On the 24th April 2010, the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA representative team will walk out on to the pitch at the Priestfield Stadium, Gillingham to play the most important game that the County FA representative team has been involved with since the County FA last won the competition back in 1964.
The representative team have won the FA County Youth Cup competition on two previous occasions in 1953 and 1964. This will be the fourth time the team has reached the final after also finishing runners-up in 1955.
The Sheffield & Hallamshire FA representative team will play last year’s runners-up Kent FA. Kent FA will be looking to go one better against their South Yorkshire opponents, after they lost to Birmingham FA in the 2009 final. This is also the fourth final date for Kent FA after coming runners-up on three occasions in 1978, 1982 and last year.
The Final, will not only be the most important game for the County FA but is undoubtedly the biggest game that the teams young players have taken part in their careers.
Club Captain, Michael Carr and Team Captain, Nick Galloway said “This is the biggest competition to take part in for our age group aside from the FA Youth Cup for the professional club academies so we are really proud of what the team has achieved and we have all really taken our progress seriously. All the team have wanted to do is their very best. The best thing now that we can do as a team is to go on and win the final.
The Captains went on to add “All the players are really excited and can not wait for the final; this is the biggest game of our careers so the spirit within the team is great. We are all ready and waiting for the final, it is going to be a great occasion for us and all our family and friends.”
The representative team is made up of youngsters selected from Sheffield & Hallamshire FA affiliated clubs plus others that have put themselves forward for trial.
Players selected for the representative team are the most promising and talented players from all the clubs within the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA region. Competing at this prestigious level provides invaluable experience and exposure for the young players.
Mel Woodhall, Jon Gray and Terry Simon who make up the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA representative playing management team all have a wealth of experience at various levels between them working at Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Scunthorpe United at their Academies and Centre of Excellences.
Manager, Mel has been involved with the team for many years “Our last sniff at success in this competition came in the mid 90`s when I was assistant manager to John Warnock. The team reached the semi final stage twice in three years playing Birmingham on both occasions and only losing out by the odd goal.”
Mel took over from John in 2002 and since have been a Yo-Yo team, getting promoted to the Northern Counties Youth Division one season and relegated the next.
Mel added “In order to improve our playing standards to achieve our 5 year goal of regaining promotion to Division 1 and reaching the Youth Cup Final, we worked hard to get the local clubs on side with Sheffield & Hallamshire FA so we were able to select the right calibre of player for us to compete with the best in the country.
On the 24th April 2010, we will play in the final of the Youth County Cup. In the league we were promoted last season to Division 1 and following a win against local rivals West Riding in our final game we secured third place and our Division 1 status for next season so it is safe to say that we have achieved our objectives for the team.”
Everyone involved with Sheffield & Hallamshire FA are extremely proud of achievements of the team in the FA County Youth Cup and also the league and would like to wish them the best of luck for final.