Joanne Broadhurst (born 27 November 1967) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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and former player. As an attacking

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

she 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. Broadhurst also played for English clubs

Doncaster 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 ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and Croydon/Charlton Athletic.

Playing career

Club career

Broadhurst began playing for Sheffield FC Ladies, coached by her father

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

, at age 12. She moved to

at 18 after studying Leisure and Recreation at college and spending a summer working for

Pontin's Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...

. While playing for the all-conquering Belles, Broadhurst worked as a

forklift truck A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...

driver for

Royal Doulton Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...

Stoke Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

. As a playmaker, Broadhurst was a key component of the side which wrested the League title back from Arsenal and completed a domestic double in 1994. Belles manager Paul Edmunds said of Broadhurst "the more she gets the ball, the better we play." In 1995 Broadhurst moved to

and was given a job in the club's mail order department. In summer 1996 she underwent surgery on a knee injury, but finished the season as top goalscorer. By 1997–98 Broadhurst was playing for

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, scoring the opening goal in a 3–2 defeat to Arsenal in that season'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. Croydon won a League and Cup double in 2000, clinched when they beat

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

6–0 to win the league. Broadhurst scored twice in that game. When Croydon came under the auspices of Charlton Athletic, Broadhurst returned to Doncaster Belles. However, she was back with Charlton in 2001–02. From 2003–2005 Broadhurst featured in three successive FA Women's Cup finals with Charlton. She played in a 3–0 loss to the professionals of

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in May 2003, then in another defeat—again 3–0—to former club Arsenal the following year. In 2005 Broadhurst was on the winning side as Charlton beat Everton 1–0 at Upton Park. It was Broadhurst's eleventh appearance in the domestic women's game's showpiece event. Broadhurst retired after hitting the winning goal as Charlton reserves beat Millwall Lionesses 3–2 in the 2006 Kent County Cup final.

International career

Broadhurst made her

debut aged 16. Manager

Martin Reagan Charles Martin Reagan (12 May 1924 – 26 December 2016) was an English professional footballer and coach / manager. During his playing career, Reagan played in the Football League for York City, Hull City, Middlesbrough, Shrewsbury Town, Portsmo ...

called–up Broadhurst for the Mundialito tournament in August 1984 and handed her a first cap against hosts

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Along with Kirsty Pealling, Broadhurst was controversially dropped from the

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

squad, with manager

Ted Copeland Ted Copeland is an English former football coach. He managed the England women's side between 1993 and 1998, leading them to a quarter-final appearance in the 1995 World Cup. Copeland spent 12 years working as a lecturer in physical education a ...

saying "They are not international footballers at this level." Copeland had first excluded Broadhurst in August 1994 after taking exception to an interview Broadhurst and Mandy Lowe gave to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. "He only picks boring bastards, he doesn't like personality. So what can I do?" was Broadhurst's response. Broadhurst was later recalled by Copeland and scored a hat-trick against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in March 1997.

Coaching career

In 2012 Broadhurst joined Liverpool Ladies as an assistant coach.

Personal life

At the ''

Sheffield Star ''The Star'', often known as the ''Sheffield Star'', is a daily newspaper published in Sheffield, England, from Monday to Saturday each week. Originally a broadsheet, the newspaper became a tabloid in 1993. ''The Star'', the weekly ''Sheffield ...

'' Football Awards in August 2021, Broadhurst received the posthumous "Pioneer of Women's Football Award" bestowed upon her partner Julie Chipchase.

References

External links

Profile
at CAFC.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Broadhurst, Joanne 1967 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Arsenal W.F.C. players Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players FA Women's National League players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards LGBT association football players Footballers from Sheffield