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."