News
Buckden & Westfield top girls football competitions
Inspired by the success of the Lionesses this summer 150 girls took to St Neots Town Football Club earlier this week for Hunts School Sports Partnerships annual ESFA Pokémon Cup competition.
Teams of Year 5/6 girls from 15 schools across the district took part in either the morning or afternoon competition.
The morning event saw 6 teams compete in a round robin format to determine who would come out as overall winners of the first event. There were lots of closely contested matches and tight score lines, at the end of the morning when all of the results were added up it was Buckden CofE Primary Academy who came out on top, narrowly pipping Godmanchester Community Academy who also remained undefeated.
Special mention goes to Holywell CofE Primary School who were presented with the ‘Spirit of the Games Award’ for demonstrating amazing determination throughout the event.
Buckden
Godmanchester Community Academy
Bushmead
Holywell
Schools attending the afternoon tournament, took part in the English Schools FA’s U11 Pokemon Cup. 8 schools making up 13 teams, were split into 2 A Team groups and a B Team group and played each other in a round robin format before progressing to a final placing match against the equivalently placed team from the other group. There was lots of fine football on display and all the matches were played in great spirit, with lots of cheering and encouragement and even dancing celebrations as goals were scored.
Similar to the morning, there were lots of closely contested matches and tight score lines. With certain group placings being determined by goal difference. The A Team final saw Brampton Village Primary School play Westfield Junior School to decide who would become Huntingdonshire district champions for 2022. Congratulations to Westfield who came out as winners in an exciting final. Both schools now qualify to represent Huntingdonshire at the county finals early next year.
Westfield A
Brampton
In the 3rd place play-off Somersham defeated Warboys, to remain the only school other than Westfield to stay undefeated.
Somersham vs Warboys
In the B team competition Westfield Junior School claimed their second trophy of the afternoon with Thorndown Primary School and Little Paxton Primary School placing second and third respectively.
Westfield B
Thorndown
Little Paxton
The ‘Spirit of the Games Award’ was presented to St Helen’s Primary School for showing fantastic teamwork, throughout the tournament and which was improving every time they played.
St Helen’s
Partnership Manager, Doug Finlayson said
“It was lovely to see so many girls coming together to play football for their school team and getting to compete against other schools. The girls told us this is what they loved about the event, just getting to play against other schools and having fun with their friends. They all played with smiles on their faces which was lovely to see and the standard of play gets better every year which is really encouraging.
We are also thankful to the Sports Leaders from Longsands Academy who helped to referee and score all of the matches.”
Longsands Academy Sports Leaders
Hunts School Sports Partnership is part of a nationwide scheme that aims to mainstream football in school for girls with the vision to ensure every girl has equal access to football in school by 2024. To find out more visit www.girlsfootballinschools.org
Doug Finlayson said,
“Football is our national sport and we want to make sure girls have the same opportunities to play football that boys do. We want girls to be able to play in events like todays and as well as to be able to play at lunchtimes, after school, at local clubs. They should have the same opportunities as boys but unfortunately this isn’t always the case.
We will be working with schools, clubs and community providers to drive this change locally. If you want to get involved and help or find out more, please get in touch rfinlayson@hbk.acesmat.uk
