Anne Monica O'Brien (25 January 1956 – 29 August 2016) was an Irish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and player. A

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, she played for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and was the first Irish female to play professional football outside of Ireland. She began her professional career in France, with

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2018. Reims plays home matches at the Stade Au ...

, then settled in Italy where she found success with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

teams including

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and Trani. After qualifying as a coach at the Coverciano centre, O'Brien worked for the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

(FIGC) and served Lazio as manager.

Club career

O'Brien joined

at the age of 17, after the French club toured Dublin. She arrived in Italy in 1976, having won three league titles with Reims. O'Brien enjoyed similar success in Italy, collecting six Scudetti and two

Italian Women's Cup The Italian Women's Cup (Italian: Coppa Italia di calcio femminile) is the national women's football cup competition in Italy and was first held in 1971. List of finals See also * Coppa Italia, men's edition Notes References External l ...

s in a career spanning seven clubs and 18 years. Beginning at

, O'Brien won the league in 1979 and 1980, as well as the Cup in 1977. After the League switched to a winter season, she helped Trani win the 1984 League. Returning to Lazio and playing alongside

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as ...

, she lifted the Cup again in 1985. Later in O'Brien's career she won three consecutive League titles; two with Reggiana (1989–90, 1990–91) and one with Milan Salvarani (1991–92). The ''Dizionario del Calcio Italiano'' described O'Brien as an elegant midfield playmaker, adept at reading the game and capable of precise passing. She was bracketed alongside

Rose Reilly Rose Reilly (born 2 January 1955), whose married name is Rose Peralta, is a Scottish former women's association football player, who represented both Scotland and Italy in international football. Club career Rose was born in Kilmarnock and w ...

Conchi Sánchez Concepción Sánchez-Freire (Conchi Amancio) (born 28 September 1957) is a Spanish International, former football striker. She played for most of her career in Italy, winning seven national championships and 8 Italian Cups with Gamma 3 Padova, ...

and Susy Augustesen as one of the best foreigners to play women's football in Italy. In 2014 Italian football great

Carolina Morace Carolina Morace (; born 5 February 1964) is an Italian former footballer who played as a striker and is the current head coach of Lazio Women. She played for the Italian national team and for various clubs in women's Serie A. She was the top ...

named O'Brien as one of the best players in the world and described her as an inspiration.

International career

O'Brien endured a relatively inauspicious international career. Due to travel and accommodation costs, the poorly performing Irish national team only called her up for their most important fixtures after she had

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

. In October 1973, O'Brien played for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin and Stade Roland Garros. The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Ireland were beaten 4–1 but O'Brien was named Player of the Match. O'Brien told

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

radio in August 2014 that she won about four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

but was never invited to play for Ireland while based in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

. In April 1990, while visiting Dublin, she played in Ireland's 0–0 1991 UEFA Women's Championship qualification draw against the

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Personal life

O'Brien was from

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchicore railway works ...

, Dublin. In 1987 O'Brien spent a period out of football to give birth to her son, Andrea. Following her retirement from playing she settled in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. O'Brien remained in football, serving Lazio as manager in the mid-2000s (she trained

in 2005-06 and Women Civitavecchia in 2007-08) and later working for the

(FIGC) as a coach. In 1999 son Andrea was playing in A.S. Roma's youth team. O'Brien is reportedly a

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of Johnny Giles and a more distant relative of Jimmy Conway. The

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

footballer

Ger O'Brien Gerard O'Brien (born 2 July 1984) is an Irish former professional footballer who played in the League of Ireland as a defender. He is the current Director of Football of St Patrick's Athletic, who he spent 5 seasons playing with. His former cl ...

is Anne's nephew. She died on 29 August 2016 in Rome, Italy after a short illness.

References

External links

Profile
at Football Association of Ireland
Profile
at

Dictionary of Irish Biography The ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (DIB) is a biographical dictionary of notable Irish people and people not born in the country who had notable careers in Ireland, including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.1956 births 2016 deaths Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Association footballers from County Dublin Serie A (women's football) players S.S. Lazio Women 2015 players A.C.F. Trani 80 players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Irish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's footballers in France A.S.D. Reggiana Calcio Femminile players Women's association football midfielders Stade de Reims Féminines players ACF Milan 82 players A.C.F. Prato players C.F. Euromobil Modena players