England star to present U16 girls with Vauxhall kit
England women's international star Karen Carney will be at the Greenhous Meadow tonight to present a kit on behalf of Greenhous to Shropshire's under-16 girls team.
Greenhous are showing their support for the team by taking part in a ‘grassroots’ initiative to sponsor the kit with England winger Carney, who also represented Team Great Britain in last summer's Olympics, handing over the strip to the team on the Meadow pitch at half time during the match against Doncaster.
The initiative has been organised by Vauxhall, the FA’s Youth Partner and England team sponsor, and encourages Vauxhall retailers with a passion for grassroots football to support local clubs with the provision of a playing kit.
Dave Sullivan, Director/General Manager at Greenhous, said: “Greenhous have been involved with Shropshire Schools and Colleges FA for the past 12 years and wanted to support a team that would truly benefit from the Vauxhall initiative.
“The Shropshire girls county under-16s team seemed the obvious choice as up until now they have been borrowing their kit!
"Our links with Shrewsbury Town FC meant the presentation could take place during a match making the handover a real occasion for both the under-16s team and the Shrewsbury Town fans.”
Anna Perks, Shropshire's under-16 coach, added: “We are thrilled that Greenhous have chosen to sponsor us. Providing us with kits means we no longer have to borrow them and allows us to have our own identity on the pitch.
“The presentation at the Greenhous Meadow will be extremely exciting. Having Karen Carney present the kits is an honour as the girls in the team really look up to her for inspiration.
"We are delighted to accept the new kits this evening and are proud to be associated with the sponsors of Shrewsbury Town Football Club."
Carney, who has scored 14 goals in 77 appearances for England, is currently in her second spell playing for Birmingham City Ladies.
She also spent three years with Arsenal Ladies and had a season in America playing for Chicago Red Stars.
Carney has played at the Greenhous Meadow for England and memorably scored the winning goal in a 1-0 UEFA Championship qualifier over Spain in front of a crowd of more than 8,500 in November 2007.
Martin James, the head of community development at Shrewsbury Town, said: "It's great that Karen Carney should be coming along to present the kit tonight given she scored the only goal of the game the first time the England ladies team played here.
"Shrewsbury Town are 100 per cent behind the development of the women's game in Shropshire from grassroots level upwards and applaud the gesture from Greenhous to sponsor the kit for the county's under-16 girls team."