Ambitious plans for girls' football
AN up-and-coming Junior club has unveiled plans that will ensure girls can play football throughout their teenage years.
With the women's game in Scotland taking off in a big way, Rossvale FC plan to implement the first-ever pyramid system for girls' football in East Dunbarton-shire.
Currently with an under-13 side, in time the club based at Huntershill in Bishopbriggs hope to have a girls' team running at age group levels right up to under-18, which would help them achieve Community Club status within the Scottish Football Association's new Quality Mark initiative.
Rossvale FC recently announced the planned formation of a Junior football team.
Rossvale chairman Ian Grey, whose father John formed the club in 1976, said: "At present, we've adopted our under-13 manager Allen Bell's team from another club, with the further three teams we are adding now coming through girls' football being set up by the SFA in the local primary schools, and us taking over the running of them."
While girls can play in a boys' football team at primary-age level, they are not allowed to do so after the age of 11.
Ian added: "The next step will be to bring in an initial group of 10 girls a year to the soccer academy with, hope-fully, an intake at five years of age coming up.
"Initially we are only looking at the equivalent of one team per year as we want to see how many coaches we get coming forward to take teams.
"Within five years tops, we hope to have one team at every age group."
The project is fully supported by current Ross-vale under-13 girls team manager Allen Bell.
He said: "What we are doing is keeping girls together for the long term.
"Our side's done well so far and they've shown a huge enthusiasm to learn and improve their football."
In recent matches against Lenzie's boys club, the girls won one game and drew the other.
With the female game following a ''summer football'' calendar, the club is actively seeking girls.
Please see www.rossvale.com for more information.
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Wednesday 30 May 2012
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