Club News

Wortley FC  Under 10's & Under 12's Girls team are looking for new players in all positions for the coming season. These are new teams for the coming season and they will play in the West Riding Girls League next season on a Sunday. Training will take place once a week on a Friday at Whingate Primary School. Their home matches will be played at the same venue If you are interested and were born between 01/09/1998 and 31/08/1999 for the Under 12's and 01/09/2000 and 31/08/2001 for the Under 10's then please contact Jamie Grand on 0113 225 8353 or 0795 499 7168 or email jgrand05@aol.com further details and to arrange to come along to a training session.

The Wortley FC  Tournament is this Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd August and is the major fundraising event of the year for the club. All proceeds from this event cover some of the running costs of the club which ultimatley ensures that the subscription fees and membership fees are one of the lowest in the area of Leeds.
The event has grown in size over the years and is now too big for the handful of committee members and team managers who give up their weekend to ensure that the tournament runs smoothly.
Whilst most of the tasks are covered we require additional volunteers to help with the car parking arrangements to ensure that the tournament starts on time and also that the residents of Farnley are not inconvenienced. The car parking role will start around 8.30am and finish at 10am. We are also looking for volunteers to help sell programmes at the entrance and also around each age group.
Finally, whilst we have a number of qualified referees attending the tournament we would greatly appreciate any assistance with officiating some of the games.
Any person who is willing to volunteer their services should contact Roy Kearsley on 0796 702 8220 or email roy.kearsley@wortleyfc.co.uk

Your contribution will be greatly appreciated by the club.

Wortley FC  Under 17's Boys 'WHITES', team are looking for new players in all positions for the coming season. The team will play in Championship of the Leeds & District Junior Football League next season on a Sunday. Training will take place once a week on a Wednesday evening on the astroturf 3G pitch at Holy Family. Their home matches will be played at New Farnley Cricket Club. If you are interested and were born between 01/09/1993 and 31/08/1994 then please contact Simon Wilson on 07711 857761 or email swilson567@googlemail.com for further details and to arrange to come along to a training session.

Wortley FC Under 14's Boys were recently selected to represent the City Of Leeds to participate in the prestigious ACES Tournament. This event is an invitation only national tournament for teams who have excelled in their respective league/cup competitions during the 2009/2010 season. Having lead the Garforth Junior League Division 1 for the majority of last season, the team eventually finished runners up and also won the Leeds FA Millennium Cup at Elland Road. In recognition of this achievement the tournament organisers invited the team to take on some of Englands best junior teams who had also acheived similar successes over last season. The team were very honoured to be recipients of their invitation to represent their city of Leeds.
The players and parents had travelled down the night before and stayed in a local hotel before travelling the short distance to the tournament venue. The tournament was held at the superb facilities at Harborough Town FC, Market Harborough, Leicestershire last Saturday.
Twenty four equally matched teams from both North and South came head to head in a 4 group, 6 team format with only the top 2 team proceeding into the 1/4 final knockout stages of the competition. The opening ceremony started with all team captains on stage to perform the draw to see which town/cities were grouped together in the first stages of the competition. Wortley (Leeds) were drawn in the same group with teams representing Bolton, Worcester, Leicester City, Runcorn and Leicester South.
Wortley opened up the group B fixtures and suprisingly the team lost their first game against Runcorn 1-2 despite taking the lead and after having the majority of the possession. During the game the team hit both the crossbar and post and also missed a penalty and had plenty of chances. The opening Wortley goal came from Jason Prior. 
Our second group game saw us draw against Leicester City 0-0 which the team deserved to win after enjoying the better chances and dominating possession. Despite a shaky start, the Under 14's rallied to win their remaining three group games in style against South Worcester 2-1 (Anthony Doyle, Bradley Pearson), Bolton 2-1(Connor Hodgson, Anthony Doyle) and Leicester South 2-0 with a left and right foot brace from Connor Hodgson which ensured the team finished runners up in Group B and qualified for the knockout stages with 10 points. Runcorn topped our group with 11 points.
The quarter final pitched us against Newcastle in tough, physical and uncompromising battle which ended 0-0 after normal time. The game then went into the "golden goal" stage where after every 2 minutes each team had to withdraw a player from the game. A spectacular one handed save from Conor Crossley denied the Newcastle No8 a certain goal which kept Wortley in the competition. After 5 player withdrawals, 12 minutes of extra time and both teams fielding only six players, Connor Hodgson hit a cracking shot from 18 yards, which was reminiscent of Geoff Hirst's 1966 World Cup goal, which hit the under side of the crossbar and the ball crashed onto the goaline. Such was the ferocity of the shot it spun backwards into the roof of the net to send the strong contingent of Wortley supporters into raptures ! 
After the epic battle, the team had a break to gather their breath. We then faced a team from Manchester (Middleton Juniors) in the semi final. Again this was another tough encounter, as it was reported that the Manchester team had not lost a game in 3 years. Wortley soon put a dent in that record when Taf Mumbanya popped up at the far post to nod in the only goal of the game to put Wortley into the final that they only dared dreamed about when they arrived at the tournament at 9am.
With the sun setting, and the clock reaching 7pm, the final began. It was Wortley (Leeds) vs Woodford Youth (Essex). Our finalists had an impressive run to the final winning 6 out of their 7 games and this was going to be our strongest test of the tournament. They had the player of the tournament who had knocked in a couple of goals in each game they had played. We had to be at our best if we were to win the title. Wortley started the strongest team and pressed the Essex goal in an onslaught corners. We deservedly took the lead, when Keiran Thompson headed in another set piece much to the delight of our supporters. Essex got back into game as the first half came to and end and equalised with a well taken goal.
The second half was very much like the first with both teams going flat out to win. Emotions spilled over on the pitch but with an experienced referee and level heads in both camps this was quickly difused and the game proceeded without further incident.
Both teams had opportunities to win the game but the deciding goal came from the Essex frontman who had been prolific in front of goal all day and had the scouts from professional clubs watching his every move. 

When we arrived at the tournament, given the quality of teams in attendance who had won their respective leagues, our ambitions were to at least get out of the group stages. To reach the final and play excellent football over a ten hour period and eight games was a fantastic acheivement for the team, the club and the city that they had represented. The statistics for the tournament were Played 8, Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 2, Goals For 9 Goal Against 5. Please click here to read the ACES tournament report from our cup final opponents Woodford Youth website.

   
Click on the image above to enlarge each photo.

Next season's Wortley FC Under 17's Girls are currently attending the Dana Cup tournament in Denmark. Here is the first of many updates from the camp.

The team were chosen to lead the English teams (Olympic style) in the opening ceremony of the Dana Cup in Denmark.  They took part in the 43 nation parade through the town of Hjorring, which was supported by locals and participants who lined the streets leading to the Hjorring Stadium.  The parade was headed by Australia, and the other nations, with Venezuela bringing up the rear.  
At the stadium, the Mayor of Hjorring officially opened the tournament, welcoming the 20,000 particpants and supporters who are staying in the town for the tournament week. The celebrations began with a rock concert for all prior to the start of the matches on Tuesday.  2000 matches will be played this week, on 55 different pitches.
 
This mornin(Monday 27th)  Wortley U17's Girls will begin their campaign to win the Dana Cup trophy with a match against Swedish team Sturehov IK. 
 
In common with Leeds United's pre-season game plan, we have arranged a friendly match for this afternoon against a team from Bergen in Norway who are sharing the same accommodation block. 
 
Tomorrow we will be taking on two Norwegian teams, Egge IL and Randesund IL.
 
Robert Greaves

Next season's Wortley FC Under 17's Girls team recently received their new kit in time for their participtation in the Dana Cup (see previous news items below). The kit has been kindly sponsored by the Royal Air Force who have also assisted the club with providing a number of kits and equipment over the previous years. The team has been very proactive with fundraising events which has seen them acheive a fundraising total of £6000. This has ensured that all team members will participate in the week long tournament in Denmark free of charge. Team Manager, Robert Greaves, would like to thank the Royal Air Force for their fantastic and continued support of the club. Pictured below is Team Manager Robert Greaves and coach James Basnett with the team. The team jet off this week from Stanstead to take part in the tournament.

Wortley FC Club Treasurer, Wendy Fulthorpe, recently decided not to stand for re-election of Treasurer of the Club at the AGM after 17 years involvement with the club. Over these years Wendy has seen the club grown from a small club to one of the biggest football clubs in Leeds. From next season we will run 24 Wortley FC teams. During recent seasons, the club became a registered charity which means that the club accounts are filed and audited by an independant organisation. This resulted in the accounts having to be maintained and filed electronically and with this in mind,  Wendy decided it was time for another person to take over the administration the club finances. Wendy was recently presented with a memento at a recent club event, for her long service, commitment and contribution she has given the club over the many years. Everyone at the club would like to thank Wendy for her sterling efforts and wish her well for the future. Below Wendy is pictured receiving her memento from new Club Treasurer, Ian Thackray.

Wortley FC Under 8's have received a new kit in time for their innaugural appearance in competitive football, in the Garforth Junior Football League. The kit was kindly sponsored by Metro Rod , drain care and repair specialists and was supplied by Activ8 Sporting Solutions. Under 8's Manager, Dominic Ferguson, would like to thank Metro Rod for their sponsorship of the new Prostar kit. Dominic and the team are pictured below with Danny & Walter, Directors of Metro Rod, who would like to wish the team all the success for next season.