Fellow goalkeepers Joan and Hannah are sight-saving heroes

Seventy years after former Aston Villa Ladies player Joan Allen hung up her boots, she has praised Lionesses goalkeeper Hannah Hampton for overcoming her serious eye condition. 

Joan, who is now 85, was ahead of her time when she pulled on her gloves as a teenager and turned out between the sticks as goalkeeper for the Villans. 

After helping to popularise women’s football in the 1950s, she has herself recently overcome a condition that would have left her blind if she’d not had surgery at a Worcester eye clinic, so she is full of admiration for Hannah’s achievements. 

Like England star Hannah Hampton, who’d had operations on her eyes by the age of three to correct her strabismus, also known as crossed eyes, Joan has had sight issues since three years old, when she began wearing glasses. 

She’s worn them all her life, and now in her 80s she was recently diagnosed with cataracts, which form when the lens of a person’s eye develops cloudy patches. Over time these patches can become bigger, causing blurred vision and eventually blindness if untreated. 

Since having cataract surgery at Newmedica Worcester eye-health clinic and surgical centre, she no longer uses glasses except to watch television. 

Joan said: “I still love football and I’ve been reading about the Lionesses. They’ve done brilliantly. It seems to have got a lot of women interested in the sport. 

“For Hannah to overcome her own sight problems and go on to do what she has is impressive. I admire her. To do her job after sight issues could be very difficult. 

“My eyesight was dreadful. I used to have the chair right in front of the TV because I couldn’t see it clearly, so I know what sight issues can do to your life.” 

The Lionesses’ dramatic rise to superstardom is a far cry from when Joan was playing for Aston Villa ladies’ team, which was managed by William Eric Houghton, who’d had an illustrious career playing for the club professionally for two decades, earning him the nickname Mr Aston Villa. 

Eric went on to win seven caps for England, and later managed Aston Villa's men's first team, before going on to share his knowledge of the game with Joan and her fellow players. 

She said: “Women playing football back then was frowned upon. My father was disgusted. He said I’d end up with legs like a man and he didn’t speak to me.  

“But women’s football was really popular. There were lots of teams and it was very competitive. Men used to come from miles around to watch the punch-ups! 

“I got knocked out once when I saved a shot that was blasted at me and I hit my head on the goalpost, but I was okay. I didn’t wear my glasses to play football because they’d have got smashed – so I just got on with it.” 

The Newmedica Worcester clinic operates from the Berkeley Business Park and provides services for private patients and NHS patients, which assists the NHS with reducing its waiting lists. 

The clinic is owned and run by consultant ophthalmologists Mr Malcolm Woodcock, Mr Tarun Sharma, Mr Ranjit Nair, Mr Salman Mirza, Mr Tom Jackson and Mr Matthew Edmunds, as well as operational director Josh Raden. 

Joan, who has two sons, three grandchildren and one grandchild, added: “They were so good at the clinic. I had both cataracts done, and now the sky is blue again. Before the surgery it was yellow for years. 

“Having the surgery has meant I can keep my independence, which is important to me. The surgery really has opened lots of doors in my life, so I’d definitely recommend it to other people.  

“There really is nothing to it – nothing to be frightened of. It took about eight minutes and there was absolutely no pain. I hardly knew they’d done anything.” 

Josh Raden, Operational Director at Newmedica Worcester, said: ‘Mrs Allen really is an amazing person. She led the way in women’s sport, and with what she says about people having no need to be nervous about cataract surgery, she’s leading the way again.  

“With cataracts, as Mrs Allen says, the procedure is very quick and really can enhance people’s life significantly.” 

In addition to cataract-related procedures, it undertakes oculoplastic procedures, which is a type of surgery done around the eyes, often to correct a medical problem or for cosmetic reasons. There is also treatment for glaucoma and eye floaters, as well as YAG laser treatment if required after surgery and oculoplastic treatment.  

To find out more, visit www.newmedica.co.uk/clinics/worcester