Fara Williams: 'St George's Park pitch naming is an honour'

It's a great honour to have a pitch named after me at St George's Park. It came as a surprise. I'd seen Kelly Smith had one named after her but I assumed when I retired that the England connection would be done. 

I played 177 matches for England and it was always a privilege. I always wanted to come off the pitch and hope that whether I was good or bad you could see how much it meant to me. In terms of effort, I always wanted to be the best that I could be.

When I made my debut I thought back to when I was a kid, when I didn't know anything about women's football. I remember my uncle had an England v Scotland game on, we won 1-0 and Angela Banks scored the goal.

My mum was trying to explain about the national team and I was like, "What do you mean? How do you get to play for them?" As soon as I watched that I had this thing in my head that I should be there. I wanted to play for England. And I knew I was going to get in that team at some point.

When I eventually got there, I remember being really intimidated by Kelly Smith and Sammy Britton. I remember sitting behind them and they were laughing their heads off. I was so paranoid thinking they were laughing at me.

Those two went on to be players who really helped me settle into the team. Two very different personalities, different characters, but they really helped me. But everybody made me feel welcome and I settled quickly.

There are so many great memories but I think our best tournament was actually the 2015 World Cup. There was a shift in the squad and I felt my inner kid come out. But the moment I think attitudes towards the women's game began to shift was the 2012 Olympics.

The crowds were huge because everybody wanted to be part of the occasion in London and it kind of put us on the map. We then started to engage more and more fans around 2015 with the heart-breaking semi-final defeat.

Then of course EURO 2022 was when all football fans began to take notice. It put respect on the women's game. That was what the squads in my time were trying to build up to – and we didn't. They topped it off. That was the final step to where it is now.

The transformation is huge. Whether it be through broadcasters or media outlets, young girls are able to be seen on TV. It's made young girls realise they can play football and it also made young boys realise that girls can play.

Everybody now gets behind the Lionesses and the women's game. Heads have been turned. Everybody wants to promote the game and seeing the changes in what the girls get now, it's all credit to them. We had to get better to have what we now have and they did it.

Even though the game's changing, I was part of the journey that took it to this stage and it's really nice to be recognised. It shows the work that the FA have done over the last few years when it comes to remembering players. It makes you realise that they do appreciate what you gave to the game back then.

I just hope the players use the pitch to show off their ball skills. I was never much of a runner!