Liverpool’s Tash Dowie on women’s soccer growth, W League, and more

This is part one of a three-part preview series featuring interviews from players and key figures from Liverpool FC and Real Betis ahead of their July 26th friendly at Acrisure Stadium. Stay tuned for parts two and three!

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As Liverpool FC prepare for the opening match of their preseason U.S. tour on Friday against Real Betis at Acrisure Stadium, they are also embedding themselves within the Pittsburgh community – working with youth players, putting on events via the LFC Foundation, and bringing legends of the game to serve as ambassadors during their trip.

Among these legends-turned-ambassadors is the club’s first official women’s ambassador, all-time Liverpool FC Women’s goal-scoring leader Tash Dowie. After recently concluding her extensive, decades-long playing career across multiple continents, countries, and trophies, Dowie aims to be the voice and role model for young athletes, both boys and girls, that were often missing on the women’s side during the early days of her career.

In addition to her accomplishments with Liverpool FC – which included two FA Women’s Super League titles in England and numerous personal honors – Dowie also won an FA Cup with Everton, a W-League title with Australia’s Melbourne Victory, and spent two years in the U.S. with the NWSL’s Boston Breakers in 2016 and 2017. From the start of her career with Watford in 2004 at 16 years old, to her retirement and guard of honor with Liverpool in 2023, few players have had a chance to play and observe from the inside the growth in the women’s game over the 20 years that Dowie enjoyed.

With the women’s game more ascendant than ever, and with the hometown Pittsburgh Riverhounds set to launch a women’s first team in the USL W-League in 2025, Pittsburgh Soccer Now sat down with Dowie in an exclusive interview to discuss that growth, the new opportunities women have in the game, and more.

Tash Dowie Q&A

Colton Coreschi, PSN: Tash, your career has spanned decades, from a time when the women’s game was chronically undervalued and underrepresented, to now when it is finally getting the recognition and attention it deserves. Can you provide some personal insight on how you’ve observed and been affected by that growth?

Tash Dowie, Liverpool FC Legend & Ambassador: “It’s been massive, if I’m being completely honest. In a great way. When I first started playing at school, I wasn’t able to play with the boys, that was hard enough. Not really having any role models to look up to from the female game. From training, being the last to use the training grounds – we were always 8-10 PM at night after the under-8 boys had finished. Facilities, training on 4G pitches, having to share gyms with local residents. But you know what? I wouldn’t change it for the world. When I transitioned then into going full-time with Liverpool  – and by full-time, I just mean being able to train every day, even though it wasn’t a full-time role, I remember my first contract at Liverpool I think was around £9,000.

Now you see within just that ten year span, some of the transfer fees are half a million. Now when I see the women at Melwood, the history behind Melwood, that is their own training facility. Breakfast supplied for them, lunch supplied for them, saunas, ice baths – pretty much they just have to turn up. There’s no excuses now, they have to perform. Playing at Anfield, playing on good pitches now, crowds – Arsenal selling out the Emirates, 60,000 week-in, week-out. It’s great, and I’m glad I was part of that first part of the journey, and that we had those pioneers before us that even allowed us to do what we were doing.

People ask me now would you prefer to have started playing now? And I say no, because I think that I just appreciated it so much more. Going back to Liverpool last year on loan, even though we were training at Tranmere’s training ground, for me it was like being a little kid again. I could’ve been getting changed and playing in a porta-cabin and I would’ve been happy, because I was back at the club that I support and love.

But it does make me really smile now when I see the way the women are getting treated now and looked after, which they should be. And not just in England, but America. I’ve played in six different countries, so to see the growth of the women’s game in so many different countries now is brilliant. I think my biggest hope is that it keeps progressing in the right way, at the right speed – not too fast. I think the great thing is everyone wants improvement, which is brilliant, but sometimes we have to remember where we’ve come from, and always strive to improve but also be realistic. I think that’s really important. The humbleness side of things, I think that sometimes get scared that these women now think they are, or are, celebrities, and not being able to relate to the fans or interact with the fans. And that’s something I’ll never lose, whether I have to stay behind 2-3 hours to make sure every single fan is talked to or looked after. I just hope the female players now keep that and remember where we’ve come from, and how lucky they are now.

So yeah, it’s been a great journey and it’s great to now be involved not just with the men’s team, but the women’s team, and see what goes on behind the scenes with the club. Because I think when you’re a player, you’re a bit guilty that you just focus on gameday. You don’t take too much interest in what else is going on with the club. Whereas now I can see just how much work goes on behind the scenes, it’s incredible.”

CC: The Pittsburgh Riverhounds have announced intentions to launch a women’s first team in 2025 in the USL W League, plus here in Pittsburgh we have two other high level women’s teams competing in WPSL and UWS, can you speak about the importance and impact of providing opportunities to girls and young women in the sport? Especially at a younger age, given your own chances to play professionally at just 16 years old?

TD: “Oh, 100%. I think that, again I talk about the struggles of when I first started playing, we never had age groups as well  – which is why I started playing at such a young age. Now you’ve got your U-16s, U-18s, U-21s, first team, so the progression is a lot more smooth, whereas I was thrown into first team football at 15 years of age.

I think it’s so important that every female has the opportunity. My biggest dream and hope is that every girl, if they want to play, can play. And credit to America where I think they’re still ahead of the game with how they view women’s soccer. If anything it’s on-par with, or maybe even above the men. I think it’s so important that there are more clubs, more leagues.

You spoke about it, when I came over to play with the Boston Breakers, I saw the draft system and how the college players got into the team. And I even remember speaking to some of the college players and they said, this isn’t even guaranteed. So we’ve gone through all of this, playing college, being the lucky one to get selected out of the millions of people with only a handful selected. But then they’re almost on trial even in pre-season, they aren’t guaranteed a contract then, so it’s so ruthless and hard to make it into the NWSL. So I think creating another league, creating more teams, I think it had to be done. Because so many players, like you said, either have to stop when they were good enough to play, or at a young age have to travel and move away from family to explore that avenue abroad.

So I’m excited, and I’m sure that the game and the new team [in Pittsburgh] will fly with how big this city is in soccer and sport. But also just American sport in general, everyone always gets behind it, it’s positive. That’s how I felt when I played in America, just super positive. I think that’s something that every country can look up to as something to focus on, something to reach.”

CC: Liverpool are a globally relevant club with a big presence in the U.S., particularly in the youth scene. With the club returning to the U.S. for the first time since 2019, how meaningful is it to both the organization and the kids it provides opportunities for to have a chance to see the first team play in-person?

TD: “I think that’s the main reason behind the tour, to be able to give the fans that opportunity. For players to be able to interact, to lay the foundation here as well. Give local towns, cities, kids the opportunity to get involved with the club.

I think that’s something that I didn’t realize, and probably should’ve and naively didn’t is that when I do gamedays at Anfield as an ex-player, and we’re in the lounges, and we’re talking to fans about where they’ve traveled from just to watch Liverpool for 90 minutes. From Australia, from all over the world, these people – the commitment to be able to watch this football team, it’s frightening. Some people are on waiting lists for years and years, and like you said, some people never get the opportunity to come to Anfield. That’s where I feel very blessed and lucky that it’s my job and I’m able to watch it.

But yeah, this preseason tour, that’s what excites me the most. It gives people a unique opportunity that they might never get. From speaking with the club, that is the main reason we’re doing that this year.”

CC: Pittsburgh is a rapidly growing soccer city with a burgeoning youth scene and long-standing, but quickly popularizing professional team. How has it been working with the Riverhounds organization alongside the LFC Foundation in the city? What has impressed you about the city and what do you hope the Riverhounds organization and players can take away from the experience of working with Liverpool?

TD: “Unfortunately I probably can’t speak too much to that, I only got in last night. But I am getting out today with the [LFC] Foundation, the coaching side, so I’m sure I’ll be able to see that more first-hand. But speaking with the guys that came here yesterday, it’s been really positive and had a great day yesterday, with lots of interactions.

I think it’s great to collaborate, full stop. To learn different things from different places. Because yes, Liverpool is a huge football club, one of the biggest in the world, but they can still learn. Learn from different clubs, different cities. I think that’s the beauty of it, collaborating in general.

I recently went to Bangkok and Dubai and got involved there working with some orphaned kids. And to me, that’s what I love most about this role. So I’m really excited to get the football boots on later and get involved.

CC: You yourself played in the NWSL for a pair of seasons with the Boston Breakers – including as the club’s leading goal-scorer in 2017. What are your memories of playing in the U.S.? How impressed has the league’s growth, and women’s soccer growth in the U.S., left you in the years since?

TD: “Great, fond memories. I followed Matt Beard over here from Liverpool. You know, when I used to watch Bend it Like Beckham, you always had the dream then to come and play in America. So I remember when I signed for Boston Breakers, it was surreal. Playing against the likes of Marta, Rapinoe, Morgan, these people that you looked up to, Abby Wambach. It was brilliant. I remember training at Harvard – it was an amazing city to play in and live in.

It was ruthless, it was a different mindset. It definitely improved me as a player and person. It also made me realize why the USA is so successful, because it really was dog-eat-dog. The travelling, which I wasn’t used to, traveling six hours on a plane to play a football game, it was just a bit surreal.

But I also think lessons have been learned, because sadly my team folded, the Breakers after my two years. So I do think that over that 5-6 year span, lessons have been learned. It’s a lot more secure now, there’s better structure. They had to learn the hard way, but I think they’ve set the standard. I do think everyone has truthfully caught up with the USA, and we can see that recently in World Cups and Euros. But I think that’s almost kicked them [the NWSL] into action again because they’ve been so used to winning, being the top nation in the world, being the best league in the world.

Maybe that’s part of why the new league [USL W-League and USL Super League] have started, new teams have come in. Emma Hayes coming to America, they want to get back on top again. They’ve been on top and now it’s a case of how can they now restart.

But I loved it. And coming back here, I never thought I’d come back to America again, but I had a recent trip to Austin, Texas. And it’s been great to be back, I’ve got very fond memories.”

CC: First of all, congratulations on your retirement after a long, impressive career! How meaningful was it to you to be able to return to Liverpool for your final season and see your career out at the club where you established yourself as a legend, winning two WSL titles and leaving as the club’s record goal-scorer on the women’s side? How much have you enjoyed serving as a club ambassador since?

TD: “I think that’s probably why I retired, because I never thought I’d play for Liverpool again. I was 34, 35, and in the football world that’s coming towards the end of your career. I felt good though, I had seven amazing years abroad playing, and really didn’t envision that my path would come back here. Had a tough spell at Reading, but luckily ended up getting loaned to Liverpool. I just remember, at 34 years old, feeling like a 5-year-old kid again. Seeing familiar faces, putting on the Liverpool shirt again. I hadn’t lived in my house in Liverpool for over 10 years because of travel, it had just been sitting there. My partner is from Liverpool, so for her to be able to come back home as well.

It was nice to get some game time and help the team secure safety in the WSL, which was the main thing being their first season back up. I had a few offers to carry on playing abroad, and I felt good, but when the club approached me about this ambassador role, nothing excited me more. I thought I could carry on playing for the next 4-5 years and have my career fizzle out, but would this opportunity then be there for me? And I thought, you know, not many people get to retire through their own choice and at the club that they support and love.

So it was like a fairy tale ending. The guard of honor is something I still can’t believe happened, I’ve got it on my screensaver still. When you dream of having a career and how you’d want it to end, that was the dream. I have to pinch myself every day with this being my job – I feel guilty saying it’s a job because I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life to be honest. I absolutely love it and I want to make a difference now. I don’t want to just be the first female ambassador and be told what to do, to turn up here and there. I want to have a real impact. Last year was a bit of getting involved with everything, seeing what I like, maybe things I need to improve on. But I feel like this year I really want to get stuck in head first and have more of an impact. It’s an incredible club, I can’t talk highly enough of it, I’m an adopted Scouser now, so yeah, it’s my home.”

CC: Given your international experience and UEFA Champions League experience, how invaluable is it for these players to get experience against non-domestic opposition, as Liverpool will get against Real Betis in this friendly? Does it help to face opposing tactics and play styles from opponents outside of your domestic league that you might not otherwise see normally?

TD: “It’s so key. And I think that’s something that when I played for Liverpool, for Everton in the Champions League, we didn’t get the opportunity to do that. We didn’t have preseason tours. And that’s where we struggled. We’d make the quarterfinals of the Champions League and we’d be facing the likes of your Wolfsburgs, your Frankfurts, your Roas, and you’d get knocked out because they were more used to it domestically playing against those better teams.

But now, you see the way the English women’s teams have progressed further. Chelsea making the finals. Hopefully the likes of your Arsenals, and your Citys now will be able to progress more. I think it’s vital, it’s great, the teams Liverpool is playing on this preseason tour. You want to play against tough teams. You’re not going to get anything out of beating teams 5-0, 6-0, you want to have competitive games.

I’m quite excited as well because it’s a young squad that has traveled, of course with the Euros having happened as well. So I’m someone that has worked in the academy last year with the U-18s, and to see so many make that step up last year and have a really positive impact, now I’m excited to see how they fare on the preseason tour, and to see Arne Slot and his style. I’m really excited actually.”

CC: New manager Arne Slot has big shoes to replace in outgoing legend Jurgen Klopp. If you’ve gotten time with him, what have been your impressions of him and his style and how do you think he’ll fare with the squad he’s inheriting?

TD: “Haven’t met him yet. I did get my Jurgen [Klopp] hug eventually, just before he left last year, but I am excited to meet Arne. But just from watching interviews, I’ve been really impressed with how he’s come across. I think for someone to want to come to Liverpool FC and be brave enough and confident enough to take on that role after Klopp says a lot, in my opinion, because maybe a lot wouldn’t want to do that.

I like his personality from what I’ve seen in training as well, his demeanor. He seems like he really knows what he wants. So I’m excited to see the open training sessions, see what he’s like around the players, and then to see his style of play during the friendlies. Liverpool don’t bring in anyone for no reason, so I’m sure he’s the right guy for the job.”