Calleigh Hedley Balances Football and Motherhood

Calleigh Hedley knows goals. Now she’s learning long-haul goodbyes.

Guernsey FC’s prolific forward is back leading the line after giving birth to her son, Luca, and she isn’t pretending the transition is easy.

“I’m not looking forward to spending whole days away from him,” she admits, as the reality of another season in the English league pyramid looms into view.

Balancing boots and baby

Hedley missed half of last season after becoming pregnant, yet still finished with a staggering return: 16 goals in just eight appearances. That strike rate made her the sixth-highest scorer in the Southern Region Women’s Football League Division One South, despite her limited game time.

Now the challenge is different. Nappies, night feeds, and nursery runs sit alongside gym sessions, training drills and tactical meetings.

“My family are amazing, they’re always helping me with Luca,” she told BBC Radio Guernsey. “If I need to go to the gym or anything, they’re always offering ‘we’ll have him for a bit so you can go do what you need to do’.

“For the away games, for the home games, they say ‘we’ll have him, don’t worry’, so it’s been a massive help.”

That support network has become as crucial as any midfield supply line. Without it, the comeback might have stalled before it even started.

Goals on return, and a reminder of what she brings

If anyone at Guernsey FC wondered whether Hedley’s ruthless edge in front of goal would survive the lay-off, last month answered that.

In the club’s first-ever Women’s FA Cup tie, at home to Chessington & Hook United, she needed just two minutes to find the net. She added a second later on, though Guernsey slipped to a 3-2 defeat.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I wasn’t sure I was even going to get a goal, let alone score in two minutes.

“It definitely helped me feel a bit better coming back into it, and I obviously had my family there watching and Luca was there, so it was really nice.”

The result stung. The performance, and Hedley’s finishing, did not. For a side heading into only their second season in the English league system, her sharpness offers genuine hope.

Early flights, late returns, and tough calls

The Green Lionesses open their league campaign on Sunday at home to Bognor Regis Town. After that, the schedule turns brutal: three consecutive away games, each one a full-day mission.

For Guernsey players, “away” means more than a coach trip. It means dawn alarms, flights to England, a match, then the journey back the same evening. For Hedley, it also means an entire day without Luca.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to commit to every single away game,” she said. “But I will definitely be trying to do some, but it’ll be difficult having a day away from him.”

The club will hope she can make enough of those trips. Opposing defences will hope she can’t. The numbers from last season, and that FA Cup cameo, make it clear why.

Guernsey know what happens when Calleigh Hedley is on the pitch and in rhythm: the net moves. The question now is how often motherhood and the demands of island football will let her be there to do it.