FOUR excited representatives of Gloucestershire County Women’s League are off to Wembley Stadium to partake in the big pre-season Premier League showpiece occasion – and collect a prestigious national award!

The league, formed ahead of the 1998-99 season with just seven wide-eyed teams, has gone from strength to strength over ensuing years and these days operates with two competitive divisions and the ultimate prize of promotion to the South West Women’s League an enticing carrot, where a string of its former members now compete for honours.

Division One champions Frampton Rangers Ladies are the latest to gain elevation to that same higher plane on the female football pyramid and they, like the 15 other clubs involved in the 2017-18 County Women’s League campaign, have been enjoying a remarkable double success that reflects well on them all.

League administrators were first delighted to learn they had scooped Gloucestershire FA’s Charter Standard League of the Year accolade at its popular recent annual grassroots award presentations staged by Bristol Golf Club.

What, by their own admission, they didn’t dare begin to dream about was the prospect of going on to claim top prize in the FA’s own hand-outs, in which dedicated and hard-working clubs and individuals involved as football volunteers within all 52 of the governing body’s county associations nationally, who had received awards locally, were put forward for gongs in their respective categories.

Among them was Gloucestershire County Women’s League, who had seen off a stirring challenge by highly-commended Cheltenham Youth League at the GFA’s own grassroots presentation ceremony to claim that Charter Standard League distinction, awarded to leagues who comply with stringent FA criteria relating to the provision of “high-quality, safe and enjoyable football experiences” and a willingness to oversee “ongoing development”.

Now overjoyed County Women’s League volunteers have been informed they have emerged top of the pile nationally in the same FA Charter Standard League class, four of whom are heading to Wembley on the morning of Sunday, August 5 for a prize-giving day that incorporates the no-small matter of the Manchester City-Chelsea Community Shield clash!

As the only serving founder member of Gloucestershire County Women’s League in the late 1990s, Sue Henson-Green is among her fellow representatives thrilled to have received passes for the occasion along with throngs of other deserving grassroots awards winners from across the country.

She will be joined by league secretary Helen Brain; last season’s chairwoman Tracey Kenyon and GFA women and girls football development officer Alexis Lunn-Gadd.

Sue, who is these days league president, explained: “All county FA’s across the country put forward various category winners from their own annual grassroots presentations in the hope of achieving a national award.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think our Gloucestershire County Women’s League would get the big one.

“It was great to win the local award but it never crossed my mind we could go on and achieve that.

“So we’re off to Wembley on August 5 and all we know at this time is we need to be in the Wembley lounge at 11am. How it will all unfold is still a mystery and a very exciting one!

“It’s a dream come true: I have to pinch myself that we’ve got there. We had an FA film crew come down to a training session involving one of our member clubs, Bradley Stoke Town Ladies, where they interviewed their manager Martin Lee and committee members of ours like our secretary Helen Brain, registration secretary Emma Tattersall and vice-chairwoman Judith Langworthy.

“I’ve been to Wembley to watch games a few times but never for anything like this: I don’t think any of us have and we can’t wait.”

Helen, a long-serving centre-back with Gloucestershire County Women’s League club Bristol and West Ladies who once undertook the league’s registration secretary duties when she joined in 2009, beamed: “It is such good news for the league and Gloucestershire County FA to have been recognised nationally like this.

“We were extremely surprised and delighted when the email came through we were up for a national award and it’s thoroughly deserved.

“We have such a good and strong committee but you can have the best committee in the world and only do so much.

“We’re fortunate that our member clubs have such great, loyal and hard-working managers and the good links we have with the GFA are a contributory factor too in winning this award.

“I’ve enjoyed some wonderful years as a player and administrator and this national acclaim caps it all.”