Orkney and Shetland joined forces to help ensure a better future for girls’ and women’s football on the Northern Isles.
The inaugural girls’ football inter-island tournament took place last weekend in Kirkwall, with under-13s, under-15s and under-17s sides from both islands taking part.
More than 50 Shetlanders travelled to Orkney for the occasion.
Kirsty Brown, who plays for Kirkwall City, and Orkney Women player Katie Foulis collaborated with Shetland Girls Football secretary Adam Priest to get the tournament off the ground.
They managed to secure £5,000 worth of funding from Scottish Sea Farms which paid for pitches, trophies and medals, a celebratory dinner, as well as the travel and accommodation costs of the Shetland players.
Brown, who also works for Scottish Sea Farms, believes the tournament is a sign of the progress that has been made, but reckons that it has also been a reminder of the work that can still be done.
Brown said: “The tournament was great and the atmosphere was just fantastic all day. Shetland won for each age group, but it’s early days for Orkney, and it just gives us ideas to run with for next year.
“Women and girls’ football here is in a good place, but it could be in a lot better place. We’re at the stage now where we have to make sure there is the option for all ages and levels.
“The girls who are a bit older now, at under-14s and under-15s, there is a future for them to play in the Highlands and Islands League, if they want to do that, but that is at quite a high level.”
The SWF Highlands and Islands League is currently the only option for women’s football in Orkney, however, Brown’s team, Kirkwall City, have withdrawn from the division this season. Shetland does not have a team in the league.
Brown added: “Not everyone will want to play competitively, so we need to think, do we want to set-up something less competitive, which would be aimed towards the recreational enjoyment of the game.
“There’s such a wide variety of players now. We’re getting young girls in primary school wanting to play, so we need to make sure that as they get older we don’t lose them because of a lack of options.”
Looking ahead to a bigger future for girls’ and women’s football
With the tournament being the first of its kind, it meant that it was the first time some of the Orkney girls had played in or against an all-girls team. For others, it was their first time playing in any sort of competitive match.
Brown said: “It was a massive learning curve for all the girls. We had one girl come from Sanday, which is a 90-minute ferry ride, and girls from all over the mainland came as well.
“They all integrated really well considering some of them hadn’t played with each other before. None of the girls had played 11-a-side before either, so it was a new experience for the under-15s and under-17s.
“The under-13s team was really young, but it’s early days for them and there’s clearly an appetite out there for the team to grow. We can hopefully build on that and grow the team for next year.”
And, while the tournament was held in Orkney this year, Brown hopes the islands can alternate hosting duties if the competition becomes a permanent fixture in the Northern Isles sporting calendar.
She added: “We’re hoping that we can alternate between Shetland and Orkney each year.
“We have a great backing from Scottish Sea Farms and the football set-up in Orkney is more than happy to help out in any way.
“After this year, we’re all very keen to see where it goes.
“Last weekend was about just getting it off the ground. We want to keep going now and build on this every year so girls can keep playing.”
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