Shrimps to stage major schools tournament.
MORECAMBE Football Club’s Globe Arena is set to stage a festival of football on Tuesday with more than 20 local schools taking part in a major tournament that could see them end up playing at Wembley Stadium.
A total of 22 primary schools have entered teams to play in the EFL Cup which is being organised by Morecambe FC Community Sports team.
This year the competition has as added bonus as all games will take place on the first team pitch at the Globe Arena with all the youngsters being given the chance to emulate their Shrimps’ heroes.
Janet Preston, from the Community Trust, said: “This is a massive tournament and one of the highlights of the year for local schools.
“Following the unforeseen closure of the Community Building and 3G pitches on Friday last week, thereby putting the staging of the schools Community Cup in jeopardy, the board of directors acted quickly on trustee advice to ensure the first team pitch at the Globe Arena was made available”
She added: “In the past we have two local schools win through the local and regional heats to play at Wembley and it would be great to see another local school do that this year.
“This year’s event though is bigger and better than ever before and is being played on the main pitch at the Globe which will be a massive boost for the youngsters taking part.’’
The EFL Kids and Girls Cups are national tournaments for junior footballers which offers children the once in a lifetime opportunity to play at Wembley Stadium.
Combined, the Cups involve over 20,000 children and create one of the country’s largest national football competitions, which culminate in exciting finals at Wembley Stadium in front of thousands of fans before a major national final, as schoolchildren live out their dream.
The competition which inspires children to be active, healthy, and develop a strong sense of teamwork, discovered Derby County star Will Hughes, while David Beckham’s former school Chase Lane Primary walked away as 2013/14 Kids Cup League 1 winners, representing Leyton Orient.
The EFL Kids Cup comprises of a six-a-side competition for U11 schoolchildren and culminates in three finals across the Sky Bet Football League Play-Off weekend in May.
The road to the finals starts when the new school term starts. Each EFL club organises a Kids Cup local competition for all local schools wishing to take part.
The 72 clubs are first split into three divisions, in line with club’s divisional status, before being again split into two groups, north and south. The winners of the divisional northern and southern finals will then qualify for the chance to play before the Sky Bet Football League Play-Off Final of the relevant division.
Many clubs play the final of their local competition at their home stadium before a first team game. The winners of that competition then go on to represent the club in the Area, Regional and National phases of the competition, where they will face schools representing other League clubs.
Schools taking place in the competition are:
Bolton-le-Sands
Moorside
Mossgate
Skerton St Lukes
Trumacar
Willow Lane
Greatwood
Nether Kellet
Over Kellet
Ryelands
St Bernadettes
St Peters
Grosvenor Park
Lancaster Road
North Road
Overton
Slyne with Hest
Bowerham
Dolphinholme
Halton
Holme
Ridge
Westgate
The games will commence at 10.30am.