Soccer agent Rachel Anderson took on the PFA for discrimination and won - but she's still not expecting a dinner invitation, reveals RAY BRADLEY

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The Professional Footballers' Association and the legendary Muhammad Ali will testify to that old proverb after tangling with Rachel Anderson.

The bustling blonde sports agent has taken them both on and delivered a knockout blow. It cost the PFA a cool £220,000 and the revered Ali a public apology on behalf of his Moslem mentors.

Rachel is not a woman to be dismissed lightly. She is a tough adversary - in or out of the ring.

A former freelance journalist, she is one of eleven children. Dad, Major Warwick Charlton was Field Marshal Montgomery's aide-de-camp and press guru in the Eighth Army, persuading the aloof Monty to dispense with his military cap and don the famous beret in the cause of better relations with his troops.

He launched 11 magazines and newspapers in a colourful career that included six wives. Some character, some pedigree.

Rachel is a chip off the old block. She delivered a decisive blow to the vanity of Britain's most prosperous union when she scored a historic victory last September after a three-year court battle for justice.

Her heinous crime? She was a female who invaded the prized preserve of Britain's richest sportsmen at their annual awards dinner which was just a little less ostentatious than the Oscars.

The players' union were ill-advised to take her on. In football speak they scored a spectacular own goal. It begs the question however of whether she be invited to the PFA dinner on April 30.

"You must be joking," Rachel says with her usual commendable candour. "Would you want to invite someone who had taken you for £200,000?"

What kicked off this football furore? A distaste for sports agents - especially a female agent in a world of pampered males, that's what.

When she attended the dinner at Grosvenor House at the invitation of six of the Sheffield United clients three years ago, she could hardly have imagined a more embarrassing evening.

"We were drinking in the main bar for almost an hour when an emissary from the committee suddenly confronted me," recalls Rachel. " 'I'm afraid there has been a mistake,' he said. 'This is men only and you can't come in.' "

The memory still visibly hurts and the loquacious lady from Westcliff admitted: "I was speechless and that's unusual for me.

"My husband John was also attending as a guest and I persuaded him to stay with the lads who were obviously embarrassed. Me? I felt sick and went back to my hotel."

There is no disguising the deep humiliation she suffered in front of hundreds of footballers and attendant media.

It just reinforced her resolve to take revenge after an undignified exit in front of friends and clients. She decided to take on the players' union.

Not for Rachel the gentle art of sylph defence. Like a tiger she went for the jugular. "I decided to get even, not mad," she confessed.

"I went to the House of Lords first, to test the water. All three political parties supported my claim under the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.

"The PFA would not dream of excluding anyone on the grounds of colour or religion. I was excluded purely because I was a woman. What a bloody cheek.

"It was a battle I had to win and eventually I got a Liberal, Lord Razzel - don't you just love the name - to represent me.

"My case was read out by the Lord of the House. It was fully debated and I was given unanimous backing.

"The PFA, Britain's richest union, had £15 million in their current account, plus millions more in funds and curtly dismissed my protest despite a ballot by their members which found in my favour.

"What unmitigated arrogance. What they obviously ignored is the fact that 20 per cent of season ticket holders in football are women and people ignore us at their peril."

Rachel won a decisive victory in the London Court last September and was awarded just over £200,000 costs and £7.500 compensation.

There followed a delicious bonus after her highly-trumpeted triumph.

"It was a test case win," said Rachel, "and the Lord Chancellor's Office invited me to be a champion for a new Government initiative which was launched this week to update the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act.

Once before, as a raw 20-year-old, Rachel had taken on a mighty adversary and won. As assistant to Sir Stanley Rouse on the international Award for Valour in Sport, she came into contact with her idol Muhammad Ali, who was a committee member.

The great Ali came to London for a charity event at the Victoria Sporting Club where Rachel's elder sister Victoria, an executive director, acted as hostess. As usual, Ali had a huge entourage with him and several were excluded because it was invitation only.

Rachel recalls: "One of them got very angry and called my sister a white whore, because he was excluded. My sister broke down and wept.

"I'd never seen her cry and I confronted Ali and demanded an apology for the behaviour of his aide. Ali graciously apologised on his behalf, but I was not appeased. He then ordered the aide, a strict Moslem, to make a public apology from 20ft away - further indignity for a Moslem.

"It was the measure of this great, charismatic champion. The PFA was a piece of cake after taking on Ali."

Revenge is sweet for Rachel who now has 21 football clients including several West Ham players. She became a football agent after attending an aerobics course with Julian Dicks' wife Kay.

"I mentioned that Julian was being exploited by the media, especially in photo calls where he was always in demand.

"Eventually I acted on his behalf and when Julian was transferred to Liverpool for £3 million - a record for a defender - I negotiated the deal. After that I was hooked on soccer."

Educated at Belfairs High School in Leigh, 42-year-old Rachel is dedicated to all her young clients and treats them like her own children, Natasha and James, who are both at university.

Britain's highly-paid footballers are generally perceived as pretty thick by the public, but she is quick to defend them. "Footballers may be uneducated, but they are not unintelligent," she counters. "They are disadvantaged in many ways; leaving home at 14 in some cases to join a club.

"Many don't see a passport until they are 21. The game just dominates their lives. They dream of fame and fortune, but most of all, being in the first team. It's a macho thing."

Forever the understanding confidante, Rachel is regarded as a second mum by most of her young players. She fusses over them like a mother hen, even seeing them off at the airport for their end-of-season holidays.

But will mum be invited to the player's party on April 30? Rachel smiles wistfully: "No, I guess I will be playing Cinderella again, waiting for an invitation to the ball, unless Prince Charming turns up."

Come on lads. Give the woman a break!

Out to win - Rachel Anderson challenged the football players' union the PFA under the Sex Discrimation Act, and was awarded £7,500 plus costs in a test case

Picture: STEVE O'CONNELL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.