How America Helped to Shape Brown-Finnis’ Stellar Career (Rachel Brown-Finnis)

Rachel Brown-Finnis left the north west at eighteen for five years keeping goal for Alabama Crimson Tide, and says the experience developed her as much as a person as a goalkeeper. They spoke English, she notes, but it was a very different culture, a very different education system, and a completely different view of female footballers: the American women had won an Olympics and a World Cup, were idolised in the newspapers and were household names. That comparison did not make her want to stay – it made her more determined to change how the women’s game was seen in England, and convinced her that where the England team stood, in standards and in media treatment, was not good enough. She now watches the game she pushed at from a broadcast seat.