Broken toe forces Rawson’s retreat - August 21 2009
Broken toe forces Rawson’s retreat
August 21 2009
Shepparton News
The injury made famous by David Beckham, a broken metatarsal, has claimed Shepparton United's leading scorer Leanne Rawson for the rest of the women's Goulburn North East Football Association season.
Rawson, joint top-scorer in the women's league with 13 goals, suffered the break to her right foot in United's 4-3 loss to Cobram in round 16.
With little prospects of a speedy recovery, Rawson said this week she would be in a moon boot until the Monday after this year's grand final.
"I got kicked in the foot and tried to hobble for a bit," Rawson said.
"But the magic spray didn't work and it got worse after that."
Having not played since 2005, Rawson returned to United this season after getting into running and also splitting her commitments with Numurkah in the Murray Netball League.
Her teammates at Numurkah were not thrilled to hear one of their defenders would be out of the Blues' A-grade finals campaign.
"It's happened at the wrong time of the year," Rawson said.
"I'll have to watch from the sidelines, I'm not a good supporter."
The 32-year-old said factors away from soccer would impact on if she continued on with the sport next year.
Beckham infamously suffered a broken metatarsal playing for Manchester United in 2002, but with the weight of England's World Cup hopes on his shoulders managed to recover in time to play at the tournament in Korea and Japan.
Rawson's Shepparton United teammates can secure a fourth consecutive minor premiership in the women's league on Sunday when the Blues host last-placed Kyabram at Central Park.
United has 31 points on the ladder, ahead of Shepparton on 30 points, which has the bye, and Shepparton South on 29.
South takes on Tatura with a chance to still pinch the minor premiership, but more importantly can overtake Shepparton and claim second place with a draw.
However, a draw may not be good enough for fourth-placed Tatura to finish in the finals, it's 24 points ahead of Cobram Victory on 23 and Cobram on 21.
The Cobram teams play each other on Sunday, see the "Run Home" column for the possible ladder scenarios.
In the weekend's other match, Benalla Rovers plays Numurkah.
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