From backpacker to Mariner marvel: Husband’s rise to GF
Anna Harrington |
Emily Husband’s life in Australia started much like any other Brit in their mid-20s: landing at Sydney Airport after backpacking through Southeast Asia.
But nine years on, the Huddersfield local is still here and leading the Central Coast Mariners to their first A-League Women grand final.
A defender who played at a high level in England before heading to college soccer, Husband made an early switch from playing to coaching.
Then, chasing a change of scenery, she went travelling with plans to finish in Sydney.
“I was a backpacker,” Husband told AAP.
“I’d been in the US for eight years. I finished at university. I did four years as a head coach in a full-time capacity in America.
“I got fed up being there, to be honest.
“I went backpacking around Southeast Asia, and the end destination was Australia.
“I got here April 1, 2016, met John Curran literally right off the plane and the rest is history.”
Curran is director of coaching at Sydney University SFC.
Husband coached every age group from under-10s upwards there while fulfilling her working holiday visa duties on a farm in Rankin Springs.
Curran later appointed her as first-grade team coach in 2020, and she thrived, while she was briefly assistant at Canberra United before the Mariners came calling.
Last season, Husband was named coach of the year in her debut campaign and led the Mariners to a semi-final.
Last week, Central Coast upset premiers Melbourne City to reach the decider against Melbourne Victory, whose coach Jeff Hopkins is chasing a record fifth ALW championship.
Husband is the first female head coach in the ALW grand final since 2017, and one of just two current female mentors in the league.
She hopes her rise shows what can happen if capable women receive the opportunities they deserve, and have people in their corner.
“It’s a sink or swim situation and you don’t truly find out what someone’s made of until they’re put in those situations,” Husband said.
“I can certainly vouch for myself and say that I was the same. So it’s just about people trusting female coaches, because there’s so many positives about having a female coach in charge of a team.
“The females that continuously do well and spend the time on the pitch, they’re more than worthy of a shot. You just don’t know where your next gem is going to be found.
“If I go back to the moment when John Curran asked me to be the first-grade head coach at Sydney University, if it’d been up to me, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Husband believes emotional intelligence and adaptability is crucial in modern coaching.
Star midfielder and Matildas call-up Isabel Gomez credits the “super-approachable” Husband with her rapid improvement.
Defender Jessika Nash describes Husband as “the whole package” while crosscode athlete Sarah Rowe relishes her attention to detail.
“There’s just something really special about her,” Rowe told AAP.
“She is an extremely empathetic, understanding, very relatable person and doesn’t take life too seriously and is very cool, calm and collected.
“Then on the other hand, she’s this really competitive person who expects really high standards of us and we all have so much respect for her.
“She’s one of those people that you never want to let down and you always want to do your best for her.”
And Husband hopes that can deliver a maiden triumph at AAMI Park on Sunday.
“We’re not just here because somebody put us here,” Husband said.
“We’re here because we earned it, we worked hard for it, and we can beat any team on our day.”
AAP
