Hockey Wales Women’s Goalkeeper, Rose Thomas has announced her retirement from international hockey.
Following 5 years in the Welsh Junior pathway, Rose made her senior international debut in 2011 and played for 12 years in the Senior Wales Women’s team.
Rose achieved 89 Welsh caps in total alongside 4 international caps for Great Britain following their success at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Rose has also been awarded 3 ‘Goalkeeper of the tournament’ awards during her international career including most recently at the 2021 World Cup Qualifiers in Pisa. This accolade is voted upon by other teams within the competition structure so is certainly a sizeable and unique achievement for the Welsh Player.
Having played in 6 European Championships and 2 Commonwealth Games, Rose has become a stalwart of the women’s team and they will greatly miss her presence.
Rose will continue to play domestic league hockey at Guildford Hockey Club.
Speaking on her retirement Rose said:
“I am so proud to have represented Wales at a senior level for the last 12 years. I have relished the pressure of playing at the highest level. But most importantly I have loved playing alongside such inspiring, resilient and talented teammates and friends.”
Head of performance Kevin Johnson said:
“Rose has made an outstanding contribution to our Women’s Senior team over the years as a player, a person and a leader and I know myself and the rest of the players and staff will greatly miss her being around the group but we wish her all the very best as she steps away from International Hockey.
She set high standards with her absolute drive and commitment to self-improvement and performance and the results of this were always evident on the pitch, especially being recognised by opposition peers and coaches when receiving three Goalkeeper of the tournament awards and it was no surprise to see her enter the Great Britain programme for a spell and it was fantastic to see her capped for them in this time.
Her diligence in preparation and performance also played a key part in two memorable shoot-out victories for Wales, one in Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and more latterly in a crucial semi-final of the World Cup qualifiers in 2021. It has been a real pleasure being able to work with Rose at both club and country over the years and I’m so pleased she can look back now with a lot of pride and very few regrets.”
All at Hockey Wales wish Rose the very best in her retirement.
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