In the build up to the ESFA’s very First Super League National Final, we delve a little deeper into the teams battling it out for this prestigious title.
Wednesday 19 May 2021 will see Park View Academy from Durham take on the John Madejski Academy (JMA) from Reading in the long awaited 2019/20 season finale for the ESFA U18 Super League.
The two teams will travel to Birmingham City’s St Andrews Stadium, a suitable arena for two top footballing sides to fight for this prestigious title. Unfortunately due to ongoing restrictions no spectators will be allowed attend the event. The good news is that the final will be live-streamed from the ground and available to watch via the ESFA’s YouTube channel, ESFA TV, with full commentary throughout.
So Lets meet our finalists…
Park View School
Park View Academy of sport are formally apart of Carlisle United’s academy structure and have strong ties with the League two side. 7 players from Park View’s squad have trained and played within Carlisle’s academy setup even training around their first team and attending their preseason tour to Hungary. Back in 2019 some of the squad travelled to Thailand to play the Thailand national side.
Park View School started their Super League campaign in Group A (North East) and came away easy winners winning all 7 of their group stage match ups. A 9-2 win over York College certainly caught the attention of others in the competition and gave them momentum to claim a demanding 10-1 win over Barnsley College in the round of 32. The next round saw them face a strong Ashton-on-Mersy School who battled hard to take the tie to a penalty shootout. The team from Durham kept their nerve and won the penalty shootout setting up an away trip to Bishop Burton College in the Quarter Finals. Park View School reasserted their dominance in this round with a comfortable 5-2 victory. After a long break due to the pandemic, Park View School made the trip to Quorn FC at the end of April to play Millfield School from the South West for the Semi Finals. This game was full of twists and turns but Park View secured a spot in the final with a 4-0 win. This match is available to watch in full or as highlights over on our YouTube channel ESFA TV.
Park View School have scored an impressive 44 goals from 9 games so far in the competition and only conceded 9, emphasising their formidable talent at both ends of the pitch.
See Park View’s Squad for the national final below:
| Squad Number | Player Name |
| 1 | James Anderson |
| 2 | Cameron Mcharg |
| 3 | Josh Crews |
| 4 | Harrison Clark |
| 5 | Ben Milburn |
| 6 | Sean Dippenaar |
| 7 | Ben Ramsey |
| 8 | Cameron Brewis |
| 9 | Joe Malone |
| 10 | Michael Spellman |
| 11 | Jonathon Chrisp |
| 12 | Jackson Ward |
| 13 | Liam Paul |
| 14 | Taylor Robinson |
| 15 | Tom Shanley |
| 16 | Louis Calvert |
John Madjeski Academy (JMA)
JMA Academy which was established in 2008 and has strong links with EFL Championship side Reading FC have a history of success in ESFA competitions winning the U18 National Schools’ Cup back in 2012. Five of the squad playing in this national final also won the U18 team national final in 2019 which was hosted at Shrewsbury FC with Joe Whiter receiving Man of the Match and Will Okine-Peters getting on the scoresheet.
JMA started the Super League competition in Group 1 (South Central) and came out of the group unbeaten, with a standout 9-2 win over Farnborough Sixth Form College making them a team to watch going into the knockout stages. The Knockout stages kicked off with a tight 3-1 win over Wilson’s School before an 8-3 goal fest in the round of 16 vs Wentworth International College. The Quarter Final stage saw JMA host worthing college and narrowly escape knockout with a 1-0 victory before facing a strong SEEVIC College Side in the semi-final. On the day they came away with a 4-0 victory to book their ticket to the St Andrew’s Stadium for this much anticipated final. JMA have scored 35 goals on their way to the final with Ezio Touray scoring 10 and Will Okine-Peters and Joe Waight both chipping in with 6. They have also only conceded 13 goals in 8 games on their route to the final showing that their strength doesn’t solely lie in their attacking threat.
See JMA’s squad for the national final below:
| Squad Number | Player Name | |
| 1 | JOE WHITER | |
| 3 | LUKE DONVILLE | |
| 4 | HARVEY POPE | |
| 5 | KIAN LEAHY | |
| 8 | OLLIE ALLEN | |
| 9 | EZIO TOURAY | |
| 10 | WADE MUTTITT | |
| 15 | RAPH AKLOBESSI | |
| 19 | WILL OKINE-PETERS | |
| 22 | LEYTON BASTERFIELD | |
| 24 | MARCO DE SOUSA | |
| 7 | TOBY RAGGETT | |
| 11 | HARVEY HARRY | |
| 17 | JACOB ROBERTS | |
| 18 | JOE WAIGHT | |
| 34 | BRYAN NDAH |
Make sure you tune into the final on ESFA TV at 2pm on Wednesday 19th May for what is certain to be a top quality game of football. The ESFA Social channels ( @schoolsfootball) on twitter and Instagram will be following the final so make sure to give them a follow to get score updates and behind the scenes footage.
The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.