Tara Proctor (born 31 January 1971) is a former English footballer, and former

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

international

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

. An inspirational central midfielder, Proctor featured for Croydon/Charlton Athletic on the club level.

Club career

Proctor represented England at

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

as a youngster, but decided to play football after a break from sport as a teenager. With

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extens ...

, Proctor won the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

three times and the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship re ...

twice, before Croydon came under the auspices of Charlton Athletic in 2000. She quit Charlton for Brighton in December 2001, in the aftermath of a huge squad bust-up. However, Charlton invoked a ruling which left a "distraught" Proctor unable to play for Brighton until the following season. The move to struggling Brighton – Proctor was the England captain at the time – was reported as evidence of the enduring amateurism in English women's football. Proctor clarified that her decision was related to her career outside football, having secured a job in the

leisure industry The leisure industry is the segment of business focused on recreation, entertainment, sports, and tourism (REST)-related products and services. The field has developed to the point of having university degrees and disciplines focused on it, such ...

which required weekend working. She returned to action for Brighton in 2002–03, but The Seagulls were relegated after winning just one game all season.

International career

Although not selected for the

FIFA Women's World Cup 1995 The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament featured 12 women's national teams from si ...

, Proctor played for

in the

1997 UEFA Women's Championship qualification The qualification for the UEFA Women's Euro 1997 was held between September 17, 1995 & September 29, 1996. The first-placed of the group stage qualified directly. The second-placed and the third-placed teams played in two playoff matches for four o ...

campaign. In September 1996, Proctor started both legs of England's play-off defeat to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Proctor was selected for the

2001 UEFA Women's Championship The 2001 UEFA Women's Championship was the eighth UEFA Women's Championship, a competition for the women's national football teams and member associations of UEFA. It took place in Germany between 23 June and 7 July 2001. It was won by Germany wi ...

. She was named captain for England's final group game against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, when regular skipper

Mo Marley Maureen "Mo" Marley MBE (née Mallon; born 31 January 1967) is an English football manager and former player. She most recently managed the England women's national under-21 football team. As a player, Marley was a centre back, who captained ...

was dropped following the 4–0 defeat to Sweden. After the retirement of several senior players, Proctor retained the captaincy for England's

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification process decided the 15 teams which played at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, with the host China initially qualified automatically as the host nation. The qualification process for the 2003 FIFA Wom ...

campaign. Manager and former Croydon teammate

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Brit ...

valued Proctor's experience, stating "She is a good motivator and she has a very good relationship with the youngsters." Proctor had missed a friendly against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

in August 2001 as she was on holiday on a

Greek Island Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...

. In the run-up to England's first qualifier in Germany, Proctor had slept in a t-shirt commemorating the England male team's famous 5–1 win in Munich in a bid to bring luck. Despite a strong individual performance, Proctor's England were beaten 3–1 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

. She started qualifiers against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, before dropping out of the side due to a recurring knee injury. For the return fixture with Portugal, an 18-year-old

Fara Williams Fara Tanya Franki Merrett MBE (born 25 January 1984) is an English former footballer who played as a central midfielder for multiple clubs, as well as the English national team. A consistent goalscorer and set-piece specialist, Williams was ...

replaced Proctor in the line-up and scored a free-kick on her first international start. It was also reported that Proctor's protracted transfer from Charlton Athletic to Brighton had placed her international future in doubt. In July 2002 Proctor was recalled for a friendly with

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya 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 G ...

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

, winning her 20th cap. She subsequently withdrew from the squad from the qualification play-off games against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

due to the death of her mother. Proctor was allotted 110 when the FA announced their legacy numbers scheme to honour the 50th anniversary of England's inaugural international.

References

External links

Tara Proctor
at FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Tara 1971 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players FA Women's National League players Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Women's association football midfielders