Louise "Lou" Waller (born 30 July 1969) is an English former international women's football defender. She was a member of the

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 ...

squad for 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, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament featured 12 women's national teams from si ...

Finals. In a long association with Millwall Lionesses, Waller served the club as a player, coach, development officer, secretary and chairperson.

Club career

In 1995, Waller was playing for Millwall Lionesses. She won both the 1996–97 FA Women's Premier League Cup and

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 ...

with Millwall. In the final of the latter competition, Waller headed the winning goal from Justine Lorton's corner, in front of 3,015 supporters at Upton Park. Waller was also part of Millwall's 1991 FA Cup winning team, one of two senior players to remain with the club when most players left in the aftermath of the victory. Many young players who emerged at Millwall in the following years, including Katie Chapman, had been coached by Waller in the club's youth teams. In 1993 Waller had been heavily involved in the creation of the country's first girls' Centre of Excellence at Millwall. She had joined the club as a 12-year-old and by February 1997 had made over 400 appearances for the Lionesses. When the club was promoted back to the top division in 2009, Waller—by now the chairperson—claimed they were "back where we belong". Waller spent two summers playing in the Finnish Naisten SM-sarja for

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history i ...

in 1988 and 1989. Lionesses manager Alan Wooler also played in Finland and arranged the move through his contacts. For her second season in Helsinki, Waller was joined by England teammate Marieanne Spacey.

International career

Waller was a member of the

squad for the 1995 Women's World Cup. Her only appearance came as a late substitute for Tina Mapes in the final game, a 3–0 quarter final defeat against

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 ...

. Having joined the squad in 1989, Waller made over 30 appearances for England. Her final cap came in a 4–0 friendly defeat to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

in June 1997. During

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for

UEFA Women's Euro 1993 The 1993 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as Women's Euro 1993 was a football tournament that happened between 1991 and 1993 (with the qualifying round). The final games was held in Italy. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tou ...

, Waller was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for handball as England crashed 3–0 to

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 ...

Millmoor The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County F.C. between 1907 and 1925 and then its successor Rotherham United F.C. until 2008. Th ...

, losing the tie 6–2 on aggregate and missing out on the four-team final tournament.

References

Bibliography

External links

1969 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Millwall Lionesses L.F.C. players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players English expatriate women's footballers Women's association football defenders Women's association football midfielders Footballers from the London Borough of Lewisham Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (women) players English expatriate sportspeople in Finland {{England-women-footy-bio-stub