Brian John Law (born 1 January 1970) is a Welsh former professional

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 ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

international.

Club career

Law began his career with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

making his debut against Sheffield Wednesday at

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

in the final game of the 1987 season, making a total of 20 appearances for the side before being forced into retirement in 1991 due to a tendon injury. Law spent three years outside of football on a backpacking trip around the world, before returning in 1994 after discovering his injury was able to withstand the rigours of professional football. He joined

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, who were required to pay £34,000 to Law's insurance company for the compensation he had received on retirement and £100,000 to his former club, Queens Park Rangers. During his time with the Wolves, Law was arrested after driving a bus while drunk, later receiving a fine and

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. After initially beginning to establish himself in the first team, Law was forced to undergo ankle reconstruction surgery and never managed to regain his place in the side, eventually moving to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

in 1997. He made 47 appearances as club captain in all competitions during his first season at The New Den and remained a regular in the first team at the start of the following season before a knee injury forced him out of the side after less than one month of the 1998–99 season. He was later released by Millwall in 2000, never playing professional football again.

International career

Law played for Wales U15 schoolboys, represented and captained the youth team at U16, U18, and U21s, as well as the B team against England at Tranmere (5/12/90). Despite having only played a handful of games for Queens Park Rangers, Law was called up to the

senior squad in September 1988 (Holland) when, Rangers coach and Wales assistant manager, Peter Shreeves recommended him to Wales manager

Terry Yorath Terence Charles Yorath (born 27 March 1950) is a Welsh former football player and manager at both club and international level. He represented Leeds United, Coventry City, Tottenham Hotspur, Vancouver Whitecaps, Bradford City, Swansea C ...

after an injury crisis had resulted in a large number of withdrawals from the squad. He was an unused substitute against Holland, Italy, and Malta; however, he was handed his debut on 25 April 1990 in a 4-2 defeat 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 ...

. Law was recalled to the squad, after his 2-year retirement from the game, for the 3-1 defeat away to Bulgaria (29/3/95).

After football

Following his retirement, Law earned a degree in sports science after undertaking a three-year course at

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The University traces its r ...

. He later set up his own charities named Fit for Life and Sozo in 2003, designed to give teenagers in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

access to sports such as football, hockey and

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

as well as set up musical workshops, resulting in Urban Chart success, reaching Number 7 with 'Detention' Artist : C4 ft Romo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Brian 1970 births Living people Footballers from Merthyr Tydfil Welsh Christians Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Millwall F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football defenders