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Female
College
football has had a competitive edge introduced to it
with the creation of two innovative, brand new leagues
to cater for both small-sided and full eleven-a-side
teams across the County, designed for further education
colleges and sixth form colleges in the
Essex
region.
The eleven-a-side competition sees teams play each
other both home and away during a set fixture window. In
order to ensure travel time and costs are kept to a
minimum, sides have also been placed into either a North
East or South East Division depending upon the location
of their educational establishment.
Upon the culmination of each division’s schedules,
the top two teams from each will go on to compete for
the Cancer Research U.K. Women’s Football Cup, those
that finish at the top of the respective divisions
having home advantage for their semi-final. The winners
of the semi-finals progress through to the final which
is to be played at a neutral venue on Wednesday 27th May
2009.
Looking forward to the progress of the competition,
Essex County Football Association Girls’ &
Women’s Football Development Officer, Emma Burden,
explained: “With young female players coming through
the system and looking at alternative educational
programmes, more and more college programmes are
setting-up female-specific football academies and teams. The
more opportunities we can offer to engage with the 16 to
19-year-old age bracket the better.”
The Futsal competition kicked-off in September, with
a Central Venue competition (C.V.L.) running in the
North of the county and one in the South.
Thurstable
Sports
School
in Tiptree were the hosts of the North C.V.L. and
Thurrock & Basildon
College
were the hosts of the South. Emma is excited at the
prospect of things to come: “We have massive issues
with girls dropping out of football in this age group
and if we can address this in some small way that can
only help the development of the game. We started
the Futsal events last year and already the number of
teams involved has led to us staging two separate
divisions. Our fingers are crossed that these will
continue to grow”. Each Futsal event will see the
points from matches accumulated and carried over from
each event to the next. The
Essex
County
F.A.
are funding three events in both areas and the eventual
winners of the North will play-off with the winners of
the South.
The winter window for the eleven-a-side matches rests
between 29th September and 28th November, while a second
period to compete in has been set for 2nd March to 30th
April 2009. All semi-final fixtures will then be
completed between the 4th and 15th May. “We had a
number of enquiries from colleges looking for
opportunities for their female players to play,” Emma
continued. “The Futsal format was set-up as easy
way to get everyone together to see how we could move
forward. Neil Coates from
Thurrock & Basildon
College
played a massive part in driving the first Futsal event
forward which, in turn, led to Neil Owen from Colchester
Institute establishing the 11 vs 11 League.”
Futsal is the F.I.F.A. and U.E.F.A. recognized form
of small-sided football. The Football Association’s
2001 Development Strategy cited the development of this
form of the small-sided game as a key objective and
Futsal has been designed to provide a high-paced,
energetic and fast-flowing game for spectators at the
same time as allowing players to be at their most
creative by protecting those showing attacking flair.
Futsal fever is currently encapsulating most of the
globe but it owes a great deal of its success and all of
its appeal to the streets and playgrounds of
South America
where the game was first conceived.
After the first round of Futsal fixtures, and with
the eleven-a-side games due to be completed by the end
of December, the standings currently appear as follows: |
