Football

Football is a key strand of the excellent sporting education offered at Queen Ethelburga’s and is available to all students from Year 3 and above.

For students in King’s Magna and the two Senior Schools, the aim is to improve the four pillars of development: technical, tactical, physical and psychological. To improve these skills, you can play football during PE lessons, enrichment lessons, after-school training sessions and competitive fixtures.

Competitive Football

Queen Ethelburga's Boys & Girls teams (U10 - U18) regularly compete in local, regional and national competitions including:

• Harrogate & Craven District Cup
• Harrogate & Craven Small Sided Tournaments (5 & 7 aside)
• North Yorkshire County Cup
• English Schools FA Cup & Trophy (ESFA)
• ESFA Super League
• AoC Premier League
• Independent Schools FA Cup, Shield & Plate (ISFA)
• ISFA National Sixes
• ISFA Northern Eights
• ISA Regional & National Tournaments 
• Sisters N Sport Cup

In addition to the competitions above, we also provide learning opportunities for you to challenge yourself against local professional academies and Junior Premier League teams.

Queen Ethelburga’s A & B teams also compete in football block fixtures against other leading Independent Schools.

Continue Your Love For Football

If you are progressing well and excelling in your age group, our Coaches can link you with extensive contacts in the professional and grassroots games. These external pathways include:

• Professional Academy trials
• County Representative trials
• ISFA Yorkshire trials
• ISFA National Team trials
• Local Junior Grassroot Opportunities
• USA Scholarship Pathways
• UK University Pathways

Our Goalkeepers receive weekly masterclass coaching sessions with a professional goalkeeper coach.

Coaching Expertise

Mr Paul Bolland is Queen Ethelburga’s Lead Football Coach. He is a former professional footballer and holder of a Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) B Level 3 Coaching Licence, an FA Youth Award and is currently working towards his UEFA A Level 4 Licence.  

Mr Bolland enjoyed a 15-year professional playing career, making over 400 appearances whilst representing Bradford City, Notts County, Grimsby Town, Macclesfield Town, Mansfield Town and Harrogate Town Football Clubs.  

His career highlights include appearances at Wembley Stadium in the 2008 Football League Trophy final and the League Two Play-off Final, at the Millennium Stadium, in 2006. Since retiring from the professional game, Mr Bolland has also been Head Coach for Harrogate Town U18s and has managed his own football academy.  

Performance Football Coach, Mr Tom Newey, is a former English professional footballer and holder of both a UEFA A Level 4 Coaching Licence and FA Youth Award. During a 15-year professional playing career, he played over 475 games, representing Leeds United, Cambridge United, Darlington, Leyton Orient, Grimsby Town, Rochdale, Bury, Rotherham United, Scunthorpe United, Oxford United and Northampton Town Football Clubs.  

Whilst at Grimsby Town, Mr Newey played in the League Two Play-off Final, at the Millennium stadium, and captained his side in the Football League Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium. Since retiring from the professional game, he has completed a BSc (Hons) in Exercise and Sports Science, and coached in professional academies at Rotherham United and Leeds United.

Partnerships

The QE coaches maintain their connections with contacts from the professional game, which has enabled them to organise fixtures against Academy club teams such as Leeds United, Bradford City and Sheffield Wednesday. Students also take part in football programmes with UK universities and fellow ISFA member schools and compete in local and national tournaments.

In addition, strong links have been made with USA Sport Scholarship organisations who offer a realistic pathway to UK students. In recent years, a number of QE students have achieved full and partial scholarship offers in the US.