The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness - Rach In The US: Gambling On New York, Summers In L.A. & Playing For Peanuts

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

What convinced Rach to take the huge step of moving to New York alone to pursue her dreams when she was just 20yrs old? Who did she meet in L.A. that helped transform her career and became a friend for life? What was the shocking annual pay for a rookie in the NWSL when Rach joined Houston Dash in 2016? On today’s episode we’re taking a deep dive into the 10 years that Rach spent out in America to hear how it shaped her as a player and a person, and how she came through the tough times where she was constantly questioning her decision to move away from home. Part two of this special episode is out on Thursday. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we get into today's episode of Daily Brightness, we just want to say a huge thank you to our proud partners, Shaw, for being with us from the very beginning and what a start it's been. I think the reaction to our podcast so far has been nothing but positive from our family, from our friends, from our teammates, from our fans. It's been really nice to see all the positive reviews and feedback, so keep that all coming. Yeah, I also think that we've probably learned a lot about ourselves and me and rachel always talk about this podcast you know it's more than just us chatting it's actually like a little therapy session and i've actually learned a lot about

myself and i feel like it's given me the confidence to open up a little bit more and show that more vulnerable side so yeah it's been really really refreshing and we also get to appreciate all the things that we've achieved Rach everything you're achieving with Villa you know the form at the end of the season me getting my 200th in the WSL and talking about all our accomplishments the hard times yeah it's becoming a really nice platform actually and I'm really enjoying where it's going but thank you to everyone for the amazing support so thanks again to Shaw for showing up for women's football and backing the pod from day one and thank you all for tuning in hey everyone welcome to the rest is football daily brightness Rach, how are you? Good, good, good. I'm fine, thank you.

I have had a busy week with golf. I did see the golf. How are you getting on? Do you know what? I went for my first 18 the other day and... God, straight in with the big boys, yeah? The course was 62 and I got round in 87, so I don't think that's bad. 29 over on my first time with no lessons. Round of applause yeah I need lessons because I'm just not very comfortable with the driver but my iron game is pretty strong when I get on the green I literally want to throw the bloody putter in the bushes

have you had any angry golfers yet um I think somebody might have shouted come come on, on the course. But I don't know. I thought that's what they said because we, basically I went, I didn't go like obviously on a championship course. I went on like a nine-holer just round to act. And there was a championship course there and I think their green was right

by where we were teeing off. But not my fault. The people in front of us were worse than me, taking ages. I've got to wait. Did you respond because I've just... I just did a picture of you,

I had turned around like the, remember the taxi journey when he was on your foot? I just had that in my head going, it's not my fault. Well,

it wasn't my fault, the people in front of us were, crap, taking ages. No, I don't know if they actually did

shot that, but I just quickly hurried my shot and got on with it. But how are you? How the surgery? How did it go? How are you recovering? Surgery went well, got in pretty quick, to be fair, which I think obviously the nature of my knee and, you know, it's one of those things that's never going to go away. And you know what it's like when you're trying to play with that constantly.

So I was actually one really happy that I was available the whole season. And then I think my knee did really well to hold up till the very last game. And yeah, obviously a little blip in the road, but surgery wasn't everything okay. I just dropped my phone. I'm just going to forewarn everyone because basically I've got to have my phone right here on vibrate because I've not had an electricity bill for six months and the electricity company on the way Rach has not paid a lecky bill so she's got to put 50p in me yeah no she's good oh god yeah listen surgery went well it was definitely needed which

was reassuring um it's always hard making a decision on kind of what's best when it comes to injuries so obviously everyone wants to avoid surgery but yeah having come out surgeon yeah was really happy with everything in terms of how it went and now it's just ice ice ice ice is life and yeah I'm looking forward to spending the summer feeling better though and um getting my knee back to a place where I'm ready to compete again for the new season. Obviously, gutting to miss out on the summer. It's obviously a big one, but yeah, knee's going well.

Just stuck on the bloody crutches at the minute and I'm impatient and I want everything now and fixed now. I want it all yesterday. But yeah, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling better. I've had it it was a success now it's time to um yeah just move really slowly and get back on the pitch but yeah probably take a little bit of time yeah not an easy decision but one that obviously you've needed

to take and road to recovery starts now let's go bestie i know and just a heads up for the viewers claire will be popping in, my amazing neighbor, because she's been walking the dogs every day for me as I'm on strict rules not to do a lot of walking and obviously on the crutches as well. Imagine me with three dogs. That'd be a good video. If you do hear the dogs going off,

it's because their walker is on her way. But anyway, a little surprise for you all. Today's episode is all about Rach. We are going to dive into a time in America. We get asked a hell of a lot by you guys. So we thought we'd take a trip down memory lane and let Rach talk us all through America, how it started. And yeah, give us the goss girl. So basically, how did it all start? Yeah, so I was playing for Lincoln at the time and I felt almost like my career had come to a bit of a standstill. I think it was the time where women's football was probably starting to kick on and take off so it was a scary time to think about leaving but also it was a time where I was told I wouldn't play for England in the seniors. So I was 18, 19 when I was making the decision.

I was not involved in the England set-up after the under-17s. I did not know that. So it was a really hard time for me to sort of, yeah, told I wasn't going to play. I probably wouldn't get into the senior squad. So it was a decision where, do I stay where I am? You know, it was almost, I would say, a bit frowned upon to leave and go to America because you're not under the spotlight

all the time, people can't see you regularly. And obviously at that point, my whole dream was to play for England. So it was quite scary to get up and leave and make that decision. But I just, something came over me and I thought, you know what? I need a change. I need something to change in my career. I need to take sort of a different route. Who did you speak to about that?

Did you feel like you made that decision solely like on your own or did you? Yeah, do you know what? Like I actually very clearly remember my mum and dad being like, obviously we'll support you, but don't think it's the right decision. Like you need to be in England playing to play for England. Like they knew my dreams. Yeah.

So they were like, obviously, if that's what you want to do, we'll support you. But equally, I don't think it's probably the right thing to do. And you know what I'm like, I think the more people tell me not to do something, like naturally I want to do it more. Yeah. And this opportunity came about to go to New York and go to university,

which again was such a strange concept for me because I hated school. Like I never, I was never very academic. I never wanted to concentrate in school. I just wanted to play football. So obviously the college system in America, it's a little bit different to going to uni here and playing football. It just doesn't work to do it really side by side

at the top level. So again, that was tough because it was like, I'm going from playing at the highest level in England to not professional and going back. It almost felt like I was going backwards. Yeah. How old were you? It was sold to me in a way, 18, 19, I think.

So it was sold to me in a way that, you know, getting a degree, I was living in New York City and I thought, you know what, like I'm doing it, I'm going for it. So I went out for a visit, had a look round, obviously got off the subway, looked up at the big city lights at Times Square and was like, yeah, count me in. Not rage-prone impulsive. Exactly.

But it was a really, really difficult thing to do because I don't know if you even know this, but because I'd been out of school for a certain amount of time, so I think we finished school at 16. Yeah. I think you can have two years out to go to uni there. And any longer than that, you have to sit out for your first year. What?

So I was going there to study for my first year and not even get to play football. So for the first year I was there, I didn't play football. And obviously, like, I was a freshman, which is a first year. And I was 19. And most of the girls going into freshman are like a lot younger. So like my class were a lot younger than me. So that was a really difficult transition moving away and then not even being able to go do the thing that I went to do.

Was that playing on your mind? Like, oh shit, is this the right decision? Should I still do it? Should I not? Or were you still like... Yeah, for sure. I literally... Because like, obviously I knew one of the girls there yeah for sure I literally because like obviously I knew

one of the girls there she was English but everyone else I didn't know and I was away from home I was finding somewhere to live I wasn't able to travel to any of the away games I wasn't obviously I was there for the home games but not in the squads or anything and I was just studying so it's literally all the things I didn't want to do yeah Yeah. And I remember, because I went as a left back. Obviously at Lincoln I was playing left back. So I went as a left back and I was training in every position that you could have imagined. So it was just like a fill-in trying to help the numbers

because obviously I wasn't playing. I went in goal at one point in training. So in a weird way, I found that actually that first year allowed me to settle into New York. Like I've gone from small town Harrogate to New York City. I was able to like explore the city. I was able to find somewhere to live, get used to studying again.

So as hard as it was to not play, I think in the grand scheme of things, it actually helped me. It helped me watch level and see what it was going to be like. And then with that, my coach literally was like, in your next year, I think we want to play you up front

because I was just banging goals in training. and I was like perfect used to be a striker when I was younger so I remember thinking to myself like this level's not very good like it was so much better at home I thought what have I done every day I was questioning like what am I doing like why have I made this decision and then I played in my first year and I had such a good year like broke all the records in my first year, made All-American. Like, I was flying. I was doing well in school. My studies were good.

God knows how, thanks to some of my teammates helping me along the way. But, yeah, it was a really good experience, probably some of the best years of my life. I've made some friends for life from there. And, yeah, it was a really difficult decision, but I genuinely think probably the best decision I've ever made in terms of my career and just life in general. Like I was living in New York City for four years.

That's so sick though as well. Yeah. What would you say the hardest part of like the first, obviously before we move on to the next part, your first year, one favorite memory from that and probably the hardest thing that you had to overcome yeah I would say the thing that was hardest was being away from home and not being able to do the thing that I loved the most yeah I think that was really difficult and obviously I'm going out there with nobody so

I'm making trying to make friends and all my friends that I had from the team were away all the time traveling and I just couldn't be a part of that so that was that was the most challenging for sure along with getting into learning how to study again my favorite memory of my first year from not playing would have been or a funny story I know I know there's some funny stories from America yeah I definitely have some funny stories so here's one so they do this thing called SantaCon in America. Well, in New York they do anyway. So every, like, Christmas, the New York City is, like, shut down because full of people dressed up as Santa or elves.

And you just go and just get absolutely hammered. I would love that. So obviously, like, honestly, it was so funny. Sorry, I wasn't 19 when I was 20 because I remember just when I turned 21, I turned 21 December 6th, and then I was 20. Because I remember when I turned 21, December 6th, and then I was eight. That's the legal age to drink. So I'd just turned 21.

And then this Santa Con thing came about. Honestly, what a time to be alive. Do they still do it? Yeah. So fun. Honestly. We're getting that on the list. Daily Brackets on tour to New York.

We need to do that. That's so funny. So I've got some good pictures from that. Yeah, I need to rack my brain it's a long time ago now but there definitely was some funny stories but I made some friends that like genuinely are like lifelong friends so yeah that that is probably one of the best memories I've got guys just have to take a quick break we'll be back in a minute so what came next so you've been in New Yorkork what's after that so i've done like the whole

year so i arrived in like the july august and then the full school year is when you can't play so i thought i need to play i need to be ready for the following season obviously i've been training a lot and whatever but i went to play in la in the summer that was amazing so do you remember Tracy Kevins yeah so she was out coaching in America for this summer league team in LA and like approached me I was like do you want to come and play for us and I was like yeah hell yeah like a summer in LA that's so sick so I've gone from having like been in New York to go to LA I'm like got the best of both worlds here and that was great I literally had the best time there stayed with the host family and that's when I met Dave yeah my best friend in America so

he literally shout out to him he was my rock throughout the whole entire time in America and obviously he's an individual trainer so I did a lot of training with him in the summer I actually did two internships with him in the summer and it actually did two internships with him in the summer. And it was such a great experience. I stayed with some amazing families, met some amazing people and just got to play in like a summer league in LA. Like what better time? What better place to do that?

So that was a great experience. And I think with that, obviously it's not professional, it's like semi-professional. So it also kind of got people to see me in the nwsl they were able to see me playing um because i kind of was just really a nobody came out of nowhere i just decided to play up front and got shoved in at the deep end breaking all the records so yeah so i did that in the summer what was the biggest difference like did you obviously new york la two incredible. I'm guessing there's not a favorite.

But if you had to go back, which one would you pick? So hard. Love them both for so many different reasons. But I think New York is my favorite city in the world. Obviously, I went back last Christmas. And it's just slight nostalgic for me now because it's almost like home away from home. Yeah. Like, it's where I started my journey in America.

But then the weather in LA is just beautiful, like the beaches. And so after that, obviously returned straight back to St. John's, which was, sorry for everyone that didn't know, that's my university, St. John's University. Went back and had the year of my life. And that was what I continued to do, would go play throughout the year at uni and then go in the summer to play in LA. And if I wasn't playing, I was spending the summer there training with Dave. I was training with like good players as well. I was going from training, you've got Sydney LaRue training with me

at nine in the morning and then a young school kid jumping in at 10 o'clock and I'd jump in sessions back to back to back all day just to get touches and be ready for the next season. So four years at uni and then that came a huge decision. Was it go home and join the league that is now thriving, or go and stay in America and put myself through the college draft system and play in the NWSL? And I think that was one of the biggest decisions I've ever had to make, because I actually spoke to Emma at the time. I think you remember that. Yeah. Emma Hayes, about coming back and signing for Chelsea, because I've had had to make because I actually spoke to Emma at the time I think you remember that yeah Emma Hayes about coming back and signing for Chelsea because I've had a few good years and damn it guys I didn't succeed I didn't my final year at uni was when I first got called back up to England again that's wild so that was a moment where I like to think to myself, wow, I've made a good decision here. I made the right decision.

I left. And my success that I was having over there was recognised. And Mark Sampson's first ever squad, he selected me for that. So yeah, that was one of them where it was like, right, I'm getting back my feet into the England team. Do I go home now? Have I rode my time in America? Is it time to go home?

Obviously I missed home, but then it was also quite scary because I just like built this life in America. Yeah. Like most of my adult life at that point was in another country. So it's like, do I leave? Do I stay?

So I had a few conversations with a few English clubs, few English managers, and I was back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. But I thought to myself, right, I'm going to put myself through the college draft. So for those of you that don't understand the draft, neither do I. Good start. It's very confusing.

So like basically as a senior in college, you enter the draft. You have an opportunity to enter the draft. You can go earlier but I obviously waited to do my my uni and there's like predictions of where people are going to go like there's a lot that goes into it because I was English at the time it was quite difficult for people to get you a visa and like they've got to pay for your visa and get you know it was more difficult than just getting like an American or a Canadian through the system so I was like oh maybe I won't get picked.

And then I was like really nervous thinking, right, if I put myself into this and I don't get picked, I'll be devastated. Like I'll be so embarrassed of myself. Yeah. And you can't really have contact with any clubs before, so it's not like you kind of know what's going on. Yeah. And then I thought, right, put myself in it.

Worst case scenario, I don't get picked. Then there's my decision, I go home. And it was in Baltimore um so I traveled traveled there to go to the draft um and you go on the day and it's like they're like give you a flag when you sign and like not a flag a scarf and stuff so I'm sat there thinking and you're just waiting in this room really like it's the most weird thing like it's it's it's on tv it was literally through i was sat there i was like oh like number one's gone number two's gone number three's gone number four's gone i'm like oh i'm

not gonna get and obviously the higher you get picked the more chance because when you get picked in a draft it doesn't necessarily mean you're not guaranteed to get a contract so it's just basically inviting you to effectively a trial at that club. That's wild. So they just hold you right. So it comes to sixth in the first round and it was Houston. Houston got fifth, sixth and eighth. So they were on the clock

and you're waiting and you're like, oh, I don't know, I don't know. And then they picked me. So I was like, oh my God. So I'm walking up to this stage and I'm like holding this scarf, like go Houston. Didn't have a clue what I was like, oh my God. So I'm walking up to this stage and I'm like holding this scarf, like go Houston. Didn't have a clue what I was doing.

Do the sign. Hold it down, H-Town. So, yeah, so then I got drafted to Houston and then it was like, right, now that's there. The pay was awful, Millie. Like I'd gone from probably earning more from being at uni, just like paying for my fees, than I was going to play professionally. So I was like, honestly. This is why she can't pay her lecky bill.

At the time, just to put this into perspective, guys, the contract for first-year rookies in the professional league, minimum wage was $6,000 a year. I was like, right, so you want me to move from New York to Houston knowing absolutely nobody and try and live on $6,000 a year. I'm sorry. Like I was like, I don't know how to do this. So that was the first time where like it was like, right, I'm going to need an agent or something to try and get.

I didn't get to see my best friend. I was living under a rock in Houston. I'm like, please pick me England, I need to fly home. So then it was like, right, so you're getting a contract office from English teams that are, like, way better than that. And I was like, what am I doing? Like, literally. I'm like, Dad, can you send us 20 quid?

Like, seriously. At, like, 24 years old, I was messaging my dad saying, can you send me 20 quid? Can you send me 50 quid like seriously at like 24 years old i was messaging my dad saying can you send me 20 quid can you send me 50 quid like i was asking for freaking pocket money at 24 years old i was like mom i'm really struggling can you send us a tenner oh my god his temper needs to get a freddo and and and don't forget then you've got like foreign exchange fees so like paying they're paying the fees to send it to me why are this money to me by the end of it i was only getting like six pounds that is mental six grand you know every year yeah so mine was actually luckily better i think i got significantly more than that which is

maybe double um in my first year but so that much. I know. So obviously I was fortunate because they paid for a really nice apartment and, you know, you get looked after. But still, I was just like, I can't survive on this type of money. Do they provide that for every player, like accommodation? Or is that like dependent on... Honestly, the NWSL now is huge. Like they get so... The money's incredible and they get housing and all that.

So it is... I knew it was always going to take off it was just obviously i went through the part where it wasn't just not that's not when i was there so do you know what i thought instead a typical me it's like you know what let's do this like let's challenge myself let's test myself in this league let's try and get through a year earning 50p a week and then was my first season in Houston. Right guys, that's it for today's episode and the first part of Rachel's deep dive into her time in America.

On the second part of it, we'll hear all about her time in Houston.