The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website | home
2003 | 2004 | Arsenal | Biography | 2009 | Q & A | All Action Amber | Golden Boot For A Goalden Girl | No. 9 Ode
Biography
The Total Package
by Jeremy Ruane
Amber Hearn is in her element at present, playing football for a living. A particularly prolific markswoman in her teenage years, she scored nine goals in a single match for Auckland's U-17 team in 2000, and bettered that a year later with a staggering eleven-goal haul in a 17-0 victory for the Auckland U-19s - this girl was born to score goals!
She has led the celebrations for club, province and country on over 150 occasions since making her senior debut in 2000 for Lynn-Avon United, for whom she has been as much a maker of goals as a taker, such is her versatility in front-running or midfield roles.
While winning both the Northern Premier Women's League and National Knockout Cup on four occasions apiece, it was her form in late 2003 and throughout 2004 which catapulted Amber into the stratosphere as far as New Zealand women's soccer is concerned.
Her form was pivotal in Auckland's National Women's League success in 2003, and earned Amber the Player of the Year award. But far bigger honours were just around the corner - the chance to play professionally for English giants Arsenal in the 2004-5 season.
It was a massive opportunity for the then 20-year-old, who made the bulk of her appearances for The Gunners as a substitute, most notably in the UEFA Women's Cup competition.
At the end of the season, she picked up an FA Women's Cup winner's medal, but the need to be starting and regularly playing in games prompted her to switch to Doncaster Rovers Belles for the 2005-6 campaign, one which saw her clinch another winner's medal for the Belles' success in the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup.
An Achilles injury cast a dark shadow over Amber's dream, however, and after an eighteen-month hiatus from the game, she returned home at the tail end of 2007, intent on recapturing her place in the New Zealand team in which she had made her international debut three years prior.
The Olympic Games was a huge incentive for Amber to recapture her fitness and her fire for the game she loves, and she responded in the manner of a true champion - forcing her way back into contention to such an extent that her name is now one of the first to be penned in to any New Zealand starting line-up.
That was certainly the case in China, where she scored in New Zealand's 2-2 draw with Japan, having scored the winner in a Peace Queen Cup encounter with Argentina prior to the event - New Zealand's first international victory of note for years.
A powerful number nine in the classic centre-forward mould, she's an exciting player who is equally adept in any front-running role. As a striker, she can be summed up in three words - the total package.
Pictured in action for New Zealand against the USA at the 2008 Olympic Games - photo courtesy Getty Images
|