The KEEPUP Kanga Cup has kicked off in the nation’s capital with close to 300 teams descending on Canberra for the 2023 edition of the competition.
This is the largest youth football competition in the southern hemisphere which see teams from all around Australia as well as overseas to enjoy a week-long festival of football.
St George FC are newcomers to the KEEPCUP Kanga Cup and will compete in the Under-12’s Girls Cup, and head coach Mark Cupitt is super excited for the team to be a part of such a historical event.
“The girls are super excited to be here… It’s great to come away for a week here to Canberra and really bond together as a team and enjoy the football,” he said.
“This is our first time at the tournament, and we were really surprised at the number of players registered, so it’s going to be a great week.”
Established in 1957 St George FC is a club steeped in history and tradition winning five National Premier League (NPL) titles from 1967-1981 and a National Soccer League (NSL) title in 1983.
The club started out as Budapest SC before changing their name to St George Budapest in 1965 and have been known as St George FC since 2007.
St George kicked off their Kanga Cup campaign with a hard fought 3-2 victory over Lindfield which saw some fantastic football from both sides.
With Under-12’s and under playing small, sided games on smaller pitches the games allow for further development of the fundamental skills that will be invaluable for the players moving forward.
“We do a lot of training, we work a lot on keeping possession and I think the more the girls play, the better they’re going to get,” Cupitt said.
“We look to use the full width of the pitch, and we have some great young players.”
Ambitions are high and confidence is plentiful for St George as they take on some of the best from New South Wales and Canberra over the course of this week, but the girls are confident they can take home the trophy on Friday.
“We have come down aiming to win it, the girls are pretty keen to win it,” Cupitt said.
“As long as we play some good football at the same time, I will be very happy.”
[KEEPUP.] Kanga Cup. Fun. Friendship. Football.
Words: Dion Stergiopoulos