Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dundee East Girls team to go National
A DUNDEE girls football team has become the first in the city to be accepted into a new, elite level league,
Dundee East Girls’ under 15’s team has been accepted into the new Scottish Women’s Football (SWF) National Academy Programme – with the top teams from across Scotland coming together to form an elite level league.
Having started out just seven years ago as an afterschool club at Forthill Primary in Broughty Ferry, the girls will now face the cream of Scottish girls football, with the likes of Rangers and Celtic among the opposition.
The latest news caps a hugely successful few months for the team, which has seen them win leagues, cups and call-ups to the national Boys and Girls Clubs Scotland team.
Head coach Gareth Dailly said: “It’s a fantastic achievement for our club.
“Dundee East will now be the sole representatives from the East Region of Scotland in the National Academy Programme U16 league.
“It’s a meteoric rise from the afterschool club we started at Forthill Primary seven years ago.
“We will now be competing with the likes of Rangers and Celtic on a weekly basis. We are so very proud of the girls’ achievements. It has taken years of dedication and hard work.
“However we are very aware that we will now have to raise our levels again to achieve success at this level.
“Our overall aim as a team is to provide a platform for local girls to showcase their talents at national level.
“We want to help ambitious girls to get the recognition they need to make a career from football or sport in general.
“It’s been a fantastic year for Dundee East Girls. Back in December, Dundee East won the East Region U15 league despite being an U14 team.
“Then in May, Dundee East were crowned Blackpool Cup champions. The East team currently have numerous players in the Regional Performance under 14 and under 16 programmes and eight players in the team were recently selected for the BGC Scotland U15 team.
“There are fantastic opportunities out there now for girls in football and Dundee East aim to help local girls to reach their goals”
Dundee East are currently looking for players born between 2007 and 2008 to join the team for the National Academy Programme U16 team.
Email head coach Gareth Dailly at garethdailly6@mail.com to find out more.