NEHYL Girls Sunday League will offer football to U12+

NEHYL Girls Sunday League Goes from Strength to Strength

Following the announcement in May 2024 when Hampshire FA gave the green light for North East Hants Youth League (NEHYL) to restart their all-girls league, the Sunday girls league has now grown from 0 to 83 teams in the development U7 to U11 age groups.

The current U11 girls’ teams asked the league to lobby Hampshire FA to continue into U12’s next season and they have once again been given the green light to continue playing with NEHYL.

Rob Harden, who will be the U12 Girls Divisional Secretary for NEHYL next season, said:

“We are very excited and pleased that Hampshire FA have supported the continuation of the NEHYL Girls Sunday league following its success thus far. It provides a wonderful opportunity to continue developing girls’ football beyond U11 and into competitive football, whilst still ensuring accessibility to local, sustainable football within the Area. I am excited to help the wider NEHYL team and grow the interest in the league over the coming seasons.”

The league is delighted to be able to announce this ahead of next season so that teams and clubs have time to plan their all-girls teams for next season.

NEHYL is a development league, and the fundamental goal is to encourage girls to play and develop at their pace. We also encourage the talented players to also play in the county leagues, and the girls also have a choice to play in Hampshire Girls Youth League on a Saturday and the Surrey County Women and Girls league on a Sunday. The key is playing at the right level and for the younger girls to consider the distances to travel for matches. NEHYL geographical footprint covers north Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire borders building communities of clubs.

Suzanne Swan the lead divisional secretary for the NEHYL Girls League, added:

“We have an open-door policy throughout the season and welcome any girls who want to start to play to get in touch and we can connect you to our clubs. We run league groups for U7 to U12s, and we also have recreational fun flexi football for girls age 13+ who are starting or developing their game in a less competitive environment, and we welcome girls to play in our regular fun festivals. We piloted the new U7 3v3 FA scheme this year with incredibly positive feedback and will continue to grow football in this area.”