Girls FC

What's it all about?

Megan Fawcett turns up every week to football practice for school but does Mr Glasshouse ever pick her for the team? Nope. Why? Not because she's rubbish and not because a girl but because she's only in Y4. Mr Glasshouse favours Y6s every time.

So Megan starts her own team, a girls-only team, beginning with her best friend Petra Ward, her fellow Y4 teammate Tabinda Shah and some of the older girls in school who are keen – Lucy Skidmore, Nika Kozak and Eve Akboh. She's less impressed when Tabinda recruits the psycho twins Daisy and Dylan McNeil but beggars can't be choosers.

Eve invites two more from her after school club – Gemma Hurst and Amy Minter and when Mrs Woolcock, the school lunchtime supervisor signs up her step-daughter, Holly, Megan is delighted. She's almost got a full squad! A chance meeting with Hannah Preston, captain of the Parrs, a local women's team, means they have someone to coach them. During their first training session one final girl joins the squad; a surly outsider with a major pick-pocketing habit; Jenny-Jane Bayliss. The Parrs U11s (Nickname the Parsnips) are born.

Follow the Parrs' trials and tribulations through two seasons of league matches, cup runs, World Cup Tournaments and much, much more.

Where did the idea come from?

Years ago the foreign rights assistant at OUP, Helen Reagan, a keen Manchester United supporter, suggested I write a series about a girls' football team. I had so many other ideas going round my head at the time I didn't think any more about it until after I had finished 'Accidental Friends.' I started planning my next big project and remembered Helen's suggestion. The more I thought about it, the more I warmed to the idea.

Girls' football is the fastest growing sport in the world. According to a survey conducted by Sport England in 2008 1.1 million girls play football in some form. Across the world the figure is something like 26 million. Think of the potential readership!

Football, like all sports, is perfect for storytelling. It's all there; passion, humour, suspense, tension, drama, mud. What more could a writer ask for? It wasn't as if I'd be starting from scratch, either. My Auntie Pat played for her works team in the 1950s and my daughter Hanya, now in her twenties, has played since she was nine. I knew exactly how smelly shin pads could be after a match. I'd seen how pathetic some parents were as they yelled at their kids for making a mistake. In fact, I'd been researching Girls FC for years without even realising it!

So I started planning a series based around an U11s team. I researched the history of women's football and used key people from the past in my stories. I named my league after Nettie Honeyball who pioneered women's football in the 1890s and named my team after Lily Parr (Dick, Kerr's Ladies) who was one of the first women footballers to be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. My coach became Hannah Preston as Preston is where English football truly started and my assistant coach Katie Regan after Helen Reagan.

After I'd panned the storylines for all the books, I found my nearest women's football team, the Lincoln Griffins and watched their junior squad play and train whenever I could. It was amazing how often life imitated art.

Walker Books are publishing this series and I think they've done a fantastic job. The covers, by Sonia Leong are so eye-catching, aren't they?

All that's left now is for me to finish the series and hope that everyone enjoys reading Girls FC.

'Bang-up to date.' The Scotsman 'A delightfully written, fresh new series about girls on the pitch.' Letterbox Library 'The girls here are just what Lily was - real, funny, warm and yet determined to have their say, and do their thing. You go, girls!' Barbara Jacobs author of The Dick, Kerr's Ladies 'My daughter and I really enjoyed reading Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras? and we can't wait for the rest of the series. This book makes football a fun activity that isn't just for boys and I hope reading the series will encourage more girls to get involved in sport from an early age.' Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson 'A great book for boys and girls. I read it with my six-year old son and he absolutely loved it after turning up his nose at it at first when spotting Girls FC on the cover. My son and I both loved the humour in the book and the short chapters. The dialogue is funny and catchy and the story includes details from everyday life. Highly recommended.' Amazon Reviewer 'My ten year old daughter read it from cover to cover in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. We’re off to the library now to get others in the series.' Amazon Reviewer 'The books will definitely appeal to a group of children who have been neglected in the reading market' Amazon Reviewer 'My 8 year-old granddaughter really enjoyed this story. She is a very girly girl who loves football so the title really caught my eye. It’s a nice counterpoint to other series such as High School Musical and shows girls in a very positive role.' Amazon Reviewer

Which is your favourite book?

Vote in our poll to see which is your favourite Girls FC book (you are only allowed to vote once).

Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras?

Meet Megan and find out how wearing a tiara and fairy wings to football practice led to her starting her own, brilliant girls' football team.

Can Ponies Take Penalties?

Petra is having second thoughts about joining the Parrs. For a start she's rubbish at football, something her mum, who would prefer her to join the Pony Club, keeps pointing out. Worse than that, her best friend Megan seems to be putting football first. Is football more important than friendship?

Are All Brothers Foul?

Lucy Skidmore loves sport and football is her favourite; she just can't wait for Saturdays to come. If only things were less complicated at home; since her parents split up arranging who's taking her and picking her up from matches has become a nightmare. As for her brother Harry… don't even go there.

Is An Own Goal Bad?

Dylan and Daisy McNeil are nuts – everyone knows that. They're also late for everything and it's driving their teammates crazy. When their lateness threatens the cup run, it's their Scottish granny who rescues the day.

Who Ate All The Pies?

It's the end of season one and the presentation evening is looming but Holly's not going. Why would she? Like her dad says, it's always the attackers like Gemma who get the glory and Holly plays defence. Plus fat girls don't win trophies, right?

What's Ukrainian For Football?

Nika and her family have settled into the UK. She is happy being part of the football team and can't wait for the summer trip to Sherburn Sands. A 7-a-side World Cup Tournament! But when the Parrs are selected as Ukraine, things turn sour between her and JJ, who wanted to be England. Then Nika's uncle tells her about a special match that took place during World War Two...

So What If I Hog The Ball?

Jenny-Jane can't believe that the new away strip is pink. Pink! Of all the colours in all the world why did Tabinda's dad have to pick that one? Well, she wasn't wearing it. Hannah could keep her on the bench the whole season for all she cared. She had enough changes going on with her horrible brothers and useless new teachers at the unit. Wearing pink was one change too many.