She Kicks Back: Liverpool’s Cover Star (Leanne Taylor)

Part of the She Kicks Back 25th-anniversary feature revisiting the cover of On the Ball’s first issue, which showed Liverpool full-back Leanne Taylor chasing down Croydon’s Tara Proctor in the 1996 Women’s FA Cup final. Taylor was working full-time as a postwoman in an era when players juggled jobs and paid subs, and was in her first season with the Reds when they met Croydon before 2,110 at Millwall’s New Den in April 1996, having beaten holders Arsenal on penalties in the semi-final. She recalls not sleeping the night before, Rachel Brown-Finnis needing a fitness test on grass beside the hotel, the coach getting stuck in traffic and the squad being made to pose in energy-drink sweatshirts with barely any warm-up. She man-marked Kerry Davis, and still has her medal and her copy of the magazine.