Ridgewood progress through to represent Doncaster Rovers, as EFL Girls Cup a success

13 teams from 12 secondary schools across Doncaster, were in attendance at the 23/24 EFL Girls Cup local tournament recently.

Split into two leagues, schools were battling it out to be in with the chance of qualifying from their group, to reach the quarters, semis and the final, with the ultimate goal of representing Doncaster Rovers at the next stage of the competition.

With 117 girls in attendance, there was plenty of skills and competitive football on show from every team. 

Making it all the way to the final, both Ash Hill Academy and Ridgewood School played out an intense, end to end game. With the game remaining at 0-0 for the majority of the time, Ridgewood scored a dramatic winner in the final seconds of the game, to see them win the tournament.

Those in attendance also got a special visit from Doncaster Rovers Belles player, Phoebe Sneddon, who spoke with a number of teams about being a footballer and answered questions about her career and aspirations in playing for the Belles. 

Miss Whealan, a PE teacher from Armthope Academy attended the tournament with her team and spoke of how positive women’s football has had on the girls at her school: “Girls are getting more opportunities at schools now. When I was at school, there weren’t as many opportunities to play football at all. 

“Now there’s more girls wanting to play football, because of all the role models they can look up to. More schools want to play fixtures too. 

“From the first training session at school and onwards, I had an increase in about 20 to 30 girls, having that option to play football and play more fixtures.”

Whealan went on to discuss how beneficial these tournaments are: “These tournaments are amazing. We can organise our own fixtures but in terms of events like this that we get invited to, the girls love it.

“They love competitions and they love representing the academy. 

“It’s a good opportunity for them to continue to play football.”

Ed O’Mahony, Sports Development Officer, who organised the tournament, spoke of the success it brought: “It’s been fantastic to see so many girls taking part in the EFL Girls Cup today. There’s been some incredible football on show, all the way through the afternoon.

“We’ve seen a massive increase in the participation of girls within football, following the Women’s World Cup that took place in the summer. 

“More girls are wanting to get involved across all of our projects at the Foundation and to see a large number in attendance today, has been incredible.

“They’ve also got to meet Doncaster Rovers Belles player, Phoebe Sneddon. As a role model within women’s football, we hope that those girls here today will continue to participate in football for years to come.”

Ridgewood will now represent Doncaster Rovers at the next round, in the regional tournament which will take place at the Eco-Power Stadium in the new year.