,” Ball says. “When you have another team in the division that is just as strong as you it keeps you on your toes. They wanted to beat us and we wanted to beat them.”
Ball scored 38 goals for Arsenal in 1992/93 as they won the treble in their first season in the top flight. “We were a good team with great players,” she remembers understatedly. But Ball says manager Vic Akers was a crucial part of the puzzle.
“We had a really good manager and we knew that. Vic instilled something in you; it reminded me of being in the Air Force. I was proud, my mum was proud that I was in the RAF and Vic gave me that same feeling of being proud to play for Arsenal. We were a really good team and we were successful with a lot of good players, but it came down to hard work.”
At this time, the women’s game was strictly amateur in standing. Players trained from 8-10pm at the JVC Centre at Highbury on Tuesday and Thursday nights. But Ball and her team-mates often went the extra mile to improve their fitness. In the RAF, Ball had access to extra opportunities to train, but it wasn’t always easy.
“You give up a lot. I trained two nights a week at Arsenal but that wasn’t good enough if you wanted to be in the team week in, week out. People were knocking on the door for my position so I trained with the men in the RAF too. I was also playing hockey and squash. So I was active four to five nights during the week to keep my fitness up.
“I looked at someone like [midfielder and former Arsenal captain] Sian Williams, who was one of the fittest players in women’s football. She could run and run and run, and I wanted to try to emulate that. I knew people wanted my position; it was a good club. I had to put that extra bit of work in to make sure I didn’t get dropped.”
Ball admits that it took time to win over some of her male colleagues in the RAF when it came to playing football with them. “They would say, ‘Look, that team has a bird! I don’t think we should have a bird playing!’ But I played and I got kicked around a bit and at the end of the game we all shook hands and they said, ‘OK, we don’t mind having a bird in the team, she can play.’”
While the games were one thing, Ball explains that it took time to win acceptance in training too. “When I went to train and the coach asked everyone to pair off, nobody would pair off with me and the coach had to make someone. When we trained, I got pushed about a bit, but I just said: ‘I’m not going anywhere! If you kick me, I’ll kick you!’
“For three months it was a hard slog, but they realised they weren’t going to get rid of me and I wasn’t a bad player. After that, guys would pair off with me and that was it – I trained as normal.”
Naz says her experience was similar when she was posted in Germany and that it took a while to gain acceptance when she trained and played with the men. “My German wasn’t very good, but after three months I found their English got better when talking to me!”
As well as playing for Arsenal, playing squash, hockey, athletics and maintaining an RAF career, Ball had to overcome a lot of obstacles to be able to play and had to overcome some cynical attitudes to her participation in sport. She attributes her determination and competitiveness to her upbringing.
“I think my steeliness comes from my mother; she had to bring up eight children and I didn’t have a father figure. I was looking after myself and my younger siblings from an early age because my mum had to work full-time.
“I came from a poor family. The determination and not giving up - I think that came from my mother. I came from a small village in Wales where everyone kept their doors open and you could always go to them for a pack of sugar.
“Then I moved to Wigan and I had to be tough. We didn’t live in a good area; I had to grow up quickly and I had to stand up for myself. My school was rough too; I had to learn to look after myself.”
Ball says going into the Royal Air Force was a saving grace for her and allowed her opportunities, sporting or otherwise, to make something from her tough upbringing.
“My mum was so proud of me being in the RAF, a lot of our family hadn’t done much with their lives. I used to travel home to Wigan in my uniform and my mum would tell her friends and our family.
“When I was younger we couldn’t go on holiday because we didn’t have the money. Now I’ve been down the Nile, to Athens, to Australia and New Zealand.
“I lost my mum a few years ago but I think she would say, well done – you got out of a very really rough situation and did something with your life.”
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