A TEAM of schoolgirl footballers have done their town proud in a national tournament.

And the girls, from Branksome Heath Middle School, were properly kitted out for the occasion after an appeal through the Daily Echo.

The team could not wear their black-and-pink kit after winning through to the English Schools’ Football Association Under-12 Five-a-Side Cup, because of FA rules forbidding anybody but referees to wear black.

After an appeal through the Daily Echo, kit sponsorship came in from the Steve Bernard Foundation, Neil Bichard and Team Jobs.

The team achieved the best placing of any girls from Poole in the finals in Derby and were the first squad from Branksome Heath to take part in a national sporting final.

Headteacher Stuart Fox said: “They won one, lost one and drew one and therefore didn’t go to the grand final but the team that beat them did and won the competition.

“To play in national finals and be as close as it was shows how well they have developed as a team and although there was disappointment for not winning, they have achieved the best placing of any girls from Poole and the first from Branksome Heath in a national sporting final.”

The team thanked their kit sponsors, as well as Tesco and Sainsbury’s for providing food for the journey; Dorset FA for named shirts; and AFC Bournemouth for inviting them to parade on the pitch at Dean Court before the tournament.

Mr Fox also thanked the Daily Echo for its coverage. “Without the coverage given, the girls would not have had such a special memory and the great support,” he said.

“The staff and parents who went with them and have supported them throughout the years have created a very special time in the lives of these Year 7 girls.”

It's a blind match

Pupils at Branksome Heath also tried visually impaired football thanks to their local Sainsbury’s.

Staff from the Talbot Heath branch visited after reading in the Echo about the girls’ football success. They gave the team a gift card to buy food for their trip to Derby, as well as providing bottled water for the tournament.

They also helped pupils try visually-impaired football as part of a campaign to get young people to experience a Paralympic sport.