Girls in School Years Three and Four enjoyed a day of fun and games in a brand new Havering Central Venue League organised by the Essex County Football Association to raise female participation on Wednesday 10th February, Hornchurch’s Benhurst Primary School winning a close final while Engayne Primary returned home with the coveted Fair Play Prize.
Seven teams from six schools attended the first event and the schedule included a series of ‘round-robin’ games played on two five-a-side pitches. The top two sides, Benhurst and Elm Park Primary, played in a mini-final where Benhurst prevailed by one goal to nil. Throughout the day the referees also distributed ‘Fair Play Points’ and it was Engayne Primary 1 who took the overall prize for the most points collected.
Central Venue Leagues are set-up at a location where participating teams don’t have to travel huge distances to play, with all fixtures taking place in one visit. Most CVLs are set-up so that, at each event, teams can compete for a trophy for that particular meeting while their fixtures also contribute to an overall table. After the success of various other similar leagues elsewhere, primary schools in Havering got the chance to see what all the fuss was about indoors at Hornchurch Leisure Centre, Harrow Lodge Park.
There are three new Central Venue Leagues being established within Essex’s five London Boroughs and, with each league spanning three separate events, it is anticipated that the interest will continue to grow. With ongoing work to encourage more children to play in both schools and clubs the main aim will be to try and engage with as many young females as possible. The Havering event provided the ECFA with an opportunity to promote local club Cougars JFC who they are working with to help set up a new girls’ team and Cougars’ volunteer Frances Smith helped with the running of the day.
The event was also supported by Havering Competition Manager Paul Belcher and Young Leaders from Havering Sixth Form College and Sharon Brownlie, ECFA Girls’ & Women’s Development Officer for Essex’s London Boroughs, said: “Even though Havering is one of our better areas in terms of participation within clubs, we still saw the opportunity to provide girls with some form of competition which wasn’t currently being offered. We also hope that our next two events attract more schools and that those children get a good experience and want to then go and join a girls’ team.”
April’s league event is set to coincide with the Women’s FA Cup Final so the Essex County FA are hoping for a festival atmosphere - and it’s not too late for schools to join-in! For more details on schools Central Venue Leagues, or how to find out to join a team in Essex’s London Boroughs, contact Sharon Brownlie on (01245) 393074 or E-Mail sharon.brownlie@essexfa.com.