If you’ve never heard of futsal, that might be changing soon after DMU Women’s Futsal team made it to the finals of the Conference Cup – and topped the league to boot.
The girls booked their place in the Conference Cup final with a storming 5-1 win against Derby University at the QEII Leisure Centre on Saturday. It is the first time that a DMU futsal team has reached a conference cup final.
It means that they will be heading into their Varsity clash with the University of Leicester team on March 9 with confidence.
Team captain Ellie Crompton, a second year media production student, said: “It was amazing. The girls were absolutely buzzing for it because it’s the first final we have been to as a team.”
All the players are also members of DMU Women’s Football Club and the difference between the two games has been a challenge to learn, says Ellie.
She said: “One of the first things our coaches told us was, ‘futsal is not football’ and they’re right. It’s a different game. Because there’s less players you get more time with the ball, so there’s more action than when you’ve got 11 players in football.”
Team coach Ian Redfern said: “The girls approached the game with great maturity. They started on the front-foot & other than during a brief spell late in the first half, when Derby brought the score back to 2-1, were always in control.
“We said at half-time that the next goal would be important & scoring our 3rd less than a minute after the restart was a key moment in the game. A League & Cup 'double' would be a wonderful achievement for the girls and I've every confidence they can do it.”
RELATED NEWS
* Plan your Varsity supporters' campaign by checking out the fixtures here
* Varsity 2018 is here! Watch our video now
* Buy your tickets to the Welford Road rugby Varsity here
Futsal is a type of indoor football which began in South America but rapidly spread in popularity around the world. It has five players a side and each match lasts around 40 minutes.
Ellie has been playing football since she was a little girl, and has always loved it. She was signed by Watford Ladies Development team and was there for two years, before she left to concentrate on her studies. When she joined DMU, she quickly joined the women’s football side and became captain – and only started playing futsal a year ago.
They have had an incredible futsal season, and won the league after winning five out of five games to take the Futsal League 2B title.
DMU’s futsal side is called the DMU Silverbacks, and fields men’s teams and now a women’s side. The men's team were narrowly pipped at the post in their Cup game this week. This year will be the first Women’s Futsal Varsity between DMU and Leicester. It takes place on March 9 at 7pm.
Next year the team will be playing in division 1 of the BUCS Women’s Futsal League and they are excited for the challenge. “We have kind of surprised ourselves with how well we did and how much we have loved it.
“With the futsal it’s like a tournament as you play five games in a day. To come out with the league win in a day is amazing.
“So it’s going to be tougher next year but if you play better players, you get better yourself.”
Posted on Tuesday 27 February 2018