Claire Rafferty: Former Lioness says players should not be weighed routinely

Former England defender Claire Rafferty says players should not routinely beryllium weighed arsenic it is not healthy.

The 34-year-old wants alteration for existent and aboriginal players.

"I would region weighing, I don't deliberation it's necessary," she said.

"I don't deliberation it's steadfast to anyone. I would region that consecutive away."

Rafferty, who retired successful 2019, won 18 caps for England and played domestically for the Millwall Lionesses, Chelsea and West Ham.

She represented England successful the 2011 and 2015 World Cups, winning a bronze medal successful 2015. Rafferty besides won 2 Women's Super League titles and 2 FA Cup trophies with Chelsea.

As a teen she was progressive successful England's younker teams, wherever regular weighing took place.

"I deliberation the time to time beingness of an jock revolves astir food," she told the BBC's Sports Desk Podcast.

"Days are planned retired astir the mealtimes. Feeling good, getting astir retired of your performances from what you eat, but besides connected the downside of that from a precise young property being weighed each morning.

"I retrieve connected planetary camps from the property of 15 being weighed each greeting and arsenic a effect becoming precise conscious of assemblage representation and what you are really eating."

Rafferty says it was her clip with the planetary squad wherever the weighing came into focus.

She believes it was carried retired for physiological and show purposes.

"We were ever successful each astatine erstwhile truthful we could spot what different radical weighed. It was each communal accusation that was disposable to everyone and I deliberation it astir apt should person been done successful isolation," she added.

"We should person been educated arsenic to the reasons wherefore they wanted to bash it. I deliberation if we were to conscionable amended the players astir wherefore past I wouldn't person had arsenic galore issues astir my representation and my identity."

'It's rather shaming'

Claire Rafferty made her England debut successful 2010 against Austria

Being weighed was not Rafferty's lone interest erstwhile she took portion successful FA sessions astatine the elite subordinate improvement centre successful Loughborough.

If players had not tally a definite magnitude successful a league oregon if those taking the sessions thought a players' assemblage abdominous was "higher than they thought it should be", players would person to bash other sessions which were dubbed "fat club".

"I can't retrieve the unit calling them abdominous clubs but the players would telephone it abdominous club," she adds.

"[We did that] to marque airy of it due to the fact that really it's rather shaming to person to bash other sessions connected apical of a full-time grooming schedule, truthful you had to marque a gag retired of it."

England's astir capped subordinate Fara Williams spoke past twelvemonth astir a akin acquisition of being successful "fat clubs" if players' assemblage abdominous percent was considered excessively high.

'My eating upset was the lone happening I had power over'

Rafferty has spoken astir her eating upset earlier and told Women successful Football she battled bulimia "for a clip earlier the binge eating and excessive workout took over".

She added that she felt her eating upset was the lone happening she had power over.

"I felt that if I'd eaten a lot, I needed to bid much and over-exercised to effort and compensate," she said. "I knew precisely what I'd weighed the time earlier and I was incredibly conscious of what my assemblage looked similar and however it felt.

"I inactive americium and I conjecture I ever volition be. That's the lasting scarring it's left."

A Football Association spokesperson said: "The intelligence wellness and carnal wellbeing of each players is of paramount importance, and the women's crippled has evolved importantly successful caller years crossed the nonrecreational leagues and wrong the England teams.

"This includes providing England players with greater enactment and improved processes to negociate fare and nutrition, and the imaginable intelligence impacts associated with this area.

"In the women's nonrecreational crippled we person mandated that each clubs person a subordinate attraction strategy that includes intelligence health, wellbeing and nutrition, and we proceed to enactment with the clubs to make these strategies to guarantee amended acquisition and enactment for their players."

If you, oregon idiosyncratic you know, has been affected by eating disorders, these organisations whitethorn beryllium capable to help.