Val, 51, is getting a kick out of football

Val is relishing her role as her team's right-back – despite admitting to being "no spring chicken".

She celebrated her 51st birthday in April and at just 4ft 11in she is the smallest in her team, the Stourport Swifts Ladies FC.

However, she uses her height to her advantage and says it allows her to weave in and out of players easily.

It was also advantageous to Val when she used to play in midfield. "I was often known to 'leap like a salmon' to score a goal," she recalls.

Val, who is originally from Yorkshire, first started playing football when she was 40 years old. At the start of her football career Val played right midfield, and was the captain of the team.

She retired on her 50th birthday, but her retirement only lasted part of the season.

"I thought I would leave it to the younger gals, but I missed playing football so much," she says.

"As soon as I told my ex-team mates they persuaded me to return. I now play in defence, which is a lot easier for an old gal."

Over the last 11 years Val has set up and played in two football teams. The idea for the first team she formed, Burlish Olympic Ladies FC, came about whilst Val was standing on a freezing cold touchline.

Val, of Endeavour Place, Herringdale, Stourport, recalls: "I was watching my two elder sons playing football.

"Two other mums were on the sideline kicking a ball about for my younger son. I suggested we started our own team, so that we could keep warm while our children were playing football."

Originally it was mums from the sideline that formed the basis of the team, and most of them had never played football before. "We had a mum and daughter playing in the same team, and the age range was from 16 to 40," she adds. After a while they thought they were confident enough to join the league.

"I got in touch with the FA, booked a training pitch, advertised for a manager and a coach, did the marketing, obtained sponsorship from local businesses, organised fundraising events, and helped run the training," says Val.

Her current team, Stourport Swifts Ladies FC, were established in 2008.

Most of this team are in their late 20s, with three players in their 40s. A lot of the players have already played football previously, at a school or university. Over the years Val has sustained a few injuries, but nothing serious, just minor cuts and bruises. By far the worst injury she has received was a black eye when trying to head the ball. "As I'm so small my opponent's elbow struck me in the eye," she says.

Occasionally her family come and watch her play, and her husband Tony has even been known to run the line.

When I ask Val what her family and friends think of her playing football she laughs and says: "They think it's great an old lass can still play."

Val's involvement in football also extends to her day job. She works as a teaching assistant at St John's C of E Primary School in Kidderminster. Here Val coaches a girls-only football team.

Every Thursday night, girls as young as six, seven and eight learn football skills.

Val believes it is best to start them off young.

Television programme Playing the Field (1998) and films such as Bend it Like Beckham (2002) have helped promote and improve the appeal of women's football. And Val can testify that it is not a game just for tomboys – this is an old-fashioned and out-dated view.

She says: "I know a lot of women football players who wouldn't step on the pitch, unless they were wearing their make-up."

She is optimistic that women's football will keep growing.

"There are a lot more teams around these days, and a lot more women are very dedicated to football," she says. "Women football players are a lot fitter, and their technical skills have improved greatly over the years."

However, Val states: "Women's football could be improved if there was greater media coverage on the television and in the newspapers. It is currently under-funded and under-recognised."

In fact, Val has struggled to find another girls team to play against the young girls she coaches at school. "A lot more schools should allow girls to play football. This would help raise its profile."

Val adds: "I still have the desire to play football and will continue to do so as long as I am needed.

"Nowadays, I tend to spend most of my time coaching, and this is where I see my role in football over the coming years. I want to encourage the younger players.

"There has got to be a lot of exciting young talent out there."

The first recorded game in England of women's association football took place in 1895, at Crouch End Athletic in London.

Today more than 1.6 million women and girls play some form of football, with over 150,000 of these playing women's association football. It is the most played female competitive sport.