Dronfield's first Under 9 Girls!
25 Nov 2007

The team was first formed in 2005 and was one of the first Under 9 girls teams in the Sheffield and Hallamshire league. In its first season the team finished mid-table, but established itself as one of the better teams in the division. The team won the Fair Play award for the first time.

Amongst the team were a number of Under 8s, some of whom were progressing well enough to establish themselves as equals to their older colleagues. At the end of the season the team divided, with some younger players staying down to help form another Under 9s side and three under 10s and three under 9s going up to the Under 10s.

Six new players were recruited to add to the six that came up and another successful season followed. The side finished mid-table, but fared really well in a number of tournaments, winning the Steel City tournament, losing in the final of the Brampton tournament, in the semi-final of the Dronfield tournament and getting through to the semi-final of the Manchester Footie Chick tournament, knocking out Everton Ladies on the way. At the end of the season we again won the Fair Play Award and had a lot to celebrate when three girls were selected for the Sheffield United Centre of Excellence, which represents all of South Yorkshire. No other side had more than two girls selected.

Unfortunately this meant another round of recruitment and the 2007-8 season started with another six girls joining the team, but they soon settled in and are now indistinguisable from the more experienced players. Over the 2007-8 season the team developed in preparation for the 11-a-side game in 2008-9. We held our own in most games with only one mebarassing defeat.

At the end of the 2007-8 season we were relegated and lost yet another player to a Centre of Excellence, this time to the Derbyshire Centre and again we needed to recruit more players so as to have a big enough squad to see us through the whole season.

2008-9 PROMOTION SEASON!
A great season with the U12s in first or second spot all season. We put a great unbeaten run together before Xmas to go top and finished second at the end. Again we recruited six new players to build a squad of 16. Throughout the season our ability to pass the ball and play good football helped to beat the more physical sides