Sue Brand

Sue Brand... soccer family (father Joe Brand, daughter Jamie Vriens, sister Anita Saiko, nephew Shaun Saiko)... her mother Rina was born in Wassenaar, NED while her father Joe was born in Oldenzaal, NED... her father Joe played for the Edmonton Canadians in the Western Canada League when Sue was born in 1966... her family moved from Edmonton to Nelson and then Vernon; she was 12 years old when her family moved from Vernon back to Edmonton... she grew up participating in soccer and gymnastics... she was 10 years old when she started playing soccer at Vernon YSA...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021... honoured by the Edmonton & District Soccer Association Wall of Fame... honoured in 2010 as part of Alberta Soccer’s Centennial Recognition of the Top Female Players...

won a Concacaf silver medal with Canada (1991)… represented Canada at the World Invitational Women’s Tournament (Chinese Cup 1987) and International Women’s Football Tournament (China 1988)... career 20 international “A” appearances across five years from 1987 to 1991 with Canada Soccer's Women's National Team…

club career in Canada... with Edmonton Angels SC, a five-time Canada Soccer National Championships winner (Jubilee Trophy in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988)... a seven-time Alberta Cup provincial championship winner (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1990)...

her sister Anita was an original member of Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team in 1986... both Sue and sister Anita won multiple Alberta Cups and National Championships with Edmonton Victoria SC...

wrote Cathy Ross in 2020, “Sue was a quiet force with which to be reckoned on the back line”...

said coach Stuart Brown of Brand’s throw in, “a referee actually came to me and said ‘your player can’t do it,’ so I said ‘why not, it’s a legal throw’, he said ‘no, but she can’t do it’, so I said well, ‘the Laws of the Game says that she can because as long as her feet land on the ground and the ball is delivered from behind her head, it’s a legal throw.’ So he said, ‘you’re bringing the game into disrepute’ and ‘I said I don’t think, we’re playing within the Laws of the Game and I’ve watched a men’s professional player doing the very same thing”...

said Brand in 2021 of her throw-in flips, “when they had someone looking for the short throw, we would have somebody far waiting for my long throw in. There were times when I could drive it a little more, but with that much force from the flip it would be harder to control. I think we just caught people off guard by having it thrown farther away”... said Brand in 2021 of the Edmonton Angels success, “as a group, we all brought something to the team. The defenders, we had confidence in each other and we knew what each other could do, so you really didn’t second guess anything. With our goalkeeper Sue Simon in the back, you just knew that she was going to be there if the opponent got by one person, then she would be there”...

said Brand in 2021 of her sister Anita, “she brought me onto the Edmonton Angels and she was such an amazing player. I really look up to her and she was a great inspiration”... said Brand in 2021 of playing in the 1988 International Women’s Football Tournament, “standing at the centre field, wearing the Canadian jersey and listening to the national anthem, it was such an amazing field. The one match in China, there was 45,000 fans in the stands and I think I’ve seen a picture where I have the biggest grin while everyone else was so serious. It was just so surreal that I was standing in front of all those people.”