More glory for Sunderland primary school's footballers

The girls team from St Benet’s RC Primary’s girls team lifted the County Cup back in December 2022, beating Rickleton in a penalty shoot-out and confirming the Fulwell Road school as having the best team in County Durham.

This meant that in March the team travelled to the academy of Liverpool FC to represent Durham in a prestigious inter-county tournament.

They have now added Northern Cross Cup. The tournament is contested by schools across the Catholic diocese of Hexham & Newcastle, which includes historic County Durham and Northumberland.

St Benet’s won the final 1-0 in a tight match against a Newcastle team, who pointedly wore black and white stripes for the occasion.

This was followed by their triumph in the Jill Scott Cup, named after the former England and Sunderland legend, which is entered by schools across Sunderland. They beat Bernard Gilpin Primary of Houghton 2-0 in another tough final.

The format which the girl’s play is seven-a-side. Players are Years 5 and 6 pupils, meaning they are aged nine to 11.

Some of the team will leave for secondary school in the summer, but St Benet’s teacher and football coach Tom Rose is still looking forward to the future.

He said: “There are four Year 5s who have been in the team. One of the Year 5 defenders was picked for the Sunderland Primary team, which is very rare. But we will still have her next year and she’s a rock at the back. We had three players in total in the Sunderland team.

“The girls are a credit to themselves. They’ve been training with me now for three or four years working their way up to Year 6.

"It’s a testimony to their hard work and the teamwork that they’ve all put in over the years.

“They’ve played brilliant football this year. Everyone they’ve played has commented, not only on their winning, but how well they’ve played.”

Mr Rose was actually the founder of the Jill Scott Cup, which was first contested in 2019.