Footballer Helen Ward is Wales' all-time top goalscorer - and England must be kicking themselves for letting her get away.

For the 33-year-old Watford star had a change of heart after playing for England Under 23s.

“I played for England under 23s and didn’t enjoy it," she says. "I felt like I was there as a bit of a token gesture because I’d scored a lot of goals at Watford, who at the time were a pretty unfashionable team. So they probably thought they couldn’t ignore someone who scored 40 goals in a season.

“As soon as I got there the manager said ‘You are a forward aren’t you?'. I thought ‘you’re not even sure of my position now, so you must know very little about me’.

“And then in another conversation with him he told me I reminded him of a player called Ellen Maggs, who was a fantastic player but nothing like me. And I kind of thought ‘OK, where is this going?’.

“I just didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy the environment, it didn’t suit me for whatever I reason. I dreaded being called up, which isn’t what you want.

Then one day, while in her first stint at Watford, Ward had a random conversation which would lead to her pulling on the red shirt of Wales.

“Our assistant coach at Watford was also the assistant coach at Wales," she recalls. "And one day he jokingly said ‘you haven’t got any Welsh grandparents have you?’, and I said ‘I have actually, why?’ and he said ‘do you fancy it?’.

“My grandparents were always proud to be Welsh. My mum considers herself to be Welsh too. So, I thought, why not? And from the first session I turned up to, I knew it was the right decision. It’s the best thing I ever did.

“My husband still jokes by saying ‘you’re not really Welsh, you don’t know the words to the anthem’, but I know he doesn’t really mean it. And it is the best anthem in the world!”

As well as impressing on the international stage, Ward has had success at the top of the women's domestic game, having also played for Arsenal, Chelsea and Reading.

But despite winning both the WSL and the FA Cup, plus those 42 goals in 88 appearances for Wales, Ward has incredibly never had a full-time professional contract.

“I don’t feel like I’ve missed out. I don’t know if the professional life would have been for me anyway," she says.

"I’ve really enjoyed my path so far. I’ve played internationally and at the top level of club football for several seasons of my career.

“If I help Watford get promoted into the Championship this season then that would be something I would be as proud of as anything I’ve achieved in football."

When competing at the elite level of the women's game with Arsenal and Chelsea between 2009 and 2013, women's football was still a part-time occupation.

And when players finally began to turn professional once the Women's Super League really kicked into gear in 2015, Ward was only offered a part-time contract by her club at the time because she had recently had her first child, Emily.

"The WSL was full-time so Reading were going to transition into being a full-time team. But for whatever reason I was only offered a part-time contract," she says.

“The reason I was given was because they didn’t know if I could do full-time with a child, but I don’t know if that was the real reason or an excuse. They didn’t ask me if I thought I could do it, they just said ‘look, this is what we’re offering’.

“I didn’t think about it too much there and then, but the more I thought about it the more it annoyed me.

“If they didn’t want me to be one of their full-time players then that’s cool, just tell me. I don’t need excuses."

Nevertheless, Ward took the deal and continued to train flat out, very rarely missing gym or training sessions that the full-time players were doing.

Throughout her career Ward has balanced a life of work, family, and football.

While playing at Arsenal she was a teaching assistant, first at St Nicholas' C of E School in Elstree and then at Colnbrook School for special needs children.

However, while many would see that as a damning indictment of how women's footballers are treated, Ward has always seen it as something of a blessing.

“It was nice," she says. "It kept me grounded and kept me away from the stress of thinking about football all the time. And at the same time the hours suited me so I could keep playing the whole time."

In the year before Ward had her second child, Charlie, she got a degree in sports writing and broadcasting from Staffordshire University, something she hopes to continue professionally after her playing career.

Then, two weeks before Ward gave birth in 2017, she was contacted by Watford, who she had left for Arsenal back in 2009 after 13 years with the club.

The Hornets were keen for her to return to the club, and offered her a joint role as both a player and media/marketing officer.

“That was really big for me because of what had happened before," she says. "For them to put that sort of faith in me, to say ‘look, we know you can’t play for however many weeks or months, but we want you. When you’re ready, you’re ready'."

One thing she's certainly ready for is the opportunity to get Wales to Euro 2021.

They are currently second in their group and on course to qualify for their first ever major tournament

And Ward, who has an undeniable passion for the country she adopted ten years ago, is adamant reaching the Euros would be the pinnacle of her career.

“100 per cent it would be," she says. "I think that’s the reason I’ve carried on as long as I have, because there’s always been that dream. That would top everything.

“When we lost to England in the last game of the World Cup qualifiers, there was a group of five or six of us who said ‘can we do it again? We’ve got so close’.

"But we made the collective decision to go one more round. We give it two more years. If we get there amazing, if we don’t then we hand it on to the next generation because I can’t be playing in a World Cup at 36!"

Having played through an era of women's football which has seen a dramatic increase in both participation and coverage, Ward believes the rapid rise will now start to slow down somewhat.

And while she praises movements such as the US World Cup-winning team campaigning for equal pay, the Welsh striker does not believe that is something her national side can call for quite yet.

“From a personal point of view, yeah I'd like that! But we haven’t got to a Euros yet," she said.

"If we qualify for 2021 then maybe we’ve got a bit more scope to say ‘look, we’re doing what they’ve done, what do you think?’ But we’re not going to go in shouting our mouths off for things that we don’t necessarily deserve. We’re a level headed group of people. We try to do things in a professional way.

“But maybe if you came back in six or nine months time then that’s a conversation we might have.

“I think it’s a bit of an unnecessary drama really. If it’s a conversation between the players and the association and it’s kept in house then I have no problem with that, but it doesn’t need to be made public in my opinion."

Ward does not want those in the women's game to aspire to mirror the men, both financially and in the relationship they have with fans.

Watford's men's team captain Troy Deeney is used by Ward as an example of someone who maintains an honest, outspoken rhetoric with the supporters, and is loved as a result.

“He’s been in trouble (for speaking out) a couple of times, but is he going to change? I doubt it because he’s that kind of person," she says.

“He’s an honest guy. You might not like what he says, but you know he’s going to pretty honest and you have to say fair play to him for that.

“I’ve met him a few times and he’s always been a really good guy, really engaging to talk to."

Regardless of whether Wales qualify or not, Ward insists she will more than likely hang up her boots in 18 months time.

But, as she admits herself, her plan was always to 'be done with football' once she had her first child, something she found out afterwards she simply could not do.

So, although she has a plan to play until 2021, Ward is well aware that deadline is subject to change.

“For quite a while I've said if we get to the Euros then that will be me done," she says. If we don’t, it will probably still be that summer.

“However, I always said if I stop playing for Wales that I’ll stop playing altogether, but I’m really enjoying it at Watford at the moment. So, I can't say for definite. But at the moment it’s another season and a half. Who knows though, might keep playing until I’m 40!"