Calleigh Hedley: Balancing Football and Motherhood at Guernsey FC
Calleigh Hedley knows exactly what’s coming this season: goals, flights, and long days away from her baby son.
What she doesn’t know is how many of those days she can bear.
“I’m not looking forward to spending whole days away from him,” the Guernsey FC striker admits. The club’s leading scorer is back in green after giving birth to Luca, having missed half of last season once she discovered she was pregnant. Now every training session, every gym visit, every match has to fit around feeds, naps, and night wakes.
A natural finisher, even on limited minutes
Hedley’s numbers before and during her pregnancy were ruthless. She only managed eight appearances in the Southern Region Women’s Football League Division One South last season. She still scored 16 goals.
Sixth in the division’s scoring charts. Half a season. Eight games.
Guernsey FC, heading into only their second year in the English league pyramid, know exactly what that kind of strike rate can do for a young side trying to establish itself. They don’t need a scouting report. They just need her on the pitch.
That, of course, is the battle.
Football, family, and the island commute
Life as a Guernsey player already demands more than most regional footballers ever face. Every away game means an early alarm, a dash to the airport, a flight to England, and a late return home. This season, the Green Lionesses open at home to Bognor Regis Town on Sunday, then head straight into three consecutive away trips.
For a new mother, those days stretch even longer.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to commit to every single away game,” Hedley says. She doesn’t dress it up. “But I will definitely be trying to do some, but it’ll be difficult having a day away from him.”
The logistics are brutal. The emotional pull is tougher.
Held up by home
What makes any of this possible is the support network behind her. When Hedley talks about her family, the relief is obvious.
“My family are amazing, they’re always helping me with Luca,” she explains. “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 help has already paid off. Hedley is not easing herself back in. She’s scoring.
Back with a bang in the cup
Guernsey’s first-ever appearance in the Women’s FA Cup last month doubled as Hedley’s first major test since returning. Chessington & Hook United came to the island. The occasion was big enough. The start was bigger.
Two minutes in, Hedley found the net.
“I was shocked,” she admits. “I wasn’t sure I was even going to get a goal, let alone score in two minutes.”
She added a second later in the game, dragging Guernsey into a contest that eventually finished 3-2 to the visitors. The result stung. The performance from their returning striker did not.
“It definitely helped me feel a bit better coming back into it,” she says. Her family watched on. So did Luca. “It was really nice.”
The message, for everyone else in the division, was clear: motherhood hasn’t dulled her instincts in front of goal.
A season shaped by choices
As Guernsey FC step into their second season in the English pyramid, Hedley’s presence becomes a storyline as important as any league table. When she plays, they carry a proven finisher who scores at a rate few at this level can match. When she can’t, the team must find other ways to threaten.
She will try to be there. She will try to travel. She will try to keep scoring.
But every away fixture now comes with a harder question than who starts on the left wing: is one more day away from Luca worth it?
