Brenda Sempare (born 9 November 1961) is an English former international women's

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 ...

. She played in all four games of

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 ...

's 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup appearance.

Club career

Sempare helped Friends of Fulham win the 1985 FA Women's Cup. In November 2001 Hope Powell wrote in

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

that Sempare's performance in 1985's 2–0 final win over Doncaster Belles at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

was "the best all-round performance I have ever seen." Sempare played in two more WFA Cup finals with Friends of Fulham but they were defeated by Leasowe Pacific in the 1989 final held at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

and by Doncaster Belles in the 1990 final at the Baseball Ground. In April 1996, Sempare was one of Croydon Ladies' penalty scorers as Croydon beat Liverpool Ladies on penalties in the FA Women's Cup final at The New Den. The following month goals from Sempare and Kerry Davis earned a 2–1 league win over

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as just Arsenal, is an English professional women's association football, women's football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, London, England. The club plays in the FA Women' ...

, which sealed a domestic

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

for Croydon. Sempare retired at the end of that 1995–96 season, but returned to action during 1996–97. On 23 September 2010, she was inducted into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

International career

Sempare scored a goal in the final as England beat

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in the final of the 1985 Mundialito. While working as a postwoman Sempare helped England reach the semi-final of the

1987 European Competition for Women's Football The 1987 European Competition for Women's Football took place in Norway. It was won by the hosts in a final against defending champions Sweden. Once again, the competition began with four qualifying groups, but this time a host nation was selected ...

, where they lost 3–2 to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

after extra time. She had also featured in the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

tournament, where England reached the final. Sempare also played for

at the 1995 World Cup. She was allotted 62 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England’s inaugural international.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sempare, Brenda 1961 births Living people English women's footballers Fulham F.C. Women players Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players England women's international footballers English Football Hall of Fame inductees FA Women's National League players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football midfielders 20th-century English sportswomen