THE STORY OF 'THE LEMURS'

Not so long ago, football was considered a man's sport. However recent times have seen a change in attitude with girls' and womens' football becoming increasingly popular. In fact, since 2002 football has been the most popular sport for girls and women in the UK, and an example of this popularity is the Llanymynech Lemurs girls football teams.

The Lemurs story began in 2005 with a few members of a school team who had won their way through to the Shropshire Youth Games finals. This led to the establishment of the first girls football team within the Llanymynech Juniors Football Club, a long standing and well respected junior football outfit.

In their first season the Llanymynech Lemurs u10s went undefeated throughout their league campaign, scoring 118 goals in just 22 games, and came a close second in the Shropshire County Charity Cup. The Lemurs showed themselves to be a force in the skills-based game of Futsal, winning the Shropshire County Futsal tournament and finishing third in the UK championship, picking up scalps such as Sheffield Wednesday Girls along the way.

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The success of the Lemurs earned them the title of the Advertizer Oswestry Sports Council Junior Team of 2007.

The Lemurs' next season also saw them go from strength to strength. The original u10s team moved up to the Under 12s where they continued their success by winning the Shropshire Girls Football League and by winning the Charity Cup. The new breed of Under 10 Lemurs illustrated the strength of girls football at Llanymynech by also winning their league and narrowly missing out in the final of the League Cup and the semi-final of the charity cup.. While the u10s lost in the final of the Shropshire County Futsal Championship the Under 12s won through to represent the county at Sheffield once again.

The third season for the Lemurs saw further expansion with the establishment of an Under 14s team. This team was coached by Andy Watkins and consisted of rounghly half the previous 'older' under 12s moving up from the under 10s and the other half from Oswestry. Whilst the girls struggled in the cup competitions their league form was exemplary winning their division with games to spare! On the Under 10s front, despite Carl struggling at the start of the season with the introduction of new, inexperienced players and having a low number of registered players, the Lemurs U10s ended the league with the proud position of runners-up. But, when it came down to the League Cup final, the U10s outplayed and outshone the league winners Worthen, beating them convincingly 2-0. They also became runners up at the national futsal finals later that year. The Under 12s had similar succes, as by the end of September they were already at the top of the League. This is where they stayed until the end, meaning they also became league champions with games to spare. Like the under 10s, the 12s also played fantastic football at Prees during their league cup final, completing a great 'Lemur Day Out' by clinching the trophy 3-0 on penalties. The under 12s also won the regional futsal finals and went on the represent Shropshire at the nationals in Sheffield for the third year running.

This season the Lemurs hope to have more success stories, with new managers and new players. Andy Watkins moves up to the new Under 16s with some of the old Under 14's girls, while Tim Turner moves up to take over the Under 14s. The Under 10s and 12s both have new managers. Holly Andrew takes over the under 10s, and Andy Boyle acquires the under 12s.

GOOD LUCK LEMURS!