Kate Richardson-Walsh: England and GB’s Most Capped Player and a Force for Change

England and GB women’s hockey captain for 13 years, Kate Richardson Walsh OBE changed the face of women’s hockey throughout her incredibly successful career.

Kate Richardson-Walsh is the most capped female hockey player for England and Great Britain. She changed the face of women’s hockey when she captained the GB team to win gold at the Rio Olympics and prior to this she was GB and England captain for thirteen years.

Throughout her time as captain, Richardson-Walsh grew the sport in popularity as she led the women’s team to an incredible number of medals in various hockey tournaments.

Across her career Kate Richardson-Walsh made 375 appearances for her country, won 19 international medals, and scored 49 goals for her country. Kate Richardson-Walsh retired from international hockey in 2016 after the Rio Olympics.

Career

Originally from Withington in south Manchester, Richardson-Walsh was selected to play for the under 16 Great Britain team aged 14.

In 1999 she then proceeded to make her international debut, playing for team GB in the Sydney 2000, Bejing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. Between 2002 and 2014 the defender also won four commonwealth medals with the England squad.

In 2010 she led her team to a hockey World Cup bronze medal two years prior to the London Olympics.

During the 2012 Olympics Richardson-Walsh broke her jaw mid-game and continued to play, leading her team to win another bronze medal.

This home Olympics provided a turning point for women’s hockey, as the medal winning team brought coverage and money to the sport which wasn’t available before.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics Kate Richardson-Walsh was selected to be the flag bearer for Great Britain at the closing ceremony.

The gold medal win in this Olympics solidified GB’s women's team as international champions: a testament to hard-working players such as Richardson-Walsh who had been present throughout the growth of the team.

LGBTQ+ Activism

As well as inspiring hockey players with her game-changing skills, Kate Richardson-Walsh is also a proud advocate for the LGBTQ community.

In 2008 the England captain came out as gay and announced her relationship with teammate Helen Richardson. They later married to both take the surname Richardson-Walsh.

The couple were both on the 2016 gold medal winning team and so became the first same-sex married couple to win a gold medal together.

Further to this, the pai rreleased a book called ‘Winning Together, An Olympic Winning Approach to Building Better Teams’. The book describes experiences on the rapidly growing GB hockey women's team, and how a valuing, supportive environment is essential to individual and team success.

Post-retirement

After retiring from international hockey in 2016 Kate Richardson-Walsh was awarded an OBE for outstanding services to the sport of hockey.

The impact that she made as the GB and England captain led the team from being relatively unknown to international success. It inspired many young girls to join the sport and increased its funding and coverage across Great Britain.

Kate Richardson-Walsh now works as an inspirational speaker and is a passionate advocate and activist for issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, mental health and gender equality.