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.

Next season's Wortley FC Under 16's Boys are looking for a goalkeeper for their existing squad. The team will play in the Premiership of the Leeds & District Junior Football League next season as well as competing in 3 cup competitions. Currently pre season training is taking place on a Thursday evening between 6pm and 7.30pm. The team have a new kit sponsor for next season and are looking to provide training wear for all registered players through additional sponsorship. If you are interested and were born between 01/09/1994 and 31/08/1995 then please contact Ashley Kearsley 07772 662 123 or email ashley.kearsley@wortleyfc.co.uk for further details and to arrange to come along to a training session.

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.

Wortley FC Under 7's squad have received sponsorship from West North West Homes to kit out the entire 30 player squad with a brand new track suit in time for their debut in the GArforth League Under 8's Friendly League next season. West North West Homes is a non profit making organsition set up by Leeds City Council to manage and improve housing stock in the West Leeds area. The club plan to assist the organisation in community based events over the coming months.
Pictured below are the Under 7's squad, smartly dressed in their new tracksuits before a recent game, at Cobden Primary School, against our Under 8's squad.
The club would like to thank West North West Homes for their fantastic support.

Wortley FC Under 8's have had a very large  squad of 30 players who been taking part in the Garforth  Friendly League and games against Charles Rice teams We have had a really good season with the blues  P 27 W16 D5 L6  Goals  F 116 A 43 and the Whites P24  W18 D2 L4 goals F 113 A 27. As you can see from the statistics hopefully we  will have 2  strong  teams for next season as we go all out COMPETETIVE!!  With 6 points the target for every game. Whether we get that I don’t know but I am quietly confident. We will be at the right end of the table. On a final note I would  like to say big thank you to all the players the parents (for coping with my dodgy texts) and coaches for a very enjoyable season.
Players player of the year : David O Brien,  Parents player of the year : Josh Caan, Managers player of the year : Harry Hewson, Most Improved/Clubman : Oliver Moore, Golden Boot Blues : Euan Ferguson , Golden Boot Whites : Alfie Goddard.

Dominic "To Suit" Ferguson, Under 8's Team Manager.

Wortley FC recently donated a £350 Baker Ross voucher to three local primary schools for them to purchase art & crafts material for their schools. The voucher was won by a parent of our Under 8's team who used the club's fundraising website www.easyfundraising.org.uk/wortleyfc to purchase items and was then entered into the draw of which the top prize was the £350 vouchern. The club decided to allocate the voucher and split it three ways to Whingate, Five Lanes and Cobden Primary schools. These schools are very supportive of the clubs school project work and also allow the club to stage their mini soccer matches on a Sunday.
Pictured below is Dominic Ferguson, Under 8's Team Manager, presenting the teachers and students from the three primary schools with their voucher.

Wortley FC Under 16's Girls team are heading for Denmark at the end of July to attend the Dana Cup. The 28^th annual Dana Cup is the world’s biggest international football tournament in which 850 teams from over 45 countries compete. Wortley are the only girl representatives from the UK. With 30% of the teams being female it shows how the girls’ game is growing throughout the world. It will represent an opportunity for our girls to meet thousands of young people from all around the world. With trainers, leaders, parents, referees and supporters from all around the world, Dana Cup is again expecting more than 25.000 people to join in celebrations!
The girls will be leaving Leeds on 25^th July travelling to Stansted Airport for the flight to Aarhus in Denmark where the organisers have arranged the transfer to the school where we will be staying.
The Gala starts on Monday afternoon, the opening ceremony begins with participating teams parading through the town with their fellow country teams. The evening finishes with a rock concert.
Tuesday is the start of the football with leagues of 4 or 5 teams. In the evening, the entertainment is a disco for 2000 people. (There is a leader’s dinner for the more mature).
Wednesday/ Thursday sees another round of league matches again followed by a disco.
On Friday the teams split into A&B Cup competitions, again followed by discos and bbq’s. Saturday is the day of the finals. We travel back in the evening.
3 meals a day are provided in marquees by the Dana Cup people and all transport between the pitches and city centre is free.
It is costing the team approx £460 per player to attend this tournament; we have saved the money over the last 2 years mainly from the many bag packing events at Morrison’s, which seemed a bind at the time but very worthwhile now. We were also lucky and grateful to have received £1,500 in sponsorship from Airline Connections, our shirt sponsor this year. TD Waterhouse have bought each of the players a Tour Hoodie. We still have a bag pack at ASDA coming up along with a car boot sale to be attended by several of the parents, and for which we are still collecting items to sell. In all the whole event will have cost us around £6000 but it is certain to be something the girls will remember for a long time.

Wortley FC Open Age teams landed a double league title success in the Yorkshire Old Boys League. Our Men's 2nd team won the Division 1 title and the Men's 3rd team won the Division 3 title. Our three open age teams have been very successful in this league and have won six league titles and won one cup competition.