Travelling all the way from the Lower North Shore of NSW, Northbridge Bulls FC have brought twelve teams to the KEEPUP Kanga Cup this year, including multiple teams in four of the different age groups.
There have been several challenges for the Under-16 Girls so far this tournament, having had to go up from the Under-14’s to play against march larger and stronger competition but, manager Robert Hanimyan says the girls have risen to the occasion and are enjoying what the tournament has to offer.
“It’s been incredible, The Cup is really well organised so that has been very positive… We had some challenges going up from the 14’s to 16’s but that was handled really well,” he said.
Founded in 1952, The Northbridge Football Club is one of the largest clubs in NSW with an ever-growing number of players playing across the spectrum of competitions in the Northern Suburbs Football Association.
Over the years the club has developed agreements with A-League clubs to develop elite youth academies for their young prospects.
In 2014, Northbridge established a partnership with Central Coast Mariners and formed an academy on Sydney’s North Shore, and the North Shore Mariners Academy was born.
In 2020 after their partnership with the Mariners was discontinued, Northbridge developed a partnership with another A-League club; Macarthur FC and now play under the Northbridge FC Bulls name.
The Bulls came to the KEEPUP Kanga Cup with one specific goal; to solidify the girls’ love for football and for the tournament to be a great social occasion for everyone involved.
Despite some disappointing results a long the way, spirits are still very high amongst the playing group and will continue to give 100 per cent till that final whistle.
“What we want to get out of the tournament is to solidify the team in terms of the social spirit for the girls to love their football and to play some good football along the way,” Hanimyan said.
“The most important thing right now is to get the girls to love football, because you lose so many players from the ages of 14-16 to everything other than sport, and we want the help the girls to learn to love everything about game and to love to compete.”
Words: Dion Stergiopoulos
