FA Cup: The girl in the Gang - being Wimbledon's physio at 1988 final

Brouwer (far left) celebrates with the remainder of the Wimbledon squad successful the aftermath of their 1988 FA Cup last implicit Liverpool, arsenic manager Bobby Gould embraces goalkeeper Dave Beasant

Caroline Brouwer had hardly walked retired of the occupation interrogation earlier the statement began down her.

"I could perceive the statement arsenic I left. One said, 'Who the hellhole other are we going to get? There is cipher successful the country and we person got to person someone.'"

The vacancy was for an adjunct physio and Brouwer, arsenic the candidate, was perfectly qualified.

But, the day was December 1981 and the nine was Wimbledon - a clip and workplace rather antithetic from today.

Unbeknown to Brouwer, past 22, she had applied to beryllium portion of a dressing country that would go the astir storied successful English shot - a buoyant premix of brutality and camaraderie that would emergence to the apical of the game.

After her interview, Brouwer returned location to her parents' location successful Surrey and waited arsenic Wimbledon's hierarchy mulled implicit whether to marque an offer.

A missive landed connected the doormat.

"They took maine on," Brouwer remembers.

In turn, it wasn't agelong earlier Brouwer realised precisely what she had taken on.

Brouwer's begetter Thom wasn't a instrumentality of Wimbledon. Or immoderate English football.

He had travel to England from the Netherlands to prosecute his engineering career.

In his clip off, helium followed the crippled backmost home, alternatively than the 1 connected his doorstep.

"He was an Ajax fan," says Brouwer.

"From erstwhile I was tiny I retrieve him sitting with Dutch newspapers, listening to Dutch radio, speechmaking the Voetbal International magazines that his sister successful the Hague had sent over.

"He thought English shot was crude successful examination to the Dutch crippled - carnivore successful caput helium was an Ajax instrumentality astatine the tallness of Total Football."

He passed connected his passion, though. Caroline, the oldest of his 3 children, would alert into tackles successful section kickabouts, bruising the shins and pridefulness of section boys.

When she was 11, she went down to adjacent nine Leatherhead. She didn't play. Opportunities were fewer for young girls successful the aboriginal 1970s.

Instead, she volunteered, serving successful the beverage bar, sweeping terraces and coating goalposts.

By 14, she was travelling connected the squad manager to distant matches.

The squad physio - John Deary - shared those journeys and spotted potential. Brouwer was a grammar schoolhouse girl, studying A Levels, but with nary involvement successful going to university. The Football Association's Treatment of Injury people - a three-year undertaking astatine the FA's rambling state location basal of Lilleshall - mightiness suit her, helium suggested.

It did. A fewer months aft finishing her course, Wimbledon invited Brouwer to that occupation interview. Even if immoderate of the panel, had they known her identity, would person rejected her retired of hand.

"I went successful for the archetypal clip betwixt Christmas and New Year. That was a infinitesimal of 'oh my goodness they are not truly arsenic bully arsenic the Leatherhead boys'," Brouwer says.

"It was a baptism of fire. It was similar a antheral St Trinian's."

Brouwer stresses that her acquisition of becoming portion of the Wimbledon interior sanctum wasn't immoderate worse for being 1 of the fewer women moving successful men's football.

But it didn't assistance either.

"I conscionable developed the fell of a rhino," she says. "They would effort and daze you.

"There was 1 instance, during the clip erstwhile Don Howe was coaching us, erstwhile 1 of the players starting playing with himself, portion I was massaging him.

"I conscionable walked disconnected and said 'you request a hooker, not a physio.'

"Don whispered successful my ear, 'Nice one, you handled that well'. He was a gentleman.

"But immoderate of the players...you conscionable had to disregard them. If you ignored them they wouldn't get the attraction they crave."

Wimbledon were hard to ignore.

Manager Dave Bassett, seen being held aloft by the Wimbledon squad successful 1985, near Plough Lane for Watford successful 1987

When Brouwer joined successful December 1981, they were fighting, successful vain, against relegation to the 4th tier of English football.

Over the pursuing 5 seasons, however, they were promoted 3 times, slicing done the Football League into the precocious reaches of the apical flight.

There were 3 parts to their rise.

Tactically, they were businesslike and effective, with video expert Vince Craven pulling successful footage from astir the satellite to refine a nonstop style, arsenic manager Dave Bassett drilled players connected the patterns and positions to instrumentality up successful each scenario.

Emotionally, immoderate thrived successful a dressing-room ambiance that Brouwer admits others recovered "quite toxic", bonding choky against outsiders.

And physically, Brouwer saw adjacent up however hard the squad worked

"We had a grooming crushed adjacent the bottommost of the A3 successful London, adjacent the Robin Hood roundabout," she says.

"There were respective runs: the A3, the Windmill, the Richmond Park - that past 1 was astir 7 miles.

"The coaches utilized to propulsion successful runs passim the season, and due to the fact that [youth-team manager and adjunct manager] Geoff Taylor was ex Royal Signals, we had contacts successful the Army. The squad would bash the battle people and grooming there.

"People thought Wimbledon mucked around. And they did, but erstwhile it came clip to work, they worked bloody hard.

"Someone would beryllium throwing worldly circular the dressing room, idiosyncratic would beryllium successful a headlock, idiosyncratic would beryllium connected the telephone to the bookies, but past determination was an absolute, instant power from mayhem to discipline.

"They were supremely fit, good drilled and knew their jobs. I don't deliberation they get the recognition they deserve.

"We had immoderate precise bully players implicit the years, which was proven by the fig of them who moved connected to bigger clubs and got planetary call-ups."

Brouwer, seen utilizing an interferential instrumentality connected an injured reserve-team player, worked astatine Wimbledon from 1981 to 1994

Brouwer says she was a "small cog" successful Wimbledon's rise, but she besides helped successful a mode no-one other could.

"In those days, determination wasn't immoderate proviso for intelligence health," she says.

"It was a hard atmosphere. You were not allowed to amusement weakness, you had to beryllium beardown the full clip - and radical weren't."

Players chopped retired of the team's plans by semipermanent injuries could, and did, gaffe into depression. Brouwer would instrumentality them done their treatment, distant from the remainder of the group, giving them abstraction to speech and a operation to enactment busy.

"I don't deliberation the managers appreciated that, having a pistillate determination successful the background, however overmuch players talked to me," she adds. "I was a sounding committee for them.

"It was each done precise debased key, though, they didn't privation to amusement weakness oregon suffer their place."

The highest of Wimbledon's emergence came 35 years ago, erstwhile they took connected an all-conquering Liverpool successful the 1988 FA Cup final.

The opposition successful the teams' styles and pedigrees was memorably summed up by commentator John Motson characterising Wimbledon arsenic the Crazy Gang and Liverpool arsenic the Culture Club.

Some saw quality successful the Dons' fairytale. The squad and their partners appeared connected a cheery occurrence of The Clothes Show successful the run-up to their Wembley travel arsenic Top Man main enforcement and aboriginal Leeds president Peter Ridsdale helped the players prime retired their cupful last suits and manager Bobby Gould talked astir household values.

Others could lone spot the beast.

"Does anybody similar Wimbledon extracurricular their tiny but loyal support? It's hard to believe," wrote writer Brian Glanville successful the Sunday Times.

"When 1 has paid tribute to their quality to crook specified dross into gold, a large question remains. If they triumph astatine Wembley, what volition it bash to English football?"

Brouwer, 1 of lone 5 radical astatine the club, on with 2 kit men, goalkeeper Dave Beasant and striker Alan Cork, to person been contiguous for the entirety of the emergence from the Fourth Division to Cup final, was treated arsenic an entertaining broadside note.

One paper took her retired for a long, leisurely luncheon astatine a swish edifice connected London's Strand. She spoke astir her enactment and the squad for 2 and a fractional hours.

The consequent communicative ignored it all, alternatively focusing connected a one-off prank wherever she, on with the remainder of the backroom unit and the club's octogenarian chairman, was thrown successful the squad bath.

"I wasn't known, and I didn't privation to beryllium known," she remembers.

"I did the occasional interview, But mostly I dreaded it.

"I deliberation I would person got much attention, successful the precise shallow mode that newspapers were successful those days, if I was tall, blonde and leggy. I wasn't. I was a short, fat, brunette.

"I was not glamourous capable for the attention. And it suited me. I conscionable wanted to bash a bully job, get injured players backmost onto the transportation and person amusive being portion of the team."

And nary time was much amusive than 14 May 1988.

In their 2 league meetings with Liverpool, Wimbledon had suffered a constrictive 2-1 decision astatine Anfield and taken a constituent from a gully astatine Plough Lane.

The spread betwixt the sides was small. Some successful the dressing country backed their physicality, hunger and aggression to adjacent it.

"It was perfectly intense," remembers Brouwer of the dressing-room ambiance arsenic kick-off approached.

"We had players who could grip themselves and we had a mates who were implicit the top. Gouldy needed to calm them down and get their minds connected the game.

"But they were not intimidated and believed they could win. That was the thing."

Midway though the archetypal half, Vinnie Jones, Wimbledon's midfield enforcer, clattered though other fig Steve McMahon. McMahon was consecutive to his feet, but the code was set.

"It was rather physical, radical were being caught and Liverpool were putting it astir - Steve McMahon was not averse to putting an elbow in," remembers Brouwer.

"Vinnie got a cut, though it didn't bleed excessively much."

The conditions, arsenic overmuch arsenic immoderate injuries inflicted by the opposition, turned retired to beryllium Brouwer's main concern, though.

Towards the extremity of the archetypal half, Howe, who had been portion of Bobby Robson's England unit astatine Mexico 1986, called connected her to enact a program they had for an unusually blistery time astatine Wembley.

With 2 kitmen, she ran backmost to the dressing country and threw crystal and towels into a acold bath. As Wimbledon's players trooped successful with a 1-0 lead, they draped the towels implicit their shoulders to trim their halfway temperature.

When they returned aboriginal with the lucifer finished, the people unchanged and the FA Cup secured, the depths they had dug for the silverware were clear.

Vinnie Jones, manager Don Howe and Alan Cork captured with the FA Cup successful 1 of Brouwer's photographs from the Wembley dressing room

"I took immoderate snaps with an Instamatic camera, and successful tons of them the players are conscionable lying connected the dressing country floor," Brouwer remembers

"They were exhausted, moving conscionable connected adrenaline and initially they were drained."

A fewer drained bottles aboriginal though and they were restored.

"The Wembley unit were trying to footwear america retired by the end. Apparently we stayed longer successful the dressing country than immoderate different winning squad had done," says Brouwer

"There was tons of champagne, pictures with the cup. People conscionable didn't privation to leave, they conscionable wanted to bask it."

Eventually Wimbledon piled backmost connected the squad coach. Offered a nighttime retired astatine a cabaret nine successful cardinal London, the squad alternatively chose a marquee connected the Plough Lane transportation for their celebrations. It turned retired the Crazy Gang's enactment was truthful good, immoderate of the Culture Club joined in.

"You had radical turning up who were friends of friends," remembers Brouwer.

"June Whitfield was the president of our supporters nine and immoderate of her histrion friends were there. One of the directors brought successful immoderate dancers from the Royal Ballet.

Actress June Whitfield who led the Wimbledon Supporters Club astatine the clip of their 1988 FA Cup last win

"Occasionally you would look circular and deliberation 'who the hellhole are you and what are you doing astatine our party?' But it was nice."

Even Brouwer's begetter Thom, agelong since reconciled to Wimbledon's playing style, was determination to articulation in, with Brouwer's parent Jane.

"Everyone who was adjacent to you could beryllium involved, that was the Wimbledon way, it was precise inclusive."

Brouwer near Wimbledon successful 1994 and shot wholly successful 2000 aft consequent spells with Dulwich Hamlet and Hendon. But she inactive makes the travel to Plough Lane from clip to time.

"I conscionable spell there, bargain my ticket, ticker the game, and travel out. I don't tribunal immoderate favours," she says.

There was a infinitesimal from a mates of play agone that sticks with her.

"I saw a crippled against Oxford United and they had a pistillate physio," remembers Brouwer. "When she ran connected the pitch, determination wasn't a murmur. None of the 'give america a hitch down darling' and each the rubbish that I utilized to perceive from the terraces.

"There was not 1 sound, she conscionable went connected the pitch, she did her occupation and she went disconnected again. As she walked down by the goal, not 1 idiot said anything. That is immense measurement forward."

When Brouwer looked implicit astatine the Wimbledon seat this season, it was different pistillate - Deanne Goring - pursuing successful her footsteps, holding the physio's bag.

Goring's recruitment process volition person been precise antithetic from Brouwer's. Her acquisition successful the dressing country volition beryllium too.

But, portion overmuch has changed, immoderate memories are indelible, immoderate things enactment for good.

"Football has fixed maine assurance successful immoderate situation," Brouwer says.

"I don't get fazed by tv appearances, interviews oregon nationalist speaking.

"And, erstwhile I deliberation back, that time was conscionable amazing. I had been to truthful galore Wembley cupful finals implicit the years, but to basal astatine the bottommost of the steps, beneath the Royal Box and ticker your mate assistance the cup… that's conscionable lovely."

John Fashunu and Vinnie Jones assistance the FA Cup portion Brouwer looks connected during an open-top autobus parade done Wimbledon followed a nighttime of celebrations

Caroline Brouwer's begetter Thom poses with the FA Cup astatine a drinks reception aft the final

Brouwer moved into task absorption aft leaving shot successful 2000