The "non-professional" representative squad has earned a place in the UEFA Regions Cup by winning the FA Inter League Tournament back in May. The rep. team from STEP 7 on the Pyramid are playing in Romania against other European regions in Bucharest. The competition began for them on the 20th September and they have just competed their qualifying matches. This competition has been played every two years since 1999.
Guernsey FA won the FA Inter League in 2010 and headed off to play in European and based on their experience have survived successfully in the National League pyramid, since joining shortly afterwards.
The latest FA tournament enabled winners, the West Yorkshire League amateurs to beat hosts Romania 2-1 in their opening game. They then sneaked a 1-1 draw with Serbians before fighting hard to get a 2-2 draw with the Russian representatives, drawn from an area in the south-east of the country. This points total was not enough to get the English representatives to the top of the group and thereby go on in the tournament. The Russians are reported to have tried every trick in the book to waste valuable time as the game and the points drifted away. Shame on you.
Having beaten the Teesside League to earn their trip into Europe, the Yorkshire lads were looked after by the official England C back room staff. The FA is proud to encourage football at all levels and despite the disappointment, these players have had a magnificent experience and were fantastic ambassadors for the English game.
The Republic of Ireland squad (present holders of the trophy won in Dublin in 2015) have earned 7 points out of 9 so far this time, beating Lombardia and NE Macedonia and go on to fight another day, East-West Central Scotland and Northern Ireland play later in the Autumn.
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