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EXCLUSIVE – Interview With Everton Ladies Keeper Rachel Brown

Liam White — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:54:30 +0000

Everton have a successful Ladies side, winners of the Premierleague Cup in 2008 and runners up in the league in 2009. Everton Ladies goalkeeper and England number 1 Rachel Brown has answered some questions about our ladies side.

Q. So why did the Everton Foundation get involved in women’s football
and how far back does this connection go between Everton and a ladies
team?

The Everton Foundation has had a women’s and girls development programme
now for over 10 years. The Everton Ladies current team is not directly
linked to the Foundation but the W&G community work is.

Q. How has the relationship been between Everton FC and Everton Ladies?

The relationship is better than it has ever been. We get lots of
support from the club but there are always things to strive to improve.
I’m confident that the links between the club and the ladies will
continue to get better.

Q. The Everton Ladies have seen some success in recent years with some
cup finals, narrowly missing out on the league and of course winning the
Premier league Cup final. How does it feel to be playing for a side
competing for honours?

Of course this is the position every footballer wants to be in; annually
competing for honours. I think we’ve narrowed the gap between our
closest rivals, Arsenal and beat them in the FA league cup
semi final! We will now play Leeds in the final which is due to be played in February. We have a lot of
international players who are very ambitious and are always looking to
move the club forward to the next level.

Q. Of course you unfortunately missed the Premier league Cup Final through injury, has
that given you an added incentive to push the team on to further
success?

Absolutely, that was a real day of mixed emotions for me. I was
obviously delighted we’d won the cup but then a bit down that I hadn’t
been a part of it on the pitch. I celebrated all the same!

Q. What do you think the future holds for the Everton Ladies for both
the current team and the club in general?

There is an FA proposal for the Women’s Superleague to begin in 2011
which would be a summer league. Clubs around the country are currently
bidding to be one of 10 teams competing in a national summer league.
Formal business plans are being submitted very soon which would be of a
huge benefit to Everton ladies and the club, should Everton be one of
the clubs in the new Superleague. This would be the biggest step in
improving the standard and profile of both the ladies team at Everton
and women’s football in general.

Q. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but the record attendance for
women’s football was at Goodison in 1920 in front of a crowd of
approximately 53,000. It is argued that this huge attendance, double
the average attendance of the men’s side at the time, lead to the FA
banning ladies football on Football League grounds. So Everton and
Ladies football do have some history together, so how do you rate
Everton as a club to rebuild ladies football nearly 90 years later and
do you believe Ladies football will ever return to Goodison?

I don’t think the ladies team will ever play regularly at Goodison-it’s
not practical with the number of games played on it now with just the
men’s team, the grounds man has a hard enough job!

Q. Of course the Everton Ladies is not just the senior side but goes
down to providing football for youths. How do you feel this has helped
the Everton Ladies?

Many of the girls have come through the Everton centre of excellence
from U10 age groups and are now playing in the senior first team and the
reserves. There are several girls in the centre of excellence who are
currently in the England youth teams which is obviously a benefit in
improving the standard of girls football in the area. As well as the
centre of excellence there are many girls developmental and club
football teams across Merseyside and the Everton Foundation deliver lots
of girls only football sessions across Merseyside in schools. This
provides many opportunities for girls of all age-groups and abilities to
get involved in football.

Q. Do the Everton Ladies do anything beyond the footballing side of
things?

Most of us work or study full-time and unfortunately don’t have much
time to out in the community! We all chip in when we can and attend
Everton soccer camps and promotional events. Some of the girls coach at
the centre of excellence which provides good role models as most are
senior international players. Fortunately I am employed by the Everton
Foundation and therefore am out in the community and in schools nearly
every day of the week. It’s a great feeling to know I can be an
ambassador for women’s football in my role as a teacher in the
department.

Q. You are of course the first choice keeper for not just Everton
Ladies but also England so you must have travelled to many countries
with the international team as well as Everton. So how does England and
Everton’s ladies football set up compare to those in other countries?

The USA are unique in that all their female players have the opportunity
to play football full-time during their university careers as college
(university) sports are hugely marketed. Girls can get full
scholarships to fund their whole university lives based on their
sporting ability. I actually went through this system and was of great
benefit to my football and educational career. League football in this
country is improving and the Super league will hopefully improve this
dramatically. Several of the most successful nations offer league
football as a semi-professional/professional game which obviously has
it’s benefits. The USA currently has a professional league which again
has drawn some of the worlds best payers over there.

Q. Do you believe English ladies football will have a star of the
profile of Mia Hamm in the future?

Mia Hamm is a multi-millionaire and was based on the success of the US
national team in the late 90’s and early 00’s. Sponsorship money and
media coverage were huge based on their success winning world cups and
Olympic games time after time. If we had that success then it will help
the game but I don’t think any female players would get that superstar
status. You have to remember that the US doesn’t have the competition
of men’s football and is arguably bigger ad more marketable than men’s
soccer in the US. England is moving in the right direction which is all
we can ask for at this moment in time.

Q. What would like to see happen to the ladies football in England? Do
you believe ladies football will become professional?

I would like the media to really push the popularity of women’s football
as a sport in it’s own right and not comparing/demeaning it to men’s
football. The opportunity to become professional will obviously help
improve us as a national team and increase our chances of success, which
ultimately will improve our status as a sport. Women’s cricket has
rightly had a lot of publicity recently due to their success and we
would love to be in the same situation.

Q. And finally on a personal note, what has been the highlight of your
career so far?

Playing in the European Championships final v Germany in 2009 was the
highlight so far. Even though we were outclassed and rightly beaten in
the final, it was wonderful to get to and experience a major
championships final. Looking forward I would love to win a trophy with
Everton and looking further forward I would love to have the opportunity
to be a part of the GB Olympic squad.

FE Team of the Decade – REVEALED

Ian Phillips — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:33:48 +0000

FollowEverton.com can now reveal its Team of the Decade! Unfortunately due to having no internet access I was unable to complete the FE Team of the Decade on schedule before the new year, however voting has now been closed and though its a week late FollowEverton can now reveal the Everton Team of the Decade for the “noughties” as voted by you the members

GK: Nigel Martyn

RB: Tony Hibbert

CB: Phil Jagielka

CB: Alan Stubbs

LB: David Unsworth

RM: Mikel Arteta

CM: Thomas Gravesen

CM: Lee Carsley

LM: Steven Pienaar

AM: Tim Cahill

ST: Duncan Ferguson

Everton Team of the decade, vote NOW for your striker

Ian Phillips — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:01:18 +0000

The team is almost complete, not its time for arguable the most important position, the strikers. There are no less than 9 options to choose from for this position so log on to the forums and vote NOW to ensure your favourite doesn’t miss out. Tim Cahill is included in the vote as an attacking midfielder so if selected the formation will be 4-5-1, otherwise it will be 4-4-2.

Click HERE to cast your vote

Everton Team of the decade: Click on the position to view the poll

Goalkeeper : Nigel Martyn

Right Back : Tony Hibbert

Centre-Back : Alan Stubbs

Centre-Back : Phil Jagielka

Left Back : David Unsworth

Right Midfield : Mikel Arteta

Centre Midfield : Tommy Gravesen

Centre Midfield : Lee Carsley

Left Midfield : Steven Pienaar

Centre Forward :

Everton Team of the Decade: Vote NOW for your centre-mid

Ian Phillips — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:30:46 +0000

Unsurprisingly Mikel Arteta walked (or hobbled as I should say!) the vote for the right-midfield position, now attention turns to the centre. Tim Cahill makes this vote a complicated one, he is included in the poll but WILL be included in the striker vote to play attacking midfielder in a 4-5-1 formation so ONLY vote for him if you want him to play in central midfield, this is not your last chance to put Cahill in the team. As for the centre defence vote it is one vote per person to fill 2 positions

Everton Team of the decade: Click on the position to view the poll

Goalkeeper : Nigel Martyn

Right Back : Tony Hibbert

Centre-Back : Alan Stubbs

Centre-Back : Phil Jagielka

Left Back : David Unsworth

Right Midfield : Mikel Arteta

Centre Midfield :

Everton Team of the Decade – Vote NOW for your right-mid

Ian Phillips — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:46:11 +0000

David “Rhino” Unsworth was the easy winner for the left-back role, now its time to start choosing the midfield. Log on to the FollowEverton forums now to choose your right-midfielder for the Everton Team of the Decade

Everton Team of the decade: Click on the position to view the poll

Goalkeeper : Nigel Martyn

Right Back : Tony Hibbert

Centre-Back : Alan Stubbs

Centre-Back : Phil Jagielka

Left Back : David Unsworth

Right Midfield :

Everton Team of the Decade – Vote NOW for your Left-Back

Ian Phillips — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:52:18 +0000

In what was a very close race Alan Stubbs and Phil Jagielka came out on top of the poll to take their place at the heart of the defence for Everton’s team of the decade. Now we need to complete that defence by adding a left-back, so log on to the forums NOW to ensure your favourite makes it into the official FollowEverton Team of the Decade.

Everton Team of the decade: Click on the position to view the poll

Goalkeeper : Nigel Martyn

Right Back : Tony Hibbert

Centre-Back : Alan Stubbs

Centre-Back : Phil Jagielka

Left Back :

The Everton Family

Liam White — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:19:15 +0000

Things have changed a lot at Everton since a group of cricketers from St Domingo’s Methodist church carried posts to Stanley Park to play football during the winter. Nowadays Everton reach many different people in many different ways. Whether that’s through the charitable Everton Foundation, sponsors or retail the club plays an increasingly important role across the region. The club not only has a football men’s football team but now spreads to a ladies football team, an academy, even a basketball team. There are many stakeholders who have interests in the running of the club from the board to the shareholders association and fan groups like KEIOC and many many more. Everton nowadays really are far more than a football team, it goes far beyond a kick around of a ball on some grass, Everton are now a large and important organisation.

Over the next few weeks I am going to look into the ‘Everton Family’, how it all comes together and how the many thousands of different opinions from the fans, club and other groups come together and disagree over the challenges the club faces.

So keep visiting FollowEverton.com to see interviews from many people in the Everton Family and hopefully take a fresh look at the great club we call Everton.

Everton Team of the Decade: Vote NOW for your centre-half

Ian Phillips — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:14:27 +0000

Tony Hibbert was the narrow winner over Steve Watson and Phil Neville for the right back role in Everton’s team of the decade. The next position promises to be the most interesting with no less than 6 contenders. Log on to the forums and vote NOW for who you want to fill the centre-back role. The nominees are Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Joseph Yobo, David Weir, Alan Stubbs and Richard Gough

Everton Team of the decade: Click on the position to view the poll

Goalkeeper : Nigel Martyn

Right Back : Tony Hibbert

Centre-Back :

Everton Team of the Decade: Vote NOW for your right-back

Ian Phillips — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:51:39 +0000

Nigel Martyn was the runaway winner for the position of Goalkeeper in FollowEverton’s Everton Team of the Decade. Log on to the forums and vote NOW for who you want to fill the right-back role

Everton Team of the decade: Click on the position to view the poll

Goalkeeper : Nigel Martyn

Right Back

Respect The Fans Campaign

Liam White — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:58:41 +0000

The road to Wembley, the chance to walk down Wembley Way, to look up at the arch, to sing with your family, friends and fellow fans to support your team in a final, that’s the pinnacle of every football fan’s dreams. Unfortunately that is a dream that doesn’t become reality for many fans due to poor ticket allocations. The Respect The Fans Campaign is callng for a fresh look at allocations at Wembley, whether for play-offs, Carling Cup or FA Cup — a fresh look which aims to give the best allocation of tickets to reward the real football fans and the real football family.

At Everton we’ve been fortunate to get two visits to Wembley this year, but unfortunately an allocation of a mere 31,825 tickets for the semi final and a woefully inadequate 25,000 for the final, not even enough to satisfy the demands for our season ticket holders, meant that many thousands of Evertonian’s missed out on the chance to see Everton at Wembley.

However despite the poor allocations, thousands of Evertonians managed to get tickets outside the official allocation, most often by paying hundreds to touts. If you missed out on either of our trips to Wembley because of the poor allocation, if you were forced to go to touts in order to watch Everton at Wembley or if you had any problems with segregation in the ‘neutral’ areas please email your story to info(at)respectcampaign.com and we will place it on our website.

If you would like to support the campaign please sign our online petition http://www.petitiononline.com/facup71/petition.html

If you have any ideas for the campaign or want to find out more please visit our website http://www.respectcampaign.com/