Ann-Marie "Annie" Heatherson (born 27 March 1984) 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 lea ...

who most recently played as a forward and

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

for Yeovil Town of the FA Women's National League. She began her career with Charlton Athletic and played for rival

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

clubs

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

, Millwall Lionesses and Chelsea Ladies after Charlton folded their women's team in 2007. Heatherson also enjoyed short spells in Iceland and the United States before joining Bristol Academy ahead of the inaugural 2011 FA WSL season, where she was also employed by the club as an ambassador. Heatherson represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

up to Under-21 level and was named in senior squads but never capped. She was named the FA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2004.

Club career

Heatherson progressed through the Charlton Athletic centre of excellence and was the reserves' top-scorer in 2001–02. On her full league debut in November 2003 she scored a hat-trick against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, and finished the season with 12 goals from 12 starts. She was named FA Young Player of the Year in 2003–04 and won the League Cup. She played as Charlton lost the 2004 FA Women's Cup final 3–0 to rivals

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 ...

, for whom Julie Fleeting scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

. The next season she got a measure of revenge by scoring in Charlton's 1–0 FA Women's Community Shield win over Arsenal, then helping the club beat Everton 1–0 to win the 2005 FA Women's Cup. After suffering with injuries, Heatherson appeared as an 85th-minute substitute as Charlton lost the 2007 FA Women's Cup final to quadruple-winning Arsenal. When Charlton Athletic withdrew their women's club's funding that summer, Heatherson joined the player exodus and turned out for the

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic club

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

. She then joined Southern Division WFC Fulham ahead of 2007–08, scoring 16 goals in four pre-season friendlies. Heatherson finished as the Southern Division top-scorer but broke her shin towards the end of the season. After Fulham's promotion, Heatherson rejected the chance to play with them in the top flight. She preferred to stay in the Southern Division with Millwall Lionesses, who were managed by her former Charlton Athletic manager, Keith Boanas. Heatherson's 20 goals in 20 games helped Millwall to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

in 2008–09. Towards the end of the following season she signed for Chelsea, who had lost Lianne Sanderson to

Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 ...

in the United States. Heatherson spent the 2010 summer season playing professionally with American W-League club Buffalo Flash. She scored seven goals in nine matches as the Flash stayed unbeaten and won the league. Ann-Marie Heatherson 2

In October 2010

Mark Sampson Mark Geraint Sampson (born 18 October 1982) is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Born in Creigiau, Wales, Sampson played amateur football for Cardiff Corinthians F.C., Cardiff Corinthi ...

signed Heatherson for Bristol Academy ahead of their inaugural

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

campaign. She started both the 2011 and 2013 FA Women's Cup finals as Bristol lost 2–0 and 3–0, respectively, to Arsenal. The league restructure caused by the FA WSL's foundation meant Bristol qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League as FA Women's Cup runners-up. Heatherson overcame her

fear of flying Fear of flying is the fear of being on an aircraft, such as an airplane or helicopter, while it is in flight. It is also referred to as flying anxiety, flying phobia, flight phobia, aviophobia, aerophobia, or pteromerhanophobia (although aero ...

to score in the away leg of the tie with Russians Energy Voronezh, but Bristol succumbed 5–3 on aggregate. In the 2013 FA WSL, Heatherson scored as Bristol recovered from 3–0 down at half-time to beat Doncaster Belles 4–3 and force a title decider against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on the final day of the season. Heatherson played as Bristol were beaten 2–0 at Liverpool, but they consoled themselves with another

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

qualification. Heatherson was released by Bristol Academy in June 2014, after falling out of favour. She retired from football, but was persuaded into a comeback with FA WSL 2 club Yeovil Town in December 2014.

International career

Heatherson was called into the

U21 squad, the first to be organised by

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

, in June 2004. She had earlier been called up to the full

squad for a game against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 19 February 2004. National coach Hope Powell likened Heatherson to

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

. She was an unused substitute in the 2–0 win at

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

. Heatherson was also drafted into the squad for the next game against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in November 2004, when Jo Potter withdrew with a back injury.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heatherson, Ann-Marie English women's footballers Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Fulham F.C. Women players Millwall Lionesses L.F.C. players Bristol Academy W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players Yeovil Town L.F.C. players FA Women's National League players 1984 births Living people Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland Women's Super League players Footballers from the London Borough of Hackney England women's under-23 international footballers Ann-Marie Heatherson Ann-Marie Heatherson Women's association football forwards USL W-League (1995–2015) players People from Hackney, London 21st-century English sportswomen