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Girls across the county are developing their football skills the Brazilian way thanks to a huge boost in futsal training funded by the Football Association and managed by Herefordshire Council.
St Mary’s High School under-16s team did the county proud last week by coming away from Sheffield’s Ponds Forge as the girls’ under-16s FA National Futsal champions. On the way to the title they defeated teams from Shropshire, Manchester, Middlesex and Sheffield, scoring six goals (Emily Lovelock, Leya Latham and Anna Mulderrig) and conceding only one throughout the whole tournament. The strong squad of seven earned their place in the finals by winning the Herefordshire FA Secondary Schools futsal league in April.
The council’s girls’ and women’s football development officer also took teams in the under-10s, under-12s and under-14s age groups, together with Hereford Pegasus Ladies football club.
The under-10s squad consisted of players from Ross Rockets who are currently using futsal as a vehicle to get local children into sport. Ross Rockets recognise that futsal provides added benefits for young players including movement, balance and co-ordination, which are deemed essential to all round participation in sport.
Weobley under-12s and Whitecross under-14s finished 3rd in their respective age groups with strong performances by both squads throughout the day.
Hereford Pegasus Ladies FC, having qualified from the local qualifying league also took centre stage at Ponds Forge in the first ever women’s futsal finals.
A strong field saw Pegasus come up against Watford LFC, Salford College and the British Muslim futsal team in the group stages and after finishing second, they met Sheffield LFC in the quarter finals narrowly missing out on a semi-final place with a 5-1 defeat. The eventual winner’s were Watford LFC.
Special mention to Simone Quinn who scored 10 of Pegasus’s 20 goals and Marcella Furness who only conceded 13 goals in her final appearance for the club.
Futsal, often known as Brazilian football, is increasingly being recognised as the alternative to traditional 5-a-side, especially in schools, and is recognised for developing ball skills, which can be adopted by all ages and transferred into the 11-a-side game.
Around 20 schools are actively involved in promoting futsal as an alternative to five-a-side football. From September this is expected to increase to around 40 schools thanks to the county’s football development team who offer futsal coaching courses and create competition opportunities with schools and clubs.
For further information contact Alexis Lunn (01432) 261977, alexis.lunn@herefordshirefa.com
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Press release issued: July 17 2007
