OLYMPIC women’s football hopeful Rachel Brown will be cheered on by family and friends when she becomes the first East Lancashire competitor in the London 2012 Games.

Brother Nicholas, 41, who runs the Hapton Inn in Hapton, will be decking the pub out with Union Jack flags and showing as many of his younger sister’s matches on the big screen as possible.

He is also encouraging his regulars and the wider public to get behind the games and support local athletes.

If selected, Rachel will play her first game on Wednesday when Great Britain take on New Zealand at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in their first group match at 4pm, shown on BBC.

He said: “We have been sent Union Jack flags from the brewery ahead of the Olympics which we’ll be putting up and we have the big screen up ready. We will be showing any of her games that are on television.”

He said that Burnley goalkeeper Rachel, who is a medal winning hopeful, is very excited and nervous about competing in front of a worldwide audience.

He said: “She has been posting pictures of herself in her official kit on Facebook .

“I think the team stands as good as chance as anyone else.”

He said Rachel, who is nine years younger than him, started playing football at St Stephen’s Primary School, Burnley, where she used to have a kick about with the boys.

He said: “Girls weren’t allowed to play at the time, but the teachers let her because they saw potential.”

She then went on to Bankhall Minors, Accrington Stanley women’s team, then Liverpool and later Everton.

“She probably never thought she’d play at the Olympics.

“I hope she gets out on to the pitch.”

Competing in the Olympic Games was not something the 32-year-old football star ever thought possible. The women’s football was not even an Olympic sport when the goalkeeper was a youngster.

But, with Rachel herself acknowledging that she is coming to the latter stages of her career, London 2012 arrived just in time.

The opportunity to host the Olympics led to a formation of a Great Britain women’s team for the first time, and Brown was one of 18 players selected.

Team GB will also play Cameroon, also in Cardiff, on July 28 and Brazil on July 31.

That final fixture could be her first appearance at Wembley.