Corsie
Perhaps more than any other, Rachel Corsie is a symbol of the journey women’s football in Scotland continues to be on. As a 150th appearance for SWNT approaches she should be celebrated.
On the 5th March 2009 Scotland suffered a 2-0 friendly loss to France. In many ways it was an unremarkable game. A contest of its time played in front of just a few spectators and thousands of miles from home.
For a 19-year-old Rachel Corsie though it would signify the start of an international career that would see the current Scotland captain become one of the foundation stones on which the Scottish women’s national team’s most successful period would be built upon.
“I don't really like the praise and the individual attention but probably for me, there's a sense of pride, being part of that legacy.”
“When I was selected back then, I literally travelled with all my stuff, and my luggage was mainly study books.”, shares the Granite City native as we chat in a media room that overlooks the training pitches at the Oriam; the upcoming SWNT double header against Serbia and Slovakia the catalyst for our conversation.
“The only people that were watching were people's parents. Where we are today was so far away. It wasn't even part of my thoughts because I’d have never have believed it would have happened during my time playing - so it’s quite surreal when you look back over that and see how it has grown.”
As the game has grown so has the 34-year-old and with preparations for what will hopefully be a successful progression to Euro 2025 re-commencing a personal milestone awaits as participation against both Serbia and Slovakia would see Corsie make a 150th appearance for the national side.
It’s a remarkable achievement and just as the case with Marta and Brazil. Cruyff and his spellbinding turn. Leah and Arsenal. The mononym Corsie has grown to become synonymous with the Scottish women’s national team.
In an international career that has spanned fifteen years, covered major championship finals, the odd heartache, squads in transition and off field challenges in trying to change the game Corsie has emerged as one of Scottish football’s most influential figures. Her time in the dark blue, pink, white, lilac, yellow and many other coloured shirts of Scotland all taking place during a time of unprecedented growth in the women’s game.
Of course no player begins their career at the top and before Scotland came calling Corsie, much like any other young girl in the late nineties, found pursing a career in football would not be straightforward, in fact during a 2019 interview with Just Women’s Sport she joked, “at twelve years old I wanted to be an accountant.” (She did that too, successfully becoming a qualified chartered accountant all while establishing herself in the football world).
Having gone through school trials where she learned that, as a girl, she would be unable to make the team, a path to the pitch was eventually found and the teenager started to make her mark at club level, a successful two season spell at hometown club Aberdeen earning a move to Glasgow City in 2008 where she would be part of a squad that would claim a domestic treble in her first season.
A year later international recognition would come as part of the 2009 Cyprus Cup squad, making her debut against France alongside fellow defensive SWNT centurions Ifeoma Dieke, Rhonda Jones and Jen Beattie. Beattie’s retirement from international football last February means that the current Action Villa captain is the only member of that side still representing her country today.
A first goal for Scotland would come against Northern Ireland during a 3-0 friendly victory in Belfast and she would feature in near-miss qualifying campaigns for Euro 2013 and the 2015 World Cup as she began to emerge as a key figure in the Scottish squad.
Her winning goal in a 1-0 victory away to the Republic of Ireland during the 2013 campaign would be vital as Scotland pipped the Irish and Wales to a play-off spot, although heartache would come in the two-legged tie against Spain; not only because a 122nd minute Vero Boquete goal would see Scotland miss out on qualification but also for Corsie personally, forced off with an injury to her ACL. She would later hobble out to see the late drama unfold.
Having made her way back to full fitness, the 2015 World Cup qualifying campaign that followed would once again end at the play-off stage, this time at the hands of the Netherlands with Corsie starting in both legs, and having scored twice during the 9-0 group phase win over Faroe Islands at Fir Park that secured a play-off spot.
By this point, having won it all at Glasgow City, she made the move south to full-time football at Notts County before a five year spell in the USA. First at Seattle Reign, sharing a NWSL Shield winning season with fellow north-east native Kim Little, before moving to newly created franchise Utah Royals ahead of the 2018 season.
An ever present during the Sandy-based side’s inaugural season in the league an off-season loan spell to Canberra United added an Australian stamp to her footballing passport.
It would be during her time on the other side of the Atlantic that Scotland would reach a first major championship finals. Corsie scored three times during the qualifying campaign for Euro 2017 including a double as part of a 4-1 win away to (North) Macedonia.
In the Netherlands she would start all three games, including an opening 6-0 loss to England and the 1-0 victory over Spain that so nearly secured a spot in the knockout stages. A 2-1 defeat to Portugal sandwiched in-between.
Goalkeeping captain Gemma Fay retired following that tournament and with Corsie having already dabbled in wearing the armband (a 2011 Cyprus Cup victory over England particularly notable) it would be the 28-year-old given the responsibility on a full-time basis.
Speaking at the time to the SFA website Corsie said, "I am really proud and incredibly humbled, I have huge boots to fill following the retirement of Gemma Fay, who demonstrated the passion and dedication that epitomises our Scottish culture.”
"The growth of this team over recent years has been enormous, and as current players, we have the responsibility and opportunity to continue that."
Focus would shift to qualification for the 2019 World Cup and she would receive her 100th cap as Scotland came from two goals down to claim a crucial 3-2 victory away to Poland with Corsie also captaining the side that defeated Albania 2-1 on the final group stage matchday, Scotland’s spot in France the following summer has been secured.
That World Cup campaign may not have gone Scotland’s way, the collapse against Argentina still stings for all involved both on the pitch and off it, but it was Corsie that would have the honour of being the first SWNT captain to participate in a World Cup coin toss against England in Nice. An indelible mark on Scottish football history made.
Being a captain though is not just about what you can achieve on the park and Corsie has become a prominent voice in pushing for change in the women’s game, even if there have been occasions where putting her head above the parapet has left her at risk of catching some strays.
A former vice-president of the NWSL Players Association she was a key protagonist as the league’s players reached a landmark Collective Bargaining Agreement. During Scotland’s Euro 2020 opener away to Hungary Corsie would wear a rainbow armband in response to a raft of anti-LGBT legislation brought in by the Hungarian government ahead of the qualifying tie in Budapest.
Following the reckoning relating to alleged cases of sexual abuse in the NWSL Corsie would lead Scotland in mirroring the actions of clubs and nations across the globe, forming a symbolic circle before a 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Hungary, a game in which the Scotland captain would score a 90th minute winner, producing perhaps her most enduring image in a Scotland jersey to date.
Most recently she would be the figurehead as SWNT players launched a legal claim against the Scottish Football Association, a claim that was withdrawn on the eve of the 2023 UEFA Nations League campaign and, as 17-year-old goalkeeper and SWNT youth international Ava Easdon unwittingly became the talk of the timeline, it was noticeable how quickly the Scotland captain was there to show her support.
Since that World Cup exit in 2019 on pitch success for Scotland has become hard to find as a squad and it’s coaching staff transitions around a captain who returned to the UK in January 2022, signing for Aston Villa after a difficult departure from Kansas City Current, the relocated name of the former Royals franchise.
The Euro 2021 campaign would end with three games to spare despite Scotland entering the qualifying phase as top seeds and the path to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand would be blocked off by the Republic of Ireland at Hampden.
A winless Nations League campaign contested at the elite level has seen some eyes start to look more sharply to the future and how much experienced heads have left to give but with possible qualification for Euro 2025 still on the horizon Corsie continues to be an important figure in a Scotland squad looking to empower a new generation both on the pitch and off it.
“I honestly feel in really good shape physically, maybe the best I've been”, says the Scotland captain who is clear in her desire to continue representing her country for as long as her body and the national team coach will let her.
“I've learned so much from the mid point to now in my career because now there are so many resources. I look at what is the next level and how can I keep pushing, I think that's how you have to be as an individual, then it’s up to Pedro and the staff on selection.”
“There's a lot of people who have helped me along the way enormously and it's challenging to still be good enough but there is still that motivation in me. Keep wanting to do more. Keep pushing. That’s part of who I am.”
Rachel Corsie may not have the same balletic ability with the ball at her feet as Caroline Weir, the shimmy of Kimmy that caused a nation to swoon or the goalscoring relentlessness of Julie Fleeting but she, perhaps more than any other player, is a symbol of the journey women’s football in Scotland continues to go on.
The challenges it has faced and still faces. The successes it has had, the scars of failure and its hopes for the future.
To paraphrase an expression that the Scotland captain frequently calls upon, Rachel Corsie has spent a career trying to leave the Scottish women’s national team in a better place than it was when she made her debut as a 19-year-old fifteen years ago.
Should the stars align over the coming days and Corsie takes to the pitch in a Scotland jersey for the 150th time I hope in that moment she is celebrated and given deserved recognition for a continued and enduring service to the Scottish women’s game.
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Scotland face Serbia this Friday. The game kicks off at 5pm UK time and is live on the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport Scotland website before Slovakia come to Hampden next Tuesday with that one kicking off at 7:35pm.
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