Womens & Girls
Schools Football Festivals 2008
Football fever has once again gripped the Bedfordshire Schools with this year’s girls football festivals ran by Beds FA. With 4 district festivals, (one in each district of the county) and 1 county final taking place, keen female footballers from a variety of local schools had plenty of opportunity to take to the pitch.
With girls football now a big part of school football and many players now representing clubs in the sport it was no wonder that this years school festivals were as popular as ever. A staggering 89 teams (59 schools) took part across 3 age groups (school years 5/6, 7/8 and 9/10) in the various district festivals and 24 of those qualified as winners and runners up of their district festivals, for the schools county finals.
The Road to the Girls Schools County Finals 08
The first of the 4 district festivals took place on Thursday 13th March @ Play football.net (Stopsley High). 23 schools participated across the 3 age groups (yr 5/6 - 13 teams, yr 7/8 - 5 teams, and yr 7/8 - 5 teams) and around 230 players took part on the day. Young referees from Stopsley High took charge of the games and after a very hard fought competition the eventual winners were…. Yr 5/6 – Wenlock Junior School, Yr 7/8 – Stopsley High and Yr 9/10 – Icknield High.
Vandyke Upper School hosted the South Beds district festival on Tuesday 18th March and featured 16 teams from the various age groups (yr 5/6 – 5 teams, yr 7/8 – 5 teams, yr 9/10 – 6 teams) and around 160 players participated in the games. Once again young referees from the local schools assisted with the refereeing of the games. Eventual winners were….Yr 5/6 – Fulbrook Middle, Yr 7/8 – Gilbert Inglefield Middle and Yr 9/10 – Queensbury Upper School.
The Bedford District Festival saw the highest number of teams enter so far, with 24 teams in total taking part at AFC Kempston (yr 5/6 - 9 teams, yr 7/8 - 9 teams, and yr 9/10 - 6 teams), around 240 players participated on the day. Kelly Rolfe from Beds Borough Council – Sports Development Unit, Bedford College (9 students) and Bedford University assisted with the running of the event, refereeing of games and the managing of teams. The eventual winners were….Yr 5/6 – St Gregorys, Yr 7/8 – Lincroft, Yr 9/10 – Hastingsbury.
The last of the 4 district festivals took place and involved the 2 Mid Beds School Sports Partnerships. 26 teams entered across the age groups (yr 5/6 – 10 teams, yr 7/8 – 10 teams, yr 9/10 – 6 teams) and around 260 players took part. Thanks to a great link with local Charter Standard Club, Sandy Ladies FC, all staff was provided to help referee games and coordinate pitches throughout the afternoon.
Eventual winners were Yr 5/6 – Henlow, Yr 7/8 – Holywell, Yr 9/10 – Redbourne.
GIRLS COUNTY FINALS – E-on FA Cup Schools Festival
This years Girls School County Finals took place on Wednesday 7th May 2008 @ AFC
Kempston. The day itself was once again staffed by volunteers from Bedford College, who refereed games and helped with the general running of the event.
24 teams qualified for this year’s final (8 in each age group, yr 5/6, yr 7/8 and yr 9/10), these were the winners and runners up from each of the 4 district festivals. 21 teams took part on the day, around 210 players participated, and received e-on sponsored medals and certificates for their efforts.
The eventual county winners and runners up at each age group were as follows:
yr 5/6 – Winners: Henlow (Mid Beds - Redbourne SSP) Runners Up: Someries (Luton SSP)
yr 7/8 – Winners: Holywell (Mid Beds- Redbourne SSP) Runners Up: Stopsley (Luton SSP)
yr 9/10 - Winners: Redbourne (Mid Beds – Redbourne SSP) Runners Up: Ashcroft (Luton SSP)
Calvin Saxby from Someries Junior School was amongst those with teams in the festival, after a tough year 5/6 competition he commented “Once again the girls and I enjoyed the tournament immensely – especially as the weather was so incredibly good! The venue is great and I thought the refereeing was top notch. I hope I wasn’t too vocal in my encouragement but I was proud that our girls came runners up for the 3rd year in succession”