Girls Go For Goal At Scouting Tournament

A unique football tournament took place at Curzon Ashton’s Tameside Stadium in the hope of identifying a future Lioness.

The event was organised and coordinated by Emma Toone, School Games Organiser at the Tameside School Sports Partnership, and Mike Melvin, Managing Director at 3v3 UK - the UK’s largest 3v3 tournament organiser.

More than 100 girls from across Greater Manchester took part in the competition last Thursday -  less than 24 hours after the Lionesses opened their Euro 2022 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Austria in front of 69,000 fans at Old Trafford.

England, captained by Arsenal defender Leah Williamson, claimed the three points thanks to Beth Mead’s effort in the 16th minute.

It’s hoped that the competition, which is taking place at different stadiums in England, including Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane and Brighton’s Amex Stadium, will increase the appeal of the women’s game and help to  break down gender barriers.

The tournament at Curzon, the first of its kind in the UK, was deemed a great success and there are now hopes it will become an annual event on the school sport calendar.

Emma, whose niece Ella Toone plays for England, said she was delighted with the turnout and believes the women’s game will only get stronger with such competitions on offer. Speaking to Reporter Sport, she said: “The Football  Association came to us and asked if we would like to organise and host this talent event, and we said yes because  we try to push every girl to their potential in Tameside. It’s gone down really well, we have more than 100 girls from schools across Greater Manchester, who have all been nominated to play. It’s a 3 vs 3 tournament, so there’s lots of ball movement and skills, and the FA talent scouts are here to represent England and hopefully identify some girls.”

Meanwhile, Mike, who has a long history in the sport, said the standard on offer was much better than he initially expected and is confident that the women’s game, if more opportunities are made available, will prosper. “This is our first school girls’ event that we’ve done in the country. We’ve done several of these events for clubs and for players that have been referred, but  this is the first school-based competition, at the home of football in Manchester, and we’ve been really impressed with everyone.”

Natalie Klays, head of PE at All Saints Catholic College, Dukinfield, said: “It’s an amazing opportunity for all the girls to be potentially identified by a scout, but to also just play against loads of other girls from different schools across the region. We took some girls to the England game and they were buzzing, especially with 69,000 fans in the stadium. It’s having a knock-on effect in other sports as well but girls’ football is definitely flourishing.”

England were back in action on Monday night and made a statement of intent, crushing Norway 8-0.

You can watch our video feature on the event on the sports section of our website, www.questmedianetwork.co.uk.