We have a quick look back at the achievements of the England U15 Schoolgirls’ in the, rather unusual, 2019/20 season ahead of some new video content from some of our players.
The England U15 Schoolgirls’ final squad was announced back in December 2019, following a number of trials across the North, Midlands, South East and South West of England. All trialists were nominated by their local County Schools’ FA and put forward to the ESFA to show off their skills with the hope of being chosen to be a part of the final squad.
Following selection, January saw the girls attend a shirt presentation ceremony hosted by ESFA Council Member and former Chairman, John Martin at Charterhouse School in Surrey, where they went on to play their first friendly match against their ISFA counterparts, in which the ESFA squad drew 2-2. The girls being the first of the two ESFA England squads to model the season’s new kits, sponsored for the first time, by Utilita.
February saw the U15 girls join the U18 boys in a sports tour, courtesy of ESFA’s partners inspiresport, on a trip to PSV Eindhoven. The girls enjoyed several days of activities and tours, including two friendly matches against Dutch teams, one of which they won and the other they drew, culminating in a fantastic experience for the team and allowing them to spend some time together to help develop their team bond. You can watch a short video featuring some of the girls as they talk about their PSV experience here –
The girls visited Ireland in March to take part in the John Read Trophy against their ROI counterparts, which they won 2 – 1. The girls were then due to host Scotland, ROI, Northern Ireland and Wales at Lilleshall NSC in April for the Bob Docherty Tournament, to end their international season, however these fixtures were unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since COVID-19
During lockdown, the players spent time helping us create content for the ESFA’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe, Stay Active” campaign and helped to create a chain video featuring their team members –
The girls also helped us create a ‘heart for heroes’ that we were able to share across our social media channels to say ‘thank you’ to the countless key workers that were helping to keep the country going during the pandemic and beyond.
Since then, a handful of the girls were interviewed about being selected for the ESFA’s England squad and about girls’ football as a whole – over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing this new and positive video content across our social channels, to continue to celebrate the girls’ achievements, despite the season’s untimely close.
Keep an eye on the ESFA’s social channels (@SchoolsFootball on instagram and Twitter and www.youtube.com/esfatv) for these upcoming posts from this season’s squad.
The National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England.
