Huddersfield Town Women legend Kate Mallin passes 600 Terriers appearances as league set to heat up
Town winger Kate Mallin shows no signs of stopping as they look to make it two league wins in a week on Sunday
In 2025 it’s common to celebrate a player racking up 50 appearances for one club. In the age of dwindling loyalty and a need to move around, a half century feels a lot.
However, Huddersfield Town Women have this week been celebrating one special player. A player who pulled the Terriers’ badge over her head for the 600th time in Wednesday night’s victory at Stockport County - Kate Mallin.
Mallin’s loyalty is an anomaly in today’s game - men’s or women’s - and her dedication to Town Women cannot be overstated.
In the build up to that historic night in midweek, Mallin told We Are Terriers: “It’s just amazing. When I started at the club when I was 10 years old I didn’t think I’d still be playing at Town now - to be here over 26 years is a long time.
“I used to be a bit quicker than I am now! So my game has changed over the years. I’m still on the wing but I’m dropping inside a bit more and trying to cut in and assist our strikers.”
Town have a wealth of young talent coming through with the likes of Hannah Burgess and Molly Firth shining this season. And Mallin enjoys passing on her experience to the next generation.
She said: “Around training I just try to be as professional as I can so they can hopefully look up to me. And then I try and give them the best advice I can when they come and ask questions.”
One of the biggest changes Mallin has noticed is the growth in the women’s game. Something she’s been vocal about in recent years in a hope Huddersfield Town would make the same steps as other clubs.
And that culminated this summer with a formal link between the two.
She added: “You’ve seen it over the last few years with all the money being put into the women’s game and that’s starting to come down through the leagues to our level.
“Now we’ve had backing from the men’s club, it’s been really good for us and we’re now just looking to keep moving forwards.
“When I started it was all volunteer run and self funded but now Kevin Nagle’s given us the backing and we’re on the up.”
When asked about the influence of Mallin on his team, manager Glen Preston heaped praise on the attacker.
He told We Are Terriers: “Kate’s been a legend for the club. She’s Town through and through. She loves this football club.
“She’s had many opportunities to move higher up throughout her career but she’s always chosen to stay and that level of loyalty is a rare commodity in football.
“To play 600 games is no small feat - especially when we don’t play 60 games a season like they do in the men’s game so in that comparison she’d be probably be closer to 1,000 games.
“She’s still got bags of ability. I don’t think there’s a player who can cross the ball like Kate Mallin. She’s always top of the assists charts. And she’s done it by constantly adapting her game to make sure she’s the best she can be.”
And Preston says Mallin is vastly important to supporting both the players and his coaching staff.
He added: “Kate’s just very influential on and off the pitch. At a football club you’ve got 20 or more different personalities to manage. Everyone’s different and everyone’s got something going on so Kate’s my go-to. She’s brilliant at being the calm head and the go-between between the coaching staff and the players - she’s fantastic for everyone at the club.
For many years, Kate’s dad, David Mallin was chairman of Town Women and he was delighted to see her reach the milestone. He spoke after the win over Stockport, saying: “I’m very proud. She’s done 600 games for the first team, but she did five years of Junior football before that since she was 11. It has been a fantastic journey, she’s done well keeping going somehow, I’m keeping going as well.”
“The best memory is when she won the National League Player of the Season back in 2017/18. We went down to London, and she got the award. We met some nice people.”
“Over the years there have been FA Cup runs; we went to West Ham and Charlton. It was a great achievement.”
Teammates applauded Kate as she came off the pitch on Wednesday night and midfielder Ella Duffield was one of many heaping praise on Mallin, saying, “It is fantastic. Looking up to a player like that as a young player is brilliant, and to have her in the team and around the team, not just on the pitch but off the pitch, is really great to have.”
Head on down to the Stafflex Arena for 2pm on Sunday as Town Women take on Chester-le-Street Town in another huge game in the FAWNL North and see Mallin pull the shirt on for a 601st time!