Rebecca Anne Easton (born 16 June 1974) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

, Everton and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Easton played as right-back and central

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 ...

and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at full international level. Merseysider Easton has won league titles with both Everton and

Club career

Easton joined Everton from Liverpool Ladies in 1997 and won the league title in her first season with The Blues. She had featured in Liverpool's

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

final defeats in 1995 and 1996. Easton had a second spell with Everton having re-signed from

in the 2004 close season, where she had been

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In 2012 Easton was released by Everton, but won a contract for the 2013 FA WSL season with Liverpool after a successful trial. With Easton in the team Liverpool won the league title in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

but were much less successful in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, finishing second bottom. Her 2015 campaign was truncated by a broken arm. Aged 41, she was among four players to be released by the club at the end of the season. In December 2015 Easton rejoined

, where she would combine playing with a role as assistant general manager. Doncaster lost their four opening games and were marooned at the foot of the WSL 1 table, when Easton left the club by "mutual consent" in the mid-season break, ostensibly to focus on her studies.

International career

Easton represented

at senior level, playing in England's first ever

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

finals appearance in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, which ended with a 3–0 quarter-final defeat by

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 2000, she was named as the Nationwide International Player of the Year, based on her consistency for the national team.

Personal life

Easton worked as a

podiatrist A podiatrist ( ) is a medical professional devoted to the treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. The term originated in North America but has now become the accepted term in the English-speaking world for ...

, until she began full-time football training during her second spell with Liverpool. She also embarked on a master's degree in sports directorship at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

. Easton is the

niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...

Paul O'Grady Paul James O'Grady Order of the British Empire, MBE Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his d ...

. On 26 May 2016, she married former teammate

Natasha Dowie Natasha Khalila Dowie (born 30 June 1988) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Women's Super League club Reading. She represented the England women's national football team at the youth level before making her senior internation ...

.Twitter
wedding photographsfriends evoking clearly their marriage"Wedding" says Natasha
Instagram
best post wedding photograph
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Honours

Club

; Everton Ladies *

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

(1): 1997–98 *

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

(1): 2007–08 *

(1): 2009–10 ; Liverpool Ladies * WSL Women's Super League (2):

;

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Easton, Becky 1974 births Living people English women's footballers Everton F.C. (women) players Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Liverpool F.C. Women players Women's Super League players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Sportspeople from Birkenhead British podiatrists Lesbian sportswomen English LGBT sportspeople LGBT association football players Women's association football fullbacks 21st-century LGBT people