Knapman, Tash

Tash from Torquay, was almost lost to the game as a teenager, though, with her promising martial arts career carrying her to Melbourne, Australia to represent England in the World Junior Taekwondo Championships in 2006 – where she won a bronze medal

Despite her undoubted taekwondo prowess, her sporting career went in a different direction after joining her local football team.

Tash was playing for Totnes and Dartington, in 2009, when she was scouted by a number of clubs including Plymouth Argyle and Newquay, having scored 49 goals for the reserves the previous season.

In September 2009, Tash was called up to the Devon's Senior Women's squad.

She joined Plymouth in October 2009, where she continued to score freely

In 2012 she joined the Grecians making her debut on 25 October 2012 against Oxford United scoring a late equaliser. Tash continued to score freely over the next 3 seasons.

Tash scored City's third goal in a 4–3 win in the 2013 Devon County Cup final against her former club Plymouth Argyle. Tash's final game for the Grecians saw her score twice in a 4–2 win over Torquay United in the 2015 Devon County Cup final.

Signing for Yeovil ahead of the 2015 season, where she score 6 times in 27 games in the WSL division 2, before rejoining Plymouth Argyle in 2016, she scored more than 80 goals for the Greens in less than 60 games.

In March 2021, Natasha moved to Buckland Athletic, on leaving Argyle the club said the following

"Top striker Natasha Knapman has also informed manager Dave Leonard that she would be joining Devon rivals Buckland Athletic, this had come as no surprise to the management team at Home Park, as Knapman had turned out for Buckland in a pre-season game against Bishops Lydeard.

Goal machine Knapman, who is a double Golden Boot winner, knocked in 181 goals in 156 appearances for Argyle."

She returned to Plymouth soon after. 

In July 2023 Exeter City Women have completed their fourth signing of the summer with experienced forward Natasha Knapman returning after a seven-year absence.

Tash was part of the successful City era of the mid 2010s, scoring sixty-three times in her fifty-three appearances and twice netting in successful County Cup Final wins for the Grecians. Knapman headed to the Women’s Super League with Yeovil Town Women in 2015 where she scored six times for the Glovers. 

After leaving the Somerset side, Knapman signed for Plymouth Argyle in 2016 and, with a brief spell at Buckland Athletic in between, has been a mainstay in Green for the past five years. The Torquay based forward is a double golden boot winner, scoring over two hundred times for Argyle and hitting a staggering sixty-three goals in twenty-seven appearances when last playing in Tier Four in 2018. 

Knapman was Plymouth’s top scorer in 2021/22 with fifteen goals but took a year away from the game last season, completing the London Marathon in support of the Blue Cross in April. 

City were certainly not short of goals last season, but the competition for places, or even the possibility of partnering Knapman with the prolific Sarah Stacey and Jenna Markham is an exciting prospect for Grecian fans.  

Joint City Manager Abbie Britton is delighted with the fourth addition of the summer. “I have wanted to work with Tash for the past two years. Her goalscoring record is exceptional and what she can add to the team will be invaluable. With Tash, Sarah, Jenna and Amber we are blessed with some wonderful attacking options. Despite missing out on promotion, the aim for the summer is to make certain that we keep moving forward and progressing as a team and as individuals, adding someone like Tash to the squad is a statement that we are going to achieve that aim.” 



Tash Knapman

Team

Season

Appearances

Goals

 

2007/08

 

 

Totnes & Dartington SC

2008/09

 

49

Plymouth Argyle

2009/10

 

 

Plymouth Argyle

2010/11

 

14

Plymouth Argyle

2011/12

 21

15

Exeter City

2012/13

12

12

Exeter City

2013/14

18

21

Exeter City

2014/15

23

30

Yeovil Town

2015/16

27

6

Plymouth Argyle

2016/17

25

34

Plymouth Argyle

2017/18

27

61

Plymouth Argyle

2018/19

11

12

Plymouth Argyle

2019/20

21

23

Plymouth Argyle 

2020/21 

 

   15

 

 

 

 







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