Stowupland Falcons Football Club near Stowmarket hosts first Ladies Day girls’ event
Girls’ teams from across East Anglia have taken part in the largest female-only football festival in Suffolk this year.
The Ladies Day tournament hosted by Stowupland Falcons Football Club on Sunday, attracted 400 players from Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
Isabel Chaplin, women and girls development officer for the Suffolk FA said it had been a great opportunity for girls to play during the off season.
Age categories involved in the tournament ranged from Under-8s and Under-9s, to Under-15s.
“It was fantastic to see girls in all the age groups playing football in the sunshine having fun with their friends,” said Isabel.
The younger girls played in the morning session, with teams from Stowupland Falcons, Debenham, Cornard Dynamos and Hadleigh FC involved in the action.
These matches were classed as non-competitve and all players received a participation medal.
Later in the day the older girls from teams including Needham Phoenix and Stowupland Falcons competed culminating with finals in the Under-12, Under-13 and Under-15 categories.
Felixstowe and Walton were winners in the Under-12 category, with Needham Phoenix winning in the Under-13 section.
Cornard Dynamos Under-14s played up a year to win in the Under-15 category.
Charlotte Darlow Hunt, who helped organise the event, said: “Just within our club we have seen a rapid growth in girls playing and we have around 40 girls attending our free Wildcat’s weekly sessions.
“Not only this but generally in the past girls only football teams started at the Under-11 age group, any girls looking to play before this would need to play in a boys’ team as we could not get enough girls involved.
“This changed for the last and there’s now a Under-10s team playing in a league of 11 teams within Suffolk, which is great, but the fantastic news is next season we are able to get a Under-9s girls team which is amazing.
“Having this amount of teams in the county is such a positive thing for girls, it makes the sport so accessible for those girls who want to play regardless of their backgrounds.
“Girls and ladies football allows an individual to feel they are so much more than just one person, they become a community, a group of girls who have each other’s back, no matter what their situation or what is going on outside of football, they have football to switch off from anything worrying them be it school, home or friendships.”
Any girls interested in the Wildcat sessions in Stowupland near Stowmarket, or playing for the Falcons should contact: youthsectiongirls@stowuplandfalconsfc.co.uk
More information about girls and ladies football opportunities in the county can be found on the women and girls section of the Suffolk FA website.
