Orchard Multi Academy Trust runs a number of leagues across its schools and for schools across the county. These include:
The Demi Edwards Cup
The Demi Edwards Cup was established in 2022 as a competitive knock-out girls football competition involving 8 different schools. As well as building on the success of the Lionesses at Euro 2022, the cup is an evolution of our Lionesses League, which was a non-competitive girls football league we had run since 2018 – making it one of the longest running girls football leagues in Herefordshire schools. While the schools involved in the cup still make time for non-competitive friendlies to engage girls new to the sport and encourage their development, with girls who have now moved up through primary school with girls football being “the norm” it felt natural to transition to a competitive competition to match what boys had access too.
The competition is named after Herefordian footballer, Demi Edwards. As well as representing Wales at U16 level, Demi has gone on to play for a number of high profile teams including: Bristol Rovers, Crystal Palace, QPR and Brentford. Demi currently plays for Loughborough Lightning while serving in the British Army and playing for both the British Army Women’s Team and the British Combined Forces Women’s Team. Demi was kind enough to join us for the 2023 final, presenting the medals and trophy.
Meadow Football Championship
The Meadow Football Championship is a mixed-football league, set up in 2023 to run parallel to our already established Orchard Football Championship. The league comprises of 5 different half-form and single-form entry primary schools who will all play each other once over the Autumn and Spring terms (2x home matches and 2x away). By only having these smaller schools within the league, it gives each one a chance to take part in competitive football on a more levelled playing field.
The Orchard Football Championship
The Orchard Football Championship is a mixed-football league, set up in 2022 for the Orchard Partnership schools to play against each other. After a successful first season and more schools wishing to take part the league has been split in two, with the Meadow Football Championship running parallel. The Orchard Football Championship’s evolution now sees it as a league for five single and two-form entry primary schools to compete against each other in 4 fixtures (2x home and 2x away) across the Autumn and Spring terms.
