Arsenal’s Katie McCabe insists she is not someone who sets out to wind opposition players up and feels she is often singled out by referees due to an undeserved reputation.
The facts are that McCabe is the most cautioned player in the history of the Women’s Super League, collecting 34 yellow cards since joining Arsenal. Yet she is also a wonderfully gifted and versatile player, a woman with a wand of a left foot which has directly assisted more goals in the league’s history than any other defensive or midfield player.
The captain of the Republic of Ireland women’s national team, McCabe is a leader on and off the pitch. Last year she was voted the 22nd best female player in the world in the Ballon d’Or rankings. She has also supported and been an ambassador for many good causes outside the game.
Yet in a social media world, where clips of incidents are often circulated out of context with the realities of a match, McCabe has become known as a firebrand willing to push the boundaries of fair play and antagonise opposition players into retribution.
During the Opening Match of the last FIFA Women’s World Cup, McCabe was pilloried for what appeared to be a vicious high kick on Australian Hayley Raso. This turned out to be entirely misleading when another angle of the incident illustrated that she had actually been fouled but the die had been cast for McCabe.
Last week, during a fractious draw away to Manchester United, McCabe clashed with the Brazilian Geyse Ferreria resulting in a yellow card for both players. It is the latest of McCabe’s contretemps with opposition wingers having had an ongoing battle with Manchester City’s Lauren Hemp in another high-profile televised encounter last season.
When asked about the confrontation with Geyse, McCabe told me, “I believe I haven’t been booked since March so I don’t really know what the “wind-up” comments is regarding. For me, I play hard, I play strong. I wear my heart on my sleeve when I am representing this club, like I have done for the last nine years. That’s the way it will be and I don’t want to change that.”
McCabe was cautioned eight times last season. The first five of those led to an automatic one-game suspension for a match away to West Ham which Arsenal lost. McCabe returned from that game and was shown a yellow card in her next three games but not one since then, until last weekend’s game away to Manchester United.
Speaking last season, Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall told me she felt McCabe’s reputation preceeded her saying “I don’t think referees have missed many opportunities to caution Katie, she is reffereed on a very strict level.”
McCabe seemed to concur. “To be honest with you, yellow cards are part and parcel of the game. If I look at the game I missed, it was a game in which we dropped points, which was West Ham away. If I’m missing games, I think how can I stop that? If it injuries or suspensions, I need to be better and not give referees a reason to book me so easily because at times I feel like they can. It is frustrating. Different referees, they all referee the game a little bit differently.”
Whatever the truth, McCabe is clearly a fundamental part of the way Arsenal play. In the 13-year history of the Women’s Super League, only her team-mate Beth Mead has provided more goal assists than McCabe. Alongside the other Arsenal full back, the United States’ international Emily Fox, McCabe is the only Arsenal player to have started all twelve games for the club this season.
With Arsenal hopeful of going deep into four competitions, McCabe could play in more than 50 games for club and country this season. It is not a prospect which holds any fear for her. “I think there’s a lot of different things that come into it. I come in, I work hard, I give my full 100% to the team.”
“If I’m fully fit for selection and the coach wants to select me, I’ll be ready to play. I don’t really determine whether I play all the games or not. I have to be showing good levels of performances, Thankfully the coaching staff have believed in myself and obviously Foxy too.”
“We just need to obviously stay ready and playing at a club like Arsenal, with the depth of squad and the quality we have, rotation is part of it and if that comes for me, I fully respect my team-mates coming in ahead of me.”