Everything but the Football: Chelsea

WSL Football sat down with Chelsea’s Lauren James, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, and Keira Walsh for a conversation about everything except the game they play.

Lauren James and Keira Walsh are both proud pooch parents. “No human can replace that feeling when you walk through the door and see how excited they get wiggling their little bodies away,” says James about Waffle, her one-year-old Poodle mix. “One? Already? Wow.” Walsh exclaims, no stranger to seeing a dog grow up. Her West Highland Terrier, Narla, is now in the double-digits age wise. “I think she's probably getting more energy than when she was a puppy.” For James and Walsh, their dogs are a much welcome distraction from the stresses of their day job. “It takes your mind off other things,” says Walsh, with James adding, “it’s such a nice feeling.”

Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, on the other hand, doesn’t necessarily share this love. “Jojo’s a bit scared of [Narla]”, Walsh declares, with Kaneryd swiftly jumping in, “nej, I’m not scared!” Walsh tells of a recent interaction between the two: “basically, the dog yawned yesterday”, she begins, “and Jojo panicked.” Kaneryd is keen to clear up that she didn’t panic, instead she was simply shocked, imitating the high pitched noise Narla had made, “it was a weird sound.”

The winger does not have any pets, and does not intend on having any in the future, but certainly does not mind others’. Kaneryd admits that she wasn’t a dog person until she’d met Narla. “You're just trying to save it now,” jokes Walsh. “I’m not a dog person, is that fine?” Kaneryd replies. “No”, say Walsh and James in unison.

While James and Walsh wouldn’t dream of being without their pups, balancing their careers at both club and international level whilst owning dogs can be a bit of a juggling act. “Sometimes if you're out, you're thinking, ‘oh, I've got to get back for the dog’”, James shares. “If you don't have the dog there, you're a bit more free with your time.” Walsh often relies on her family, especially her mum, to help out, “she comes down to London sometimes just to look after the dog!”

Before signing to Chelsea in January 2025, Walsh, along with Narla, spent three seasons in Spain while she played for FC Barcelona. “Narla absolutely loved her dog sitter,” she shares, explaining that she found having her dog in Barcelona easy. Numerous members of the squad had dogs, all sending them to the same daycare when necessary, “there were like six dogs and they used to put them in little Barca shirts when we were playing and take pictures. It was proper cute.” It helped Walsh feel less guilty about having to spend time apart from Narla. “I think sometimes she preferred going there than being at home with me!”

For Kaneryd, unwinding from football comes in multiple forms. “I like shopping and I like makeup,” adding, “actually, I also love board games.” Kaneryd and Walsh often play dice based games with one another. “You know when you’ve got to like to throw three of a kind or four of a kind,” Walsh explains, noticing an opportunity to tease her teammate, “but she always comes last.”

Kaneryd pleads that she doesn’t, but James is quick to issue a correction, “she's actually lying.” Walsh does admit however that Kaneryd has won the game on one singular occasion, “we played one game for money, and she won.” As Kaneryd quite rightly points out, “it’s about choosing your moments.” James sometimes joins Kaneryd and Walsh in their games, according to Walsh, she’s rather good. “She’s so nonchalant, and then she gets the best score.”

Kaneryd appreciates being out in nature. “I’m a Swedish person, we love to go out for walks.” And as an athlete, it’s no surprise that she also loves spending time in the gym, “that's my passion, I would say.” Walsh, in full sincerity, tells Kaneryd, “you are good in the gym to be fair.” It’s now James’ turn to light-heartedly mock her friend, “but still not stronger.”

When they’re not playing games, chilling with their dogs, or joking around with Kaneryd (definitely the trio’s love language), James and Walsh like to get tattoos. “I don’t think too much about mine,” says Walsh, with James adding, “I’ve kind of done mine out of boredom, and I like the way they look.” Neither have designed their own artwork, preferring to put their faith into their artist.

For Walsh, that has meant placing trust in her close personal friend and England teammate Georgia Stanway who currently plays for Bayern Munich and has been training to be a tattoo artist. “I was the guinea pig,” says Walsh, of allowing Stanway to make the permanent addition, “everyone else then followed.” Stanway has since tattooed other footballers, including Arsenal forward Beth Mead. Walsh confesses that she was a bit nervous, “because she's not very serious.” Thankfully, everything went well. “She did a very good job.”