Midlands Universities League reaching Playoffs

The Midlands Universities League reaches the business end of the season with five of the eight playoff places decided. Loughborough U19s, Leicester 2s, Nottingham 1s, Warwick 1s and Coventry 1s have all booked their places in the Playoffs which start in February.

For more details check out...

http://full-time.thefa.com/DisplayNews.do?noticePlacementID=7925080&noticeID=9023902&league=6532949

England training camp dates postponed

This year's England training and selection camp on 4th and 5th January have been postponed due to the postponement of the Regional Tournament. These dates are now provisionally booked for Regional tournament.

The new dates that are being scheduled for the England training camp are the 1st and 2nd February 2010. These dates will be confirmed in due course.

British University Games - dates confirmed

England will travel to compete in this years British University Games in Scotland. This years sees Ireland complete the quartet of teams from the British Isles. This will be a chance for the England team to defend the title it won in 2008 in Edinburgh. Many of that team have gone onto great things including; Exodus Geoghaghan (Wolverhampton Uni) now a pro at Peterborough United, Rob Taylor (Worcester) at Port Vale, Johnny McClaughlin (Leeds Met) at Bradford City, Bradley Pritchard (Loughborough) and Alex Rodman (Notts Trent) doing well in the Conference with Tamworth. Both Exodus and Johnny also went on to represent Great Britain at the 2009 World University Games.

The dates for the tournament are Monday 12th - Thursday 15th April

This year will be yet another competitive tournament and a chance for the squad to compete in the only current home nations tournament at Senior Level.

England visit the Islands - dates confirmed

England will play two of the British Islands this season. They will travel to Guernsey twice in what has now become an annual fixture for the group. The first game will take place on Monday 8th February. This second date is yet to be set.

England will also play the Isle of Wight on Satudary the 8th May, where they will face Lee Bradbury's team for the first time.

Regional tournament

The regional tournament sheduled for 21st and 22nd December at Warwick has been postponed due to bad weather. No new date has been set yet. Players from Universities throughout England representing the south, north and midlands were set for the two-day tournament. The tournament itself is a big chance for the players who mad it through November trials to represent the English Universities programme in 2010.

The past two years have seen the South and Midlands win the tournament, so can the North complete the loop?

Keep an eye out on here for updates.

Exodus gets first goal!

Peterborough United got their first win under Mark Cooper. Exodus Geohaghan gets his first goal and the winner in the 2-1 home win over Watford. Exodus headed home a cross from former Non League player George Boyd.

One week to go - Will it be the North?

21st December sees the beginning of the annual Regional Tournament. In the first year the Soouth won the tournament and last year the Midlands produced two very spectular performances from the Midlands to take the title. So it looks like it is the turn of Northern Universities to take the regional tournament. The tournament is a chance for the 62 players to stake their claim to be in the England training and selection camp on 4th and 5th January.

We wish all the players and the staff the best for the two days.

Uni stars in England futsal victory!

HE players Matt Aldred (Loughborough) and Tom Obasi (Manchester) represented England Futsal in Libya as they overcame the African Champions. Both were involved in the International Futsal friendlies which took part over two days at the Tripoli Grand Hall Arena, Libya. The scores were as follows:

Libya 1-1 England, Friday 4 December 2009
Libya 1-2 England, Saturday 5 December 2009

Matt Smith turns pro in Australia

Matt Smith (UWE Hartpury) has made the leap to professional footballer in the Australian A league with Queensland Fury FC, where he will ply his trade with Robbie Fowler. Matt represented won a National title with UWE Hartpury, represented England Universities in 2007 and went onto play for Great Britain in the World Student Games in Thailand in 2007. We all wish Matt well in this great opportunity. See link below

http://www.northqueenslandfc.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=31078

Two HE players named in England Futsal squad

Matt Aldred (Loughborough) and Tom Obasi (Manchester) have been selected to play for England in Libya in an up and coming friendly. This is great news for both and shows how the HE sector is making a significant contribution to Futsal in England.

Exodus makes the jump into the Championship

Exodus Geohaghan (Wolverhampton University) who played for England Universities and captained Great Britain at this summers World Student Games has followed Mark Cooper to Peterborough United who are in the Championship. This is great news and we are all very please for him. A player that has supported the programme since his left his studies in 2008, everyone who has worked with him is very proud of his achievements.

Regional trials complete

Sunday saw all of the regional trials take place with over 160 players being looked at in the North, Midlands and South. Later this week Marc Richards, Glyn Harding and Ian Birchall will announce their squads to take part in the tournament at Warwick in December.

Former player praises the system

The link below is to Bradley's BBC column. This time he talks about his time in HE and the England team.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tamworth/8360451.stm

FA Cup 1st round brings success for students

The following students played key roles in teams winning through to the 2nd round of the FA Cup

Ben Purkiss York City York 2009 GB EU
Exodus Geohaghan Kettering Town Wolverhampton 2009 GB EU
Chris Beardsley Stevenage Borough Staffordshire Current EU
Peter Vincenti Stevenage Borough Liverpool Hope 2008
Steve Davies Forest Green UWE Hartpury Current EU
John Else Forest Green UWE Hartpury Current EU
Ben Pugh Forest Green UWE Hartpury Current EU
Matt Taylor Exeter City Bath 2007 EU
George Cozic Exeter City Bath 2007
Paul Tisdale Exeter City Bath 2005 EU
Rob Taylor Port Vale Worcester 2007 EU
Robbie Simpson Huddersfield Loughborough 2007 EU
Kevin Pilkington Notts County Staff GB EU
Jon D'Laryea Northwich Staffordshire Current
Dean Perrott Bath City Bath Current
Greg Pearson Burton Albion Birmingham Current

Regional Staff getting ready for selection headaches

Bryn Clark (Hertfordshire) Regional Manager along with the regional staff are now ready to pick 60 plus players for the three squads to compete in this years Regional Championship at Warwick commencing on 21st December. Bryn suggested "There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes going on but it is great to see that Hertfordshire, Warwick and York are going to host the selcection camps for the three regions. The staff are now all in place to make this happen and we are ready for the start of another year of representative football. Below is a list of staff for each region."

Southern Universities

Head Coach Marc Richards (UWE Hartpury)
Coach Mel Davies (UWE)
Coach Neil Cunning (Brunel)
Coach Barry Squires (Bournemouth)

Midlands Universities

Head Coach Glyn Harding (Worcester)
Coach Terry Angus (Warwick)
Coach Adrian Scriven (Birmingham)
Coach Sean Burke (Nottingham Trent)

Northern Universities

Head Coach Ian Birchall (Leeds)
Coach Mark Woodhall (Newcastle)
Coach Brian Deane (Leeds)
Coach Nick Gore (Leeds Met)

Northerners looking for first title

Ian Birchall (Leeds) is again Head Coach of Northern Universities as they bid to win their first Regional title. Working with Ian will be Nick Gore from Leeds Met and ex Sheffield United and Leeds United legend Brian Deane will be on Ian's coaching staff. Ian is holding the his selection camp at York University on Sunday 22nd November where he will be running the eye over many high quality HE players.

Steve Sharman said "Ian has done a great job over the last 12 months with the Northern team. We hope that they will this year go one better and claim the crown that in the past two years has been won by the South and the Midlands. The north has provided many players to James' last two England squads and we hope that there will be many fighting for those places this year."

Midlands prepare to defend title

Glyn Harding (Worcester) is currently preparing to select his Midlands squad on November 22nd in preparation for their defense of the Regional title, to be played at Warwick in December. This years competition looks set to be as competitive as ut has been in the past years with places in the England training camp on offer.

Bryn Clark Regional Manager said "Its a great tournament for the lads in HE. We know that there are some good players in our system and this gives us the first chance for them to shine out of their comfort zone."

Former England Captain gives something back

Marc Richards (UWE Hartpury) who has been involved in the England Universities programme now for 5 years as a player and has captained his country. It is with a great sense of pleasure that we welcome Marc on the coaching staff of the England Universities programme as Head Coach of the Southern Universities squad. Marc will commence his duties as he attempts to select a squad that will compete in the Regional Tournament at Warwick in December. We wish him every success.

Steve Sharman England Team Manager said "This is great news for the programme. Marc has made a huge contribution to HE football as a player and although he is still playing for Gloucester City he has decieded to cut his teeth at coaching. We wish Marc well and we are looking forward to seeing many other players follow in his footsteps."

England Programme update

This year will see hopefully some really exciting challenges for the group. We will be getting together a group of 40 players at the beginning of January for a training camp. The fixtures will include:

Fixture v French Universities (April)
Fixture v Guernsey FA (Away)
BUGS (England, N.Ireland, Scotland and Wales) - Scotland
Fixtures v League clubs (Leicester City, Chelsea, Notts County & Sunderland)

At the moment we are have made headway to play in Estonia in the week 2nd - 9th May to play against their U21s and Levadia (one of their stronger clubs). This will be a great opportunity for the players in the system.

The above will all be planned and finalised by January.

Regional Trials and Tournament 2009

The official forms are now out to promote this years regional trials which are taking place at Hertfordshire, Warwick and York, on the 22nd November. We are very grateful to all of those institutions who have helped support the first part of the process. The Regional tournament is booked in for the 21st and 22nd December - where the Midlands are defending champions!

Can I remind you all to make sure that players go through the process of filling the forms out - this year it should be made really straight forward as it is now to be completed online:

BUCS Website Link:

http://www.bucs.org.uk/page.asp?section=3652&sectionTitle=Representative%20Football
Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/bucsfootball

National Futsal Finals.

We wish UWE Hartpury and Loughborough the best as they are the first two student teams to play in the National Futsal Finals. The finals take place this weekend in Swindon on 24th and 25th October.

England Unis on the airwaves

England Universities Head Coach James Ellis spoke to Absolute Radio's Ed Draper over the summer as part of the recent PR drive for representative football. Click on the link below to listen.

http://www.5or6.co.uk/james%20ellis.mp3

Watch this space for more news from the England Universities as the 2009/10 season shapes up.

FA Cup match-up

England Universities stars have been drawn together in the FA Cup 4th round qualifying. Tamworth with former Loughborough star Bradley Pritchard and Notts Trent stiker Alex Rodman. Alex will come up against Notts Trent President Charlie O'Loughlin and Loughborough defender Kieran Murphy. Bradley will face his centre-mid partner at the British Universities Finals last year Liam Green, who has recently recovered from injury and looks to return at Tamworth.

England Unis stars reunited

England Universities stars were reunited at the weekend as Ilkeston Town hosted Gloucester City. Ilkeston's Charlie O'Loughlin (Notts Trent)and Kieran Murphy (Loughborough) faced Gloucester's Marc Richards (UWE Hartpury) and Will Morford (UWE Hartpury) in the Blue Square Conference North game. Both sets of players were denied bragging rights as the game ended 0-0. Mike Symons (UWE Hartpury) and Liam Green (Loughborough) both missed out on the game through injury.

Pictured: Will Morford next to Charlie O'Loughlin & Kieran Murphy

England Universities programme outline 2009 - 2010

Representative programme this year 2009 - 2010...

Kit deal for regional squads
Bryn Clark (Hertfordshire) has manged to source a sponsorhsip deal from ERREA which has allowed the programme to gain three new Regional kits for this year. We are very grateful to Bryn and ERREA for making this happen.

This year we are yet again attempting to daliver an even better product for the students in our sector. The following is what we have been working on:

Regional Programme...

Regional Trials - 22nd Sunday Novemeber
Venues North York University
Midlands Warwick University
South Hertfordshire University
The 3rd annual Regional tournament - 21st & 22nd December
Venue Warwick University
North v Midlands v South
Current champions are the MIDLANDS

National programme...

Development game

England Universities development squad v Chelsea (November 09 - date TBA)

Training and selection

- England Universities training and selection camp - Warwick University - 4th & 5th January
Going overseas
- England Universities tour to Guernsey to play National team March 2009
- England Universities tour to Estonia to play U20s and club side (in current discussions). This will include player commitment to delivering sessions in schools, football development outcomes and coaching workshops. Currently all under negotiation. May 2009

Fixtures at home

- Leicester City FC
- Sunderland FC
- Notts County FC

Representative fixtures

- Confirmation on British University Games
- England Universities v French Universities March 2009

Players are aske dto look out via BUCS Essentials and their Athletic Unions for the nomination process in the next few weeks.

2009 Football update - whats been happening?

Futsal

This year Loughborough and Hartpury will be flying the flag for the HE sector in the National Futsal finals in Swindon this year. This is a greet achievement and we wish them both very well.
Universities in the Non League pyramid

The season started for many back in July with pre season preparations for the season ahead. UWE have started well with their new partnership with Almondsbury FC in the Western League, Loughborough now in the Midland Alliance, Leeds Met in the North East Counties and Northumbrian in the Northern League have all got off to a solid start.

Player watch

It is great to see that our students are doing well in their respective club environments. The numbers of high quality players are increasing, along with the development of those that are currently playing league football. To highlight a few...Steve Davies (UWE Hartpury) is playing regularly in the Football Conference with Forest Green Rovers as is Toby Little (Brunel) who is playing for Hayes and Yeading. Ben Purkiss (York) who represented Great Britain this summer is consistently performing for York City under Martin Foyle.

We have as usual many players playing at the top level of the non league game and with 4 England C call ups from players who have come through the EU set up has been great reward for all involved.

Domestic Football

This year BUCs have moved the final now to 10th March as part of the Championships in Sheffield and john Warnock has been instrumental in helping getting Bramall Lane as a venue. This year well see University football's climax end in March for the first time in over 20 years.
Representative programme
The following email will highlight the exciting programme we are attempting to deliver for our better players this year.
Bryn and George and the Regional staff having been working really hard to get the trials etc organised and I would ask you all to ensure you and your local Universities support this process in our bid to give lads a chance to move through the programme.

Bradley Pritchard Column

Former England Universities star Bradley Pritchard who is playing for Tamworth now has his own column on the BBC website. The ex-Loughborough University ace graduated from his Masters in the summer after winning BUCS against Hartpury in the final at Loftus Road.

2008 Review

England Universities 2009 - 2010

Myself, Bryn and Steve met in the last 10 days to look at the next years format and we hope that everyone is keen to be involved and moving those on again. The format of the season will slightly change with the England squad playing two games prior to Christmas with the players that are still in the system from this season.

The regional trials and tournament will still go ahead as we have done for the last two years and will be for those players that are new to the system. We will then follow the same format as we have for the last two years.

Updates to follow from us....

British University Games 2009 - 2010

We are hoping that between Scotland, Wales and Ireland that we can have a productive conversation about the timing of the competition to allow all of the teams to get their strongest teams out to make for a great advert for HE football. Updates to follow.

Great Britain Students - Belgrade 2009

A squad will meet up next Saturday at Lilleshall but there has been no squad announcement yet...well see how many of the lads have made it.

National Pyramid

Loughborough have now been accepted at Step 5 in the Midland Football Alliance. Leeds Met will be preparing for their assault on the Northern Counties East League and Northumbria will be doing the same in the Northern League.

National League Futsal

It is great to see the University sector doing well in the National Futsal League. Hatpury are topping the Midlands Conference with Bath lying in 4th and Loughborough are currently 3rd in
Northern Conference.

FA Futsal Cup, National Finals - 3 - 5th July

In the Men's competition UWE Hartpury, Loughborough, Bath and Worcester will be trying to do well and in the Women's competition there will be Leeds Met and Loughborough trying to improve HE's position in the game.

Staff Movement

Andy Tilson (Bath) who was Head Coach of the successful Team Bath set up in the pyramid has now moved to Weymouth as assistant Manager. We all wish Andy well in his new challenge.
Summer Player Movement...up to now!

Leon McSweeney (Loughborough) has moved from Stockport County to Hartlepool. Chris Beardsley (Staffordshire) has moved from Kettering Town to Stevenage Borough. Brett Solkhon has moved from Kettering Town to newly promoted Corby Town. Dan Dillon (Bath) has moved from Team Bath to Hinckley United. Richard Pell (Loughborough) has moved from Blyth Spartans to Alfreton Town. Ashley Nicholls (Anglia) has moved from Maidenhead United to Bishop Stortford.

EU player selected for England C

Alex Rodman (Nottingham Trent) and Tamworth has been selected for the England C squad to play against Hungary on 15th September. A great achievement that follows call ups for Exodus Geohaghan and Andy Brown in the last 12 months.

Opening day of the season - Who's doing what?

Charity Shield

Tony Strudwick (Loughborough), 1st Team Fitness Coach picked up a loser medal in the curtain raiser to the Premiership season with Manchester United

Football League appearances

League One - Robbie Simpson (Loughborough) played for Huddersfield in their opening day draw with Southend United 2-2. Leon McSweeney (Loughborough) played in Hartlepool United's 0-0 against MK Dons. Paul Tisdale and Andy Tilson went down 2-1 against Leeds United with Matt Taylor playing at centre half (all Bath).League Two - Rob Taylor (Worcester) played in Micky Adams first game in charge at Port Vale as they drew 1-1 with Rochdale. GB goalkeeper Jonny McLaughlin (Leeds Met) sat on the bench as Notts County with England GK Coach Kevin Pilkington on opposite side and watched his side get beat 5-0.

Football Conference

Marc Canham (Bath) and Toby Little (Brunel) were in the Hayes and Yeading squad who went down 1-0 to Kidderminster. GB captain Exodus Geoghagon (Wolverhampton) played in the Kettering side who beat Forest Green 2-1. Ben Purkiss (York) was in the York City side who lost to Oxford United. Bradley Pritchard (Loughborough) scored and played with Alex Rodman (Notts Trent) in Tamworth's 1-1 draw with Stevenage who had Peter Vincenti (Liverpool Hope) and Chris Beardsley (Staffordshire) in their team.

Conference North

Andy Brown (Loughborough) played for AFC Telford in their 1-1 draw with Blyth Spartans. Gavin Stratchan (Staffordshire) played for Corby Town in their 3-0 win over Harrogate Town. Ilkeston went down 2-0 to Droylesden who had Kieran Murphy, Josh Burge and Jon Douglas (Loughborough) in their side. Domique Krief (Leeds Met) was in the side that was defeated by Alfreton Town 3-0, who had Richard Pell scoring (Loughborough). Nick Rogan (Liverpool) scored for Fleetwood Town in their 2-1 defeat of Solihull Moors. Michael Symons who scored played with Marc Richards and Will Morford (UWE Hartpury) played in their defeat to Southport. Dan Dillon (Loughborough) played for Hinckley in their 1-0 win over Workington who had Gareth Arnison (Northumbria) in their starting 11.

Conference South

Bishop Stortford had Ashley Nicholls (Anglia) and Tom Champion (Birmingham) in their team against Newport County who had Tamuke Ake and Gary Warren (Bath) play out 0-0. Dean Perrot (Bath) scored for Bath city in their 4-3 defeat. Jon Scarborough (Canterbury) played for Hampton & Richmond Borough in their 1-0 defeat against Basingstoke. Joe Arnold and GB Matt Townley (Bath) played for Weymouth in their 1-1 draw with Lewes. Graeme Andrews (Loughborough) played for Welling United 2-1 loss at home to Woking. Jake Meredith (Bath) played for Worcester City in the 2-1 loss against Bromley.

UWE strike up non league link

UWE and EU staff member Mel Davies have helped strike up a link with Almondsbury FC in a link that will create opportunities for students at UWE to progress.

http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?&newsmode=FULL&nid=59311

World University Games football comes to an end

The final results were:

GBR Women 4 France Women 1
Women win the Bronze medal
Naomi Bruton (Loughborough) won Goalkeeper of the tournament
This is a fantastic achievement and has moved them on from their 7th place in 2007. Congratulations to all the staff including Andy Spence, Kate Rowson, Tracy Lewis, Dawn Scott and Kerry Hersey.

GBR Men 0 Japan Men 1
Men finish 4th place
GBR win fair play award for the tournament
Another result which is an improvement on last Universiade's placing. Just unlucky to miss out to winning a medal. Congratulations to all.
Thank you for all your support. The teams have both qualified automatically for next Universiade which is in 2011, China.

World University Games Squads 2009

Mens WUGs Squad

This last week the GBR team have been training at Lilleshall. The team depart from Heathrow On Thursday morning. It is hope that the squad will have a friendly against Canada on Saturday before they face Serbia, Mexico and Ghana in the group stages.
Below is the squad:

Goalkeepers

Ryszard GORSKI Fordham University USA
Frazer SIDDALL Rollins College USA / Western Knights FC AUS
Jonathon McLAUGHLIN Leeds Metropolitan University / Bradford City FC

Defenders

Matthew TOWNLEY Kings College London / Team Bath FC
Gary WARREN University of Bath / Team Bath FC
Exodus GEOGHAN Wolverhampton University / Kettering Town FC
Ben PURKISS York College of Law / York City FC
Stuart HAYERS Lynn University USA
Korede AIYEGBOUSI North Carolina State University USA

Midfield

Rob YOUHILL Hofstra University USA
Kieran HALL Fort Lewis College USA
Clark BRADFORD Christian Brothers University USA
Tom SETTLE Fort Lewis College USA
Daniel STOTT San Diego State University USA
Chris MOORE University of Teeside / Whitley Bay FC
Scott McCUBBIN Nottingham University / Burton Albion FC

Forwards

Chris CERRONI Rollins College USA / Chicago Storm FC
Dan BULLEY State University of New York - Buffalo USA
Euan PURCELL Fort Lewis College USA
Craig SUTHERLAND Midwestern State University USA

Womens WUGS Squad

The women met up at Lilleshall on Sunday and will travel to Heathrow on Wednesday and travel out to Serbia on Thursday. The squad is below:

Name - Institution - Club
Naomi Bruton - Loughborough University - Wolverhampton Wanderers
Lauren Wells - University of Bath - Team Bath
Vicky Jones - Liverpool John Moores University - Liverpool
Faye Marsh - University of Hertfordshire - Arsenal
Grace McCatty - University of Bath - Bristol Academy
Rachael Axon - Oregon State University - Pali Blues
Lauren Impey - Bedfordshire University - Leicester
Alex Culvin - Liverpool John Moores University - Everton
Jade Radburn - Loughborough University - Leicester
Amy Kane - Liverpool John Moores University - Everton
Julie Melrose - Edinburgh University - Spartans
Danni Ackerman - UWIC - Bristol Academy
Kelly Jones - Liverpool John Moores University - Liverpool
Lauren Walker - University of Hertfordshire - Arsenal
Levi Penny - MMU Cheshire - Nottingham Forest
Gwennan Harries - UWIC - Bristol Academy
Katie Anderton - University of Bolton - Blackburn
Jodie Taylor - Oregon State University - Pali Blues

Another HE Player on trial

We wish Sean Canham (Bath) all the as he follows Forest Green's Stuart Fleetwood on trial to Charlton Athletic this week.

More news in May

Football League promotion...

Exeter City have won their second successive promotion today to League 1. Congratulations to Manager Paul Tisdale (Bath) and players Matt Taylor and Neil Saunders (Bath) who have played a key role in the teams success.

Non League playoffs results this week
Conference...

Peter Vincenti (Liverpool Hope) played for Stevenage in their defeat of Cambridge United on Thursday.

Conference North...

Andy Brown (Loughborough) and Gavin Cowan (Staffordshire) played in Telfords 2-0 win over Alfreton who had Matt Wilson (Sheffield Hallam) in their side. The return leg on Sunday.

Conference South...

John Scarborough (Canterbury) played for Hampton and Richmond Borough in both legs and will be at home in the final to make it into the Conference. Toby Little (Brunel) played for Hayes and Yeading but they did not make it past Eastleigh over two legs.

Unibond Premier...

Anthony Church, Daniel Sleath, Kieran Murphy (Loughborough - current) and Johnny Douglas (Loughborough alumni) all played for Ilkeston Town in their promotion win to the Conference North against Nantwich Town who had Charlie O'Loughlin (Nottingham Trent) and Michael Lennon (Crewe and Alsagar - alumni) playing for them.

Unibond South...

It was disappointing news for Andy Rushbury (Nottingham Trent) and Belper Town who lost to Stocksbridge in their bid to reach the Unibond Premier.

Southern League Premier...

Congratulations to Marc Richards, Will Morford and Michael Symons (UWE Hartpury) all played a successful part Gloucester City's defeat of Farnborough to reach the Conference South next season.

Southern League Midlands...

Congratulations to Gareth Dean (Loughborough - current) and Mark Noon (Loughborough - alumni) who played in Nuneaton Town's defeat of Chasetown, in their bid to get back to the Conference North. They are now promoted to the Southern League Premier.

May update

International Challenge Trophy

Tonight, Exodus Geohaghan will line up for England C at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford in England's bid to beat Belgium and win the Trophy.

FA Vase Final

Lee Picton (Loughborough alumni) played for Whitley Bay in their success over Glossop North End.

FA Trophy Final

Peter Vincenti (Liverpool Hope) played in Stevanage's win over York City who had Ben Purkiss (York) playing for them.

The Premiership - Champions

Tony Strudwick and Richard Hawkins, staff (Loughborough - alumni) both picked up their winners medals at Old Trafford as Manchester United drew with Arsenal.

May call ups

England C selection

Great news for Exodus Geohaghan (Wolverhampton) now Kettering Town who has been selected to play for England C against Belgium in the International Challenge Trophy at Oxford United's Kassam Stadium on May 19th.

England Universities

On Wednesday 5th May at 2pm England will play their first fixture against Premiership opposition when they take on a very string Wigan Athletic XI at their training ground.

BUCS Final

Congratulations to Leeds Met who won the Women's competition and Loughborough who won the Men's competition.

Non League Play Offs - 2 May

Marc Richards, Michael Symons and Will Morford (UWE Hartpury) will play for Gloucester City in the Southern League Final playoff. Anthony Church, Kieran Murphy, Daniel Sleath and Johnny Douglas (Loughborough) will play for Ilkeston Town in the Unibond play off final against Nantwich Town who will have Charlie O'Loughlin (Nottingham Trent) and Michael Lennon (Crewe and Alsagar Alumni) playing for them.

England v Wigan Athletic

Dear All,

The players listed below have been selected to represent England Universities for the following representative game,
English Universities v Wigan Athletic at their training ground on the 5th May 2009, kick off 2pm.

1. Simon Lynn Birmingham
2. Kieran Murphy Loughborough
3. Tom Champion Birmingham
4. Ben Pugh UWE Hartpury
5. Ben Christensen Northumbria
6. Ashley Nicholls Anglia
7. David Syers Leeds
8. Steve Davies UWE Hartpury
9. Shane Gill Worcester
10.Bradley Pritchard Loughborough
11.Chris Beardsley Staffordshire
12.Anthony Church Loughborough
13.Jordan Barnes Leeds
14.Daniel Sleath Loughborough
15.Liam Green Loughborough
16.Charlie O'Loughlin Nottingham Trent
17.Adam Cunnington Northampton

Standby

18.Scott McCubbin Nottingham
19.Marquin Smith Nottingham Trent

Training Ground, Wigan Lower Road
Standish Lower Ground
Wigan
Lancashire
WN6 8LB
You are required to arrive at the training ground by 11.45am dressed in a suit, shirt and England Universities or Regional Squad tie.
Meet -11.45am
Team briefing and kit allocation - 12noon
Kick off - 2pm
All training and match kit will be provided but you should bring the following items with you
Flip flops
Towel
Snacks
Water bottle
Shin pads and boots
Congratulations on your selection and I am sure you will represent your country with pride, intelligence and passion in a fixture that will be the most severe test of your ability as players this season.
Steve

England return from Guernsey with a win

England Universities

Yesterday a part of the England squad travelled to Guernsey. The team ended up wining a competitive game 3-2 with the scorers: Ben Christensen (Northumbria) and two from Adam Cunnington (Northampton).

Next week sees the England programme take on Premiership opposition in Wigan Athletic. The game is due to take place at 2pm on Tuesday 5th May.

BUCS Final

Tomorrow sees both the Mens and Womens Finals at QPR which will hopefully be a great advert for HE football

BUCS Football Development Day

This is going to be held at Liverpool FC on Thursday 7th May - if you have not booked yourself on please do and be a great opportunity for us all to catch up after a long season!

2008 end of season honours for our student footballers

HE students and staff play a big role in the end of season honours:
Congratulations and good luck:

FA Trophy Finalists

To Ben Purkiss (York - current) who will be playing for York City in this years FA Trophy Final at Wembley v Stevenage on 9th May.
To Peter Vincenti (Liverpool Hope - 2007) who will be playing for Stevenage Borough in the FA

Trophy Final

Conference North League winners

To Alex Rodman (Notts Trent - current) and Bradley Pritchard (Loughborough- current) who last night played in the Tamworth team that won the Conference North and will be playing in the Blue Square Premier next season.

Conference North players in play off places

To Andy Brown (Loughborough, Bedford - current) who will be playing for AFC Telford in their bid to make the Conference
To Tom Curtis (Loughborough) , Matt Wilson (Sheffield Hallam - 2008) who will be playing for Alfreton in their bid to make the Conference for the first time

Conference South players in play off places

To John Scarborough (Canterbury - 2008) who will play for Hampton and Richmond Borough in the South play offs.
To Toby Little (Brunel - current) who is playing for Hayes and Yeading in the play off fixtures.
To Ashley Nicholl (Anglia - current) will play for Maidenhead United in the playoff.

Unibond Premier play off places

To Anthony Church, Kieran Murphy and Daniel Sleath (Loughborough - current) will play for Ilkeston Town in the clubs bid to get to step 2.
To Charlie O'Loughlin (Notts Trent - current) and Michael Lennon (Crewe - 2004) will play for Nantwich Town.
To Aaron Ratchford and Alun Griffiths (Leeds - current) who will play for Guisely in the play offs.

Southern League play off places

To Marc Richards, Michael Symons (UWE Hartpury - current) and Will Morford (UWE Hartpury - 2008) will be playing for Gloucester City.

Lower down

Midland Alliance

To Adam Cunnington (Northampton - current) has been on loan from AFC Stamford to Midland Alliance Barwell where they have finished second.

Southern League Midlands League

To Gareth Dean (Loughborough - current) who is at Nuneaton Town who have finished second in the now in the play offs.

Unibond South Divison

To Andy Rushbury (Notts Trent - current) will be playing for Belper Town in bid to get into the Premier
To Marquin Smith (Notts Trent - current) will be playing for Carlton Town.

April Football and Futsal news

BUCS Futsal

This years event in Sheffield was a great success and showed that Futsal had moved on in a very short space of time in HE in both the Men's and the Women's games. Leeds Met won the Women's competition and UWE Hartpury won the Mens.
We are just in the process of looking at potentially setting up a development group from the teams that have been taking part in the competition for both Men and Women. Watch out for this in the summer term

National League Futsal

This year sees UWE Hartpury join Loughborough and Bath in the National League. Bath and UWE are in the Midlands Conference and Loughborough are in the North. It would be great to see one (if not more!) make it to the National Finals in October.

FA Futsal Cup

This year the Futsal cup will see HE at the fore of the competition with Leeds Met and Worcester qualifying by the BUCs competition for the Men and Leeds Met and Loughborough for the Women. It would be hoped that Loughborough, Hartpury and Bath would join them from National or Regional league play offs.

Domestic BUCS Competition

This month sees the Championship Finals at Loftus Road. The Women's Final is at 1230 and is between Leeds Met and Northumbria. The Men's final is between Loughborough and the Champions if last two years UWE Hartpury with kick off at 530. This will see the end of this years Domestic competition.

England Universities programme

This year the squad have already played Leicester City winning 3-1. On Wednesday (8th April) a group of the England players will play Scotland at Sheffield United at 2pm. We also have another group travelling to Guernsey to play the Guernsey FA on the 27th April. The squad will depart from Gatwick on 27th and return on 28th. This fixture has been supported by the
Guernsey FA which we are really grateful.

We also have fixtures confirmed to be played against Crystal Palace and Wigan Athletic between 27th and 12th May. We may look to tie in the Wigan fixture with the BUCS football Development Conference on 7th May.

World University Games

Funding has been agreed and the staff are looking at pulling together a squad to travel to Belgrade this summer.

BUCS Football Development Programme

On the 7th May their will be a BUCS Football Development Programme held at Liverpool FC. We are hoping to also play Wigan Athletic on 6th or 8th May so that people can possible come and see the Rep programme in action.
Trust you are all well
James

England beat Scotland and other news

England v Scotland, April

A solitary goal from Dominique Krief (Leeds Met) saw England narrowly defeat Scotland in a keenly contested game. The game has now cemented a new strong relationship between England and Scotland and the drive to move HE football forward. Huge thanks to Sheffield Unite for hosting the Scots, the game and officials.

England Universities programme 2008 - 2009

We are now drawing to the end of the season and looking to finish off with three demanding games. Firstly a squad of 16 is travelling to play Guernsey on 27th April with Graham Potter, Bryn Clark and Steve Sharman. We then play Wigan Athletic on 5th or 6th May and then are looking to finish off with a game against Fulham or Everton to be confirmed.

Domestic Football

The final between UWE Hartpury and Loughborough in the Men's programme and Leeds Met and Northumbria in the Women looks set to be a great day in London and a chance for some of us to all catch up.

World University Games 2009

When I have more information I will give it to you all. The first game is on 30th June in Belgrade v Mexico, The second is against home nation Serbia and the final group game is against Ghana.
BUCS Football Development Conference - 7th May, Anfield
This takes place on 7th May, please try and get yourselves along it will be a great opportunity for us to help BUCs review where things are at and catch up with what is going on at our institutions.
If you would like more information contact Matt Holdstock at BUCS.

National League Futsal

It is great to see that the three University teams are doing well in the National League. Bath and Hartpury are playing in the Midlands league and Loughborough are in the Northern League. It would be great to see one or more of these teams at the National Final in October this year!
Be great if other Universities considered getting into the National League.....

National Pyramid Football

It is with sadness we hear of Team Bath resignation from the Conference South. They have been the flagship for student football over the past 9 years in Non League football. To Andy Tilson (and predecessor Paul Tisdale) and the players we hope that you all recover from this sad news.
On a positive note Loughborough, Leeds Met and Northumbria are doing well and holding their own at Step 6 and providing an opportunity for players at their institutions to develop. Loughborough look in a strong position to win their league at Step 6 and get promoted to Step 5.
The League
Great to see all our players who have moved on doing well but there has to be a special mention to Paul Tisdale at Exeter City who has the chance of winning promotion to League 1 with his group of players. We wish him well for the rest of the season!

CPD - Brazil UK Football Development Course- Worcester University

Glynn Harding and Craig Williams over the past 4 years have worked really hard to create a partnership with the University of Sao Paulo and this year the 4 day conference is held at Worcester here in the UK. Great opportunity for us to get some new ideas, share knowledge and skills. If you would like further info please contact the Worcester Sport Office on 01905 855410 or sportsoffice@worc.ac.uk.

England defeat Leicester City at Belvoir Drive

England Universities V Leicester City FC

Yesterday saw the first representative fixture of the season with 19 of the 40 players in the set up taken on Leicester City at their training ground. Goals from Bradley Pritchard and Daniel Sleath (Loughborough) saw England to a well deserved 2-1 win.
The first half was totally dominated by England where O'Loughlin (Nottingham Trent) and Suarez (Loughborough) went close with headers. Church and Pritchard dominated the midfield and the back 5 of Coombes (Loughborough), Champion (Birmingham), Christensen (Northumbria), O'Loughlin (Nottingham Trent) and Medine (Northampton) held firm and kept their shape well.
In the second period we made six changes. Leicester after half time had a period of pressure where they scored. Green and Sleath (Loughborough) started to dominate the midfield and Cunnington (Northampton) and Mpi (Loughborough) caused problems for the Leicester back four. Green missed a penalty to extend the England lead.
A very impressive performance from the squad, result was not a fair reflection of the dominance of the England team. A great start to the representative season.

Team: 4-4-2 - 1st half

Coombes (Loughborough), Champion (Birmingham), O'Loughlin (Nottingham Trent), Christensen (Northumbria) Medine (Northampton), Smith (Nottingham Trent), Pritchard (Loughborough - Captain), Church (Loughborough), McCubbin (Nottingham), Suarez (Loughborough), Mpi (Loughborough)

Team: 4-4-2 - 2nd half

Commbes (Loughborough), Murphy (Loughborough), Christensen (Northumbria), Martin (Nottingham), Medine (Northampton), Smith (Nottingham Trent), Green (Loughborough), Sleath (Loughborough), White (York St John), Cunnington (Northampton), Mpi (Loughborough)

Upcoming England fixtures

In the next month there will be fixtures for the rest of the group to ensure that we have had a good look at everyone. We are still planning to hold the four team tournament at Loughborough this year 6th - 9th April.

Domestic football

With the quarter final draw of the Championship dues to be complete this Wednesday next Wednesday will see the last 8 institutions fight it out for the 4 spots in the neutral re drawn semi finals. Good luck all

England Universities training camp

England Universities Training and selection camp

Earlier this month the annual training and selection camp was held at Warwick. 36 of the countries top University players attended. Dawn Scott, Exercise Scientist from The FA put completed fitness tests for on all 36 players. In the afternoon of the first day coaching sessions were held by James Ellis (Loughborough), Tom Curtis (Loughborough) with support from Tom Radcliffe (Hartpury), Mel Davies (UWE) and Neil Cunning (Brunel). Kevin Pilkington (Notts County Pro) lead a session for the goalkeepers. These sessions allowed the staff to form a better view of the players. In the evening the players had a dinner where last years England Universities and now England C centre back Exodus Geohaghan (Wolverhampton) returned to wish everyone well.

The following day the players were due to be split and play reserve teams from the two high flyers in League 1 in MK Dons and Leicester City. The weather in particular the freeze go the beating of the group and we had to call off both games.
At the end of the camp the staff have decided to look at all the players in the next fixtures to give everyone a completive chance of making the squad.
This years captains of the programme will be Marc Richards (UWE Hartpury) and Ashley Nicholls (Anglia).

England Universities season

The above group of players are due to share two fixtures in the week commencing 16th Feb. The first is on Monday 16th February against the RAF. The second fixture is yet to be confirmed but will take place on 17th or 18th February. We will also look to play MK Dons, Leicester City in the near future. We are also hopefully of playing our friends north of the border in England at some point this season - it is always great to have a game against the Scots.
At the time of planning the a squad of 18 players will travel to Ireland to play against the Irish WUGs team and also the Ireland U19 team. This will be a great opportunity for the players to gain experience outside the regular domestic / non league football. We also have been invited to play in a four team tournament in Guernsey this year that will include Guernsey, Southampton Res and Exeter Res.

England Universities funding

This is unfortunately not good news....this year our funding from the Football Association has been cut. Myself, Steve and Bryn are however working with BUCs to remedy the situation as this will severely hamper what we can achieve in the future. This is a real blow but we will be looking at ways of ensuring that the players do not miss out!

FA Cup football

Tomorrow sees Kettering Town play Fulham in the FA Cup fourth round and yet again is a chance for two players from HE to make names for themselves. Exodus Geohaghan (Wolverhampton) and Brett Solkhon (Loughborough) will be chasing the dream!
Hope for another student to turn pro
Andy Brown (Loughborough) who currently plays for AFC Telford and was part of last seasons England programme is currently being looked at by Dagenham and Redbridge who are doing well in League two. Andy would follow Mark Nowokeji (London) who signed for them in the summer.

Domestic BUCs Football

It is now coming to the business end of the season where the leagues are coming to an end and the battle for silverware in the knockout competition commences. Wish you all the best of luck.