Two Crawley teams take part in FA People's Cup finals in Sheffield
Crawley COGS (Crawley Old Girls) descended on Sheffield for the final of the FA People’s Cup on Sunday.
With two teams entered in the female veterans’ category, COGS were placed in a group with four other teams. The first match saw the two COGS teams pitched against each other in a nervous encounter. COGS 2 were the eventual winners 2-1.
The course of the day saw both teams compete in 10 minute matches against Football Unites, Racism Divides, N16FC, Hackney Jurassics and the Wolfies. Despite a heroic effort by both COGS teams, it was FURD and Hackney Jurassics who made it to the final, with Hackney eventually winning 4-0.
Despite the results, COGS had a fantastic day. All games were played in good spirits with teams supportive of each other. Following the games, contact details were exchanged with the view of running a summer tournament. All have pledged to do their bit to get more teams involved next year.
Carol Bates is one of the original members of COGS, and has been influential in the success of the programme. She said: “This time last year the COGs (Crawley Old Girls) was just a dream.
"Since then, we have gathered together a large group of older ladies for a kick-about every Thursday night and COGs have gone from strength to strength, with the coaching delivered by the club’s Community Foundation. It really has changed the lives of some of our ‘Old Girls.’
“The FA People's Cup has been one of the highlights of the last 11 months and something none of our ladies would have imagined being involved with. It was a fantastic event and shows that there are women out there, of an older age, who just love to play football.
"Now we need to find more of those ladies so they get to enjoy it as much as we do.”
Amy Fazackerley, who runs the sessions for the Community Foundation, said: “The ladies should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved over the past year. Their commitment to raising the profile of ‘older’ ladies football has been fantastic.
"They are so passionate about getting others into the sport and have worked tirelessly to promote and inspire others. To get to a national final less than a year after first kicking a ball is an incredible achievement. It was brilliant to see the teams interacting with each other. It was a day full of laughter, with some new friendships formed.”
