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Gillian Coultard
| Category: | Female Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2006 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
Gillian Coultard, the diminutive dynamo whose energy and ambition propelled Doncaster Belles to the pinnacle of the domestic game, played more games for England than any other woman in history.
On the way to amassing 119 caps, Coultard secured a place in the record books when she scored the first goal ever netted at Wembley Stadium in a women's international.
Prodigiously talented as a child, Coultard was training with the senior national team at the age of 13; two decades later, she was a member of the first England to reach a FIFA World Cup finals tournament.
Once into her thirties, Coultard switched roles, from central midfield to sweeper, in order to prolong her career at both club and international level. When she retired in 2000, she was captain of England.
Her competitiveness, relentless will to win and discipline were vital factors in keeping the Belles at the top of the domestic game during the 1980s and '90s.
A loyal servant to the club, she turned down various offers to play professional football in Sweden, Italy and Belgium. And to play for England on tour, she used up annual leave from her factory job.
The prominent woman footballer of her generation, she was a mainstay of the Doncaster Belles side that secured the double of national League and FA Cup in 1994 – a decade after taking the captain's armband.
The youngest of eight children, Coulthard was identified as a potential future international whilst still a studying at school. Training alongside established England players proved to be a ‘frightening' experience, The experience, though, was invaluable in terms of her football education.
Five years later, in May 1981, Coulthard made her debut for England in a 3-1 win over Republic of Ireland.
She had, meanwhile, switched from right winger to a ball-winning role in central midfield – the position she would make her own with both club and country.
Five foot nothing tall, Coultard combined a low centre of gravity with strength in her upper body – attributes that gave her an advantage going into the tackle.
A combative ‘box-to-box' runner, she was often described in the papers as ‘the Bryan Robson of women's football'. And like Robson, she captained her country, leading by example in terms of work-rate. ‘I was astonished by the amount of ground she covered,' Mark Bright, the Sheffield Wednesday striker and future media pundit, said, after watching one Belles performance. ‘Gill was outstanding. She scored one goal and ran the game.'
All in all, Coulthard played in four European Championships tournaments, between 1984 and 1995. Runners-up in 1984, England reached the semi-finals twice and the quarter-finals once.
When England qualified for the 1995 World Cup in Sweden, Gillian Coulthard fulfilled her greatest ambition in the game. This would be her first – and last – World Cup – and it ended at the quarter-final stage with defeat against Germany. Coulthard played the game at the highest level for 16 years. ‘The fact that I'd joined the list of players who have made 100 appearances did not really sink until after the game. It was a fantastic feeling and an honour that no-one can take away from me.'