Some key changes to the criteria for the 2007/08 season are as follows:
- FA Centres of Excellence may only play matches against other Centres of Excellence and not grassroots clubs.
- FA Centres will participate in a full fixture programme on saturday mornings between September and April. In our communication to leagues and clubs we have indicated that girls who sign up for the centres will not be playing club football to aid the planning and preparation for the forthcoming season. The official ruling that girls will be asked to sign up against will be that girls in the centre of excellence will play category A (international coaching and centres of excellence) and category B (schools football) games only, however, where insufficient games are provided in categories A and B a player may be released to play in Category C (club football). She may only do this with written permission of the Centre of Excellence Director and due to the full fixture programme on offer it is almost certain that girls will not be released into Category C football. It will be the responsibility of the Centre of Excellence Director to monitor the number of games that each player takes part in. This complies with Long Term Player Development and provides appropriate levels of competition.
To download the full fixture programme please click on the document opposite. If you require any more information on either centre please contact:
Middlesbrough Girls Centre Of Excellence, Craig Nicholson, 01642 451817, Craig.Nicholson@mfcp.co.uk.
North Yorkshire Girls Centre Of Excellence, Gail Colling, 07870170251 or gail@gailcolling.orangehome.co.uk.
We are delighted to announce that a North Yorkshire care provider is pitching in to help give girls football in the county a major boost. Carewatch (North and East Riding of Yorkshire) is the sponsor for the North Yorkshire Girls’ Centre of Excellence U10's squad.
Managing director Mike Padgham said he was delighted to help "Carewatch (North and East Riding of Yorkshire) is pleased to be involved with sport. There is a very strong link between physical and mental health, with football in particular being cited as a great way to keep mind and body alert".
As an organisation that helps people of all ages, including older people suffering dementia, we can clearly see the potential benefits of everyone looking after both their mental and physical health.
"A lot is already done to support boys’ and men’s football, we felt it was time to do something to support girls’ sport.”
Carewatch (North and East Riding of Yorkshire) is a Scarborough based company, providing care services in Scarborough and Filey, Bridlington, Driffield, Beverley, Goole, Whitby and Malton.