Saving The Memories (Siobhan Chamberlain interview)

England’s second goalkeeper across six major tournaments talks through a career that ended when the prospect of long spells away from her daughter Emilia made the decision for her. She is unusually clear-eyed about the profession’s blind spots: she had no full-time goalkeeper coaching until Liverpool, four years before she retired, in a position where women had always been scrutinised without being taught. Bristol Academy under Mark Sampson was the happiest spell, Arsenal the hardest, where she played every round of the 2014 FA Cup and learned she was dropped for the final when the team was read out. Twice she replaced an injured Karen Bardsley in a major-tournament quarter-final, against Canada in Vancouver and France at Euro 2017. On punditry she argues the women’s game has been too nicey-nice.