With around four games left in the season, it’s mathematically clear to the players and coaches of Queen’s Park Girls, the under-12 girls’ soccer team in Bournemouth, England, that they will win the league title.
But rather than resting on their laurels and enjoying the assurance of victory, they decided to take it a step further: What if they not only won the league, but didn’t lose a single game?
If that wasn’t enough, they will be the only women’s team in the men’s league.
Readers, they did. Queen’s Park Women have not lost a single match in 22 games, earning them the elusive nickname “The Invincibles”, a nickname reminiscent of Arsenal’s 2003-04 Premier League run under Arsene Wenger. An undefeated performance.
“I just find it unbelievable that we made it this far and beat some boys who were probably more physical than us,” said 11-year-old midfielder Millie Ray. “We actually came back and destroyed them.”
In interviews, the players praised each other and emphasized that they are also close friends, which helps their game.
“I’m very proud of my team and happy for us,” said team captain Olivia Green, 12. “I didn’t expect it, but I did think we could do it.”
“I knew we were a good team,” said 11-year-old Skylar Henshall-Dicks. But she said she looks back on this season with even more awe. “Now that we’ve done it, it seems even crazier,” she said.
Queens Park Women have conceded just 11 goals in 22 games, which coach Toby Green, Olivia’s father, said was “an outstanding statistic”.
That’s largely thanks to 12-year-old goalkeeper Mariah Silva.
“When they need me, I do my job,” Maria said. “It’s stressful at times,” she said, especially on penalty kicks.
Maria joined the team three years ago after moving to England from Brazil, where she was used to playing against boys. She has big ambitions for the future: “My dream is to become a professional football player,” Maria says.
girl vs boy
As a forgettable 2023-24 season begins, it took a while for the Queens Park women’s team to be taken seriously by the boys from the opposing team.
“Sometimes, especially early in the season, when we haven’t played them all, they’re snickering,” said 12-year-old guard Edith Wragg. “They definitely underestimated us. But then we showed them we were just as good as them.”
Skylar, a fellow guard, said that in the first game, their opponents seemed to think beating the girls would be easy. But their opponents were “flabbergasted” after Queen’s Park Women won 6-0, she said.
Other players remember similar moments. “They do get a little angry at times,” captain Olivia said of the opposing players. “I think they’re a little silly.”
If anything, those attitudes served as a motivating factor, said Chris Large, the team’s coach and Edith’s father.
“The football field is a great equalizing environment,” Mr. Large said. “The only obstacles are really the ones off the field.”
“These girls mean business”
Women’s football is a fast growing movement. Much of the excitement surrounding the sport in England can be attributed to the national women’s team, the Lionesses.them win the european championship In 2022, an achievement that still eludes male players, they reached the Women’s World Cup finals the following year.
While the lionesses set an example for the 11 and 12-year-old Queen’s Park ladies, the girls said they hope they can also be an inspirational force.
“We kept thinking how great a thing it would be to hopefully see other girls see it and inspire them to play football,” Edith said.
Mr Green said interest in women’s football had grown in Bournemouth on England’s south coast in recent years. He said when the club, which has multiple age groups, was founded about six years ago, not that many girls were interested in joining the team. There was no women’s league at the time, so Queen’s Park Women also participated in the men’s league at the time, but the results were very different.
“The first few seasons they won one game and drew a few in two years,” Mr Green said. “It’s very difficult.”
Players spend the next few years training and competing against boys and girls. Mr Green said that when his team entered the under-12 league, he liaised with the county’s football association, Hampshire Football Association, and after overcoming some slight hesitation, managed to get the girls into the boys’ league league.
“Hampshire Football Association said, ‘Let’s give it a try,'” Mr Green said. With this year’s first place finish, the Queen’s Park Women’s team will move up to Division 2 next season, where they will play 11-on-11 games on a larger pitch (instead of the current nine games per team).
“These girls are serious,” Mr. Green said. “They want to play at the highest level possible.”
Mr Green said he planned to start a women’s team with the club – starting at 16 – and move up the ranks until reaching the major leagues. “That’s the master plan,” he said.
Coach Mr. Large first gained coaching experience more than 20 years ago during a summer in Long Island, New York, which proved to be a profoundly formative experience. He said women’s football was not yet popular or widespread in the UK at the time.
“It was considered unusual,” said Mr. Large, who holds a Ph.D. Said in Exercise Physiology. “But when I came to the United States, it was more of a women’s sport than a men’s sport.”
Mr Green said he hoped the growing popularity of the women’s game would also mean better conditions for the women’s game. “We know there is a gap between the men’s game and the women’s game,” he said. “The difference is just because the men’s game is longer.”
But, he said, “the standard of the women’s game is getting better every year.”
