AFC Wimbledon’s Ashleigh Goddard won Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker before launching her pro career but Londoner was left having to relearn to walk after a freak accident in match
- Ashleigh Goddard won the second season of Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker
- She later turned pro, but a major health crisis halted her progress
- Newcastle have gone backwards this season. They are ambitious and have all the resources, but what is the plan for the future? – It’s all Kicking Off podcast
Ashleigh Goddard won the second season of Wayne Rooney’s road striker, but her move to professional football suffered a major setback after a freak accident.
The iconic Sky show, which aired more than a decade ago, saw Rooney lead a national search for the best young footballer in the country.
Goddard beat off stiff competition to prevail before earning a scholarship to play at a college in Chicago.
She spent four years at DePaul University in Chicago, where she captained the team for two years before starting her professional career with FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark.
Goddard returned to England to join Crystal Palace and hoped to help the team gain promotion to the Women’s Super League.
Ashleigh Goddard won the second season of Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker
However, her life took a sudden turn after a bizarre incident during a competition
Explaining the incident that changed her life, she told the BBC: ‘I went to receive the ball after a throw-in and I think her forearm hit me in the back of the head or neck and I was unconscious for a few seconds. ‘
She suffered from headaches in the weeks that followed and a scan reportedly revealed she had an arteriovenous malformation of the brain, a problem that affects the blood vessels that connect the veins and arteries.
Further scans then revealed that the problem had developed into a potentially life-threatening brain aneurysm and she would need surgery.
Goddard had to learn to walk again after suffering a stroke, but returned to the field within six months
“They said it would burst at some point in my life,” Goddard said. ‘They couldn’t say whether it would be tomorrow or in twenty years, but that I needed treatment.
“They said it would either be fatal or it would cause a life-changing disability.”
Goddard eventually went under the knife to solve the problem in 2021… but was once again faced with a life-changing complication.
She continued: ‘I woke up and couldn’t move my left side, I was paralysed.
‘I couldn’t talk, my face had fallen, my arm couldn’t perform the most basic movements. They told me something was wrong, but I never suspected a stroke.
“It was the worst thing that could have happened other than dying.”
Goddard had to learn to walk again after suffering a stroke, but miraculously returned to playing for London Bees just six months later.
She added: ‘I had to learn to walk again, I had to learn to use a knife and fork again and when it came to football I had to learn it all again.
“I did thousands of repetitions of every type of pass and touch and eventually it all started to get easier.”
The 31-year-old continues to inspire and joined AFC Wimbledon this summer.