Rachel Brown

Rachel Brown

Personal information
Full name	Rachel Laura Brown[1]
Date of birth	(1980-07-02) 2 July 1980
Place of birth	Burnley, England
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Everton Ladies
Number	1
Youth career
	Accrington Ladies
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1998	Liverpool Ladies
1998–2000	Alabama Crimson Tide[3]	41	(0)
2000–2003	Pittsburgh Panthers
2003	Everton Ladies
2003	ÍBV[4]	7	(0)
2003–	Everton Ladies
National team‡
1997–	England	80	(0)
2012–	Great Britain	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Rachel Laura Brown (born 2 July 1980) is an English footballer, currently playing as goalkeeper for Everton Ladies and England Women. She is also the goalkeeper on Five's Superstars and works for Everton's Community Project.^[5] Outside of football, she is known as Rachel Finnis due to her marriage to professional golfer Ian Finnis.

Club career

Early career

Brown was born in Burnley, Lancashire and attended St Christopher's CE High School in Accrington.^[6] She began playing football at primary school, in a boys' team.^[7] Brown was assigned to the goalkeeper position: "They were reluctant to let me join in. It was a case of, 'OK, if you must play you'd better go in goal.'"^[8] After a few years of not playing in a team, due to Football Association (FA) rules which prohibited mixed gender teams, Brown joined Accrington Ladies.^[7] Despite being younger than the required 14, Brown played local open age football for the club.^{[note 1]}

Just after her 15th birthday Brown joined Premier League National Division team Liverpool Ladies. She was scouted at an Easter holidays goalkeeping camp run by Bob Wilson in London, where Brown was the only female of 48 attendees.^[7] After applying for the camp through Match magazine, Brown was presented with the Player of the Camp award by David Seaman.^[9] Having expected to understudy Liverpool's experienced former England goalkeeper Tracey Davidson, Brown became first choice when Davidson quit football approximately three weeks later.^[7]

Brown's Liverpool debut came against all–conquering Arsenal on the opening day of the 1995–96 season.^[7] Liverpool lost the match, staged at Anfield, 6–0.^[10] A decade later, Brown recalled the occasion: "It was very, very daunting – yeah we lost big time! Being thrown in the deep end was an understatement – I was only small and it was hard enough playing against women never mind some of the best players in the whole country."^[7] The first season culminated in one of Brown’s early career highlights; participation in the 1996 FA Women’s Cup final at 15 years old with Liverpool.^{[11][note 2]} After a 1–1 draw with Croydon at The Den, Liverpool and Brown, who was carrying an injury, ultimately lost on penalties after extra time.^[12]

Brown remained with Liverpool while taking A–Levels at Nelson and Colne College.^[13] In October 1997 she saved three times in a penalty shootout as the Reds eliminated Doncaster Belles in the first round of the FA Women's Premier League Cup.^[14] In that season's FA Women's Cup Liverpool were thrown out after Jody Handley played in a 3–1 quarter final win over Millwall Lionesses without international clearance.^[15]

United States

In 1998 Brown moved to the United States where she initially played varsity soccer for Alabama Crimson Tide while attending the University of Alabama. The Sunday Mirror reported in February 2000 that Brown had signed a two–year sponsorship deal worth £100,000 with Uhlsport.^[16] In the same article Brown explained that she left England because Americans had a more positive attitude towards women's football. Dissatisfied with aspects of the culture in the Deep South,^[9] Brown transferred to the University of Pittsburgh Panthers while she completed a degree in Sports Science at the University of Pittsburgh.^[5] She was named Goalkeeper of the Year for the Big East Conference every year and also holds the Panthers' record for the fewest goals conceded in a season.^[3]

Return to Merseyside

On returning to Liverpool, Brown found her old club relegated and languishing in the Premier League Northern Division.^[9] She qualified as a PE Teacher at Liverpool John Moores University^[5] and joined Everton Ladies in January 2003: "Everton were in the top division so I thought, 'change codes here, go to the Blues.'"^[9] She spent the 2003 summer season playing in Iceland, returning to Everton in August 2003.^[17] In December 2003 Brown suffered a serious knee injury that kept her out of the game until June 2005.^[18]

Danielle Hill played in goal for Everton in their 1–0 FA Women's Cup final defeat to Charlton Athletic in May 2005.^[19] Hill also played as Everton shocked Arsenal in the final of the 2008 Premier League Cup.^[20]

International career

England

Brown played eight times for the England Under–18 side^[21] and made her senior debut, aged 16, in February 1997 against Germany. She entered play as a substitute for regular goalkeeper Pauline Cope as England were beaten 6–4 in the friendly at Deepdale. Manager Ted Copeland also gave Brown some playing time in the next match, a 6–0 friendly win over Scotland at Bramall Lane on 9 March 1997.^[22] Exactly a year later Brown made her first home start in England's 1–0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Germany at The Den.^[23]

In October 2000, when Pauline Cope was struck down with a stomach complaint on the morning of England's Women’s Euro 2001 qualification play–off in Ukraine, Brown took her place in England's 2–1 win.^[24] By the time of a May 2001 friendly against Scotland at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, Brown had 11 senior appearances and was Cope's regular understudy.^[25] Brown and Leanne Hall went to Euro 2001 as back–up to Cope, who played in all three games.^[26]

After impressing at her hometown club Burnley, where she had been a season-ticket holder as a child^[27] as England beat Australia 1–0 in September 2003,^[28] she was asked to turn on the Christmas lights in Burnley – but she had to cancel as she was playing for England as they beat Scotland 5–0 in November at nearby Preston. After a long spell out with injury, Brown returned to the England team against Sweden in the last group game of Women’s Euro 2005.

Brown kept her place and conceded two goals as England qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

In May 2009, Brown was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by the Football Association.^[29] Brown started every game of England's women's 2009 campaign.

Great Britain Olympic

In June 2012 Brown and Bardsley were named as the goalkeepers in an 18–player Great Britain squad for the 2012 London Olympics.^[30] Brown described her selection as the pinnacle of her career to date.^[31] In 1996 Brown had been a ball girl at Legion Field for the Summer Olympics, while in America for coaching.^[32]

Personal life

Brown is inspired by the dedication of her friend, gymnast Beth Tweddle.^[33] She is married to professional golfer Ian Finnis.

Injuries sustained by Brown include a dislocated finger, having her front teeth kicked out and several knee injuries besides her torn cruciate ligament. She is the possessor of "man hands" – large enough to pick up a football with one hand.^[33] When not playing football, Brown is interested in traditional feminine pursuits including fashion and make–up.^[34] Because of her looks, she has often been photographed to promote women's football.^[8]

Notes

1. ↑ Accrington Ladies founded in 1991 and merged with Accrington Girls Soccer Academy in 2004 to become Accrington Girls & Ladies FC. As of 2012–13 Brown was Honorary President of the club. She has also described her first club as Accrington Stanley, the name of two male clubs who have represented the town in the Football League.
2. ↑ At 15 years 302 days, Brown is sometimes reported as the youngest ever player to have appeared in a Cup final. But Sue Lopez notes that she played alongside Graham Roberts' sister Sharon, who was 13, in Southampton's 8–2 final win over QPR in 1978.

References

External links

• Rachel Brown at the FA website

v t e England squad – 2001 UEFA Women's European Championship 1 Cope 2 Murphy 3 Unitt 4 Easton 5 Marley (c) 6 Chapman 7 Burke 8 Proctor 9 K. Smith 10 Banks 11 S. Smith 12 White 13 Hall 14 Fletcher 15 Britton 16 Spacey 17 Yankey 18 Walker 19 Exley 20 Brown Coach: Powell

v t e England squad – 2005 UEFA Women's European Championship 1 Fletcher 2 A. Scott 3 Unitt 4 Chapman 5 White (c) 6 Phillip 7 Handley 8 Williams 9 Barr 10 Westwood 11 Yankey 12 K. Smith 13 Brown 14 Carney 15 Stoney 16 Exley 17 Asante 18 Aluko 19 Johnson 20 Hall Coach: Powell

v t e England squad – 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup 1 Brown 2 A. Scott 3 Stoney 4 Chapman 5 White (c) 6 Phillip 7 Carney 8 Williams 9 Aluko 10 K. Smith 11 Yankey 12 Asante 13 Chamberlain 14 Unitt 15 S. Smith 16 J. Scott 17 Handley 18 Sanderson 19 Exley 20 Johnson 21 Telford Coach: Powell

v t e England squad – 2009 UEFA Women's European Championship 1 Brown 2 A. Scott 3 Stoney 4 Williams 5 Johnson 6 Asante 7 Carney 8 Chapman 9 Aluko 10 K. Smith 11 S. Smith 12 J. Scott 13 Chamberlain 14 White (c) 15 Unitt 16 Handley 17 Sanderson 18 Westwood 19 Bassett 20 Buet 21 Clarke 22 Bardsley Coach: Powell

v t e England squad – 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup 1 Bardsley 2 A. Scott 3 Unitt 4 J. Scott 5 F. White (c) 6 Stoney 7 Clarke 8 Williams 9 E. White 10 K. Smith 11 Yankey 12 Carney 13 Brown 14 Aluko 15 Bradley 16 Houghton 17 Bassett 18 Asante 19 Susi 20 Rafferty 21 Chamberlain Coach: Powell

v t e Great Britain women's football squad – 2012 Summer Olympics 1 Bardsley 2 A. Scott 3 Houghton 4 J. Scott 5 Bradley 6 Stoney 7 Carney 8 F. Williams 9 White 10 Smith 11 Yankey 12 Little 13 Dieke 14 Asante 15 Aluko 16 Rafferty 17 R. Williams 18 Brown 19 Susi Coach: Powell

v t e England squad – 2013 UEFA Women's European Championship 1 Bardsley 2 A. Scott 3 Houghton 4 J. Scott 5 Bradley 6 Stoney (c) 7 Aluko 8 Asante 9 White 10 Williams 11 Yankey 12 Clarke 13 Brown 14 Carney 15 Bassett 16 Nobbs 17 Duggan 18 Susi 19 Bonner 20 Moore 21 Bronze 22 Smith 23 Chamberlain Coach: Powell