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It's been a great week for women referees with confirmation that former Wales international Cheryl Foster has been promoted to the UEFA elite list of referees just days after Natalie Aspinall's promotion to Select Group 2.

Cheryl enjoyed a successful playing career with Bangor City, Liverpool, where she played in the first two seasons of the FA WSL in 2011 and 2012, and finally Doncaster Rovers Belles.

She retired in 2013, but it was a chance conversation while she had been away on international duty with Wales that ignited her interest in becoming a referee.

"I was away in Switzerland, I can't remember the game, it was a chance conversation with one of the counsellors there who was a referee himself," Cheryl told BBC Wales.

"He just asked some of us, 'Would you do refereeing once you've finished playing?'

"All of us, including myself, were like 'No', and most people thought that I was going to be a coach or a manager because again that's what I actually want to do. I enjoy that side of it; I enjoy coaching, but mainly it was just to see what it was like.

"Refereeing gives you so much, I probably wish that I knew a little bit more about it when I was younger because I probably wouldn't have shouted at referees so much!"

You can find Cheryl's interview in full with BBC Wales by clicking on the link here. 

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