Aberdeen FC Women’s winger Johan Fraser is one of the most experienced players in the team, despite only being 24 years-old.

She has been playing football since the age of five having started playing at home. “I have an older brother so it was one of those things where he was out playing in the back garden and I would always be out with him. My mum was then working with someone who ran a girl’s football team and I got involved with them from a really young age, maybe five or six. I’ve just never looked back or taken a break from playing since really”.

“The team I was playing for was East End and they merged with Aberdeen Ladies so I think I was at under-13 level then. I just moved through each age group and eventually got to the first team at the age of seventeen. I’ve been with the first team for about six years now which is only five seasons because the break for covid”.

It has been something of a rollercoaster over Johan’s six season in the first team. “We stayed up the first season I played in the first team although I didn’t get much game time. The season after that we got relegated and then we were relegated again the following season and that is when Aberdeen FC took over the women’s team. Since then, we’ve been growing and building things back up and it has been great to be a part of it, especially after being part of the team that went down. There is a core group of players who were there for the two relegations, me, Kelly, Loren and a few others, so it was good to get back up together. It’s good to be able to enjoy yourself when you are playing and that is what the last two seasons have been about as we tried to get back to the top league”.

Last season’s SWPL2 triumph saw the Dons return to the top division and Johan is happy with how they have started. “We’ve had a positive start. We had the cup games first and got through the group to the next stage so that set us up well for the league. We’ve lost the games against Celtic and Rangers but I think we managed to show what we can do and we scored two goals in both those games. We just have to take the positives from those performances and take them into the rest of the season”.

Emma Hunter and Gavin Beith’s squad has already been tested in the early stages of the campaign with injuries to some key players. “We’ve been quite unlucky with injuries since the start of the season, but we’ve got a big squad and a lot of quality waiting to come in. Training has been really good and anyone can come into the team on a match day and have an impact”.

The injuries have offered the opportunity for some players to be called up to the first team squad from the under-19s at Aberdeen Ladies. Johan feels the continued link with Aberdeen Ladies is good for the future of the game in the north-east. “When I was growing up there were only really East End and Aberdeen Ladies that you could go play for. Now that we are with the football club and are visible on social media it has been great for gathering support and also for young girls because if you can’t see it, you can’t be it. It’s really important that we are out there so girls see us and want to be involved in football. I think it’s important to maintain that link and it has shown how important it is last season with Bailley Collins coming up from the under-19’s and making herself a first choice in the team. It’s important for the younger players to know there is that pathway for them and it’s important for us that more of them can take that route so we can continue to get stronger in the future”.

One of those young players, Mya Christie scored in the recent win over Partick Thistle and Fraser is looking to follow that up with another win over Hamilton at the Balmoral Stadium. “We’ll be looking to take all three points, we played them twice last season and won one and lost one against them. I think the league table last season speaks for itself though and we know what we’re capable of so we’ll be looking to get the win, some goals and put in a good performance”.

There was a great turnout for the last match at the ground and Fraser knows the team really appreciated the support. “It was so good against Celtic. It was probably the biggest crowd we’ve ever had in. We were quite surprised considering the game was live on tv. It made a massive difference to us, even when Celtic scored, the fans got right behind us and gave us that drive to get back into the game so it would be great to see them back throughout the season”.