Women’s game owes debt of gratitude to unsung hero Rachel Pavlou

It is not hard to pinpoint the moment that inspired the Football Association’s development manager for diversity and inclusion in the women’s game, Rachel Pavlou, known affectionately in the game as Pav, to lead a life dedicated to women’s football: it was the day her playing career started and ended at the age of seven.

“I played in the playground with the boys, like most girls do at primary school, and the maths teacher came out and said: ‘I want you to come to the trials this afternoon. You’re brilliant, come and play,’” she says.

“I went to the trials and then my name was on the list of the players that were chosen by the end of the day. But before I even got home, my parents were sent to the headmaster’s office – that was the first and last time I ever went to a headmaster’s or headmistress’s office – to be told that over his dead body would I ever play in his boys’ team, that girls were not to play football and that I should go and play the girls’ sports.”

It was a “completely and utterly defining moment”. Pavlou played hockey and tennis competitively but “there was always something missing”.

Her first encounter with a women’s team was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, where she worked after graduating. “There was this women’s football team training and I was shocked, this was 1991,” she says. “I went to watch and they were brilliant.

“It happened to be Aston Villa, the team I support, and they invited me to come and play. I was like: ‘Oh my goodness, I can play football.’ I played for the reserves for a few years and I absolutely loved it. Then I got really badly injured and couldn’t come back from it. I just kept going over on my ankles.

“In the end, the physio said: ‘If you want to walk when you’re