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Sue Lopez
| Category: | Female Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2004 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of Football's Greatest Heroes, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
Pioneer footballer, coach and manager: Sue Lopez has done more than anyone else to promote women's football in England in a career spanning five decades.
Lopez was the first Englishwoman to play semi-professional football as an overseas player in Italy in 1971, returning home to help establish the first ever official-sanctioned England women's team. An automatic choice for seven years, she won 22 caps.
In 1978, she played a major role in organising the first England women's international to be played on a Football League ground following the rescinding of a ban on the use of such venues that dated back to 1921.
As a club player, she was the lynchpin on the left side of midfield for Southampton, the team that was almost unassailable during the 1970s. As a coach she nurtured 12 England youth internationals over a period of seven years.
Lopez played for Southampton in the first 10 Women's FA Cup finals, starting in 1971, amassing eight winner's medals. About the only thing she hasn't done in football is head the ball very often. ‘I rarely do that because I get concussed easily,' she explained Stan Cullis, the great Wolves centre-half, had the same trouble.
Following her retirement as a player in 1985, she became the second woman to gain the FA Advanced Licence coaching qualification. Eight years later, in 1999, she was named Sunday Times Female Coach of the Year. The following year she was awarded an MBE.
Lopez made a dramatic impact on Roma during 1971-72, her only season in Italy , after impressing scouts at an international tournament in Turin in 1969.
‘Roma Revival with Lopez' was the headline in Corriere dello Sport, the daily Italian sports newspaper in May 1971. ‘The newspapers in Italy took us seriously, devoting a whole page to women's football, Lopez recalled.
Brought in to revitalise the former champions, Lopez scored 13 goals in 11 League matches. ‘It was a fantastic experience,' she recalled.
The highlight of her stay came in a quarter-final of the national Cup. Napoli were winning 2-0 in front of a partisan home crowd of 1,000. Playing at centre-forward, she scored a hat-trick. ‘Lopez lets fly at Napoli with three splendid goals,' the newspaper reported. Roma defeated Fiorentina 1-0 in the final. In the League, Roma finished runners-up, two points behind champions Piacenza in the 14-team division.
Lopez then sacrificed her career as a player in Italy to help consolidate the progress of the Women's FA following its inception in 1969, and to ensure her availability and eligibility to play for the national team.
An inaugural member of the Women's FA, Lopez assisted with administration, acting as voluntary assistant secretary for a year. In the 1980s she took on the role of vice-chair of the ruling body, before a spell as International Officer in 1992.
She also had a hand in the crucial breakthrough in 1993 when the Football Association assumed full responsibility for the running of the women's game, absorbing the women's ruling body into its own structure.
On the field, Lopez featured in the best performance by an England women's team in international football. In 1982 England were losing finalists in the European championships, losing a penalty shoot-out against Sweden in the second leg at Kenilworth Road .