National award for Shrewsbury girls football team

The U12 Meerkat’s girls’ football team, from Shrewsbury has been recognised for their inspirational efforts to grassroots football in their local community by being awarded with the Nationwide Mutual Respect Award.

The team received sad news, finding out that the father of one of the girls had been diagnosed with Stage 4 terminal cancer earlier in the year. Wanting to make a difference, the team and their families raised £21,000, over ten times their initial target! The money, which went directly to the family, was raised through various fundraising initiatives including running a collective marathon, sponsored walks, a 20k cycle, and taking on an obstacle course.

These activities took place every Saturday in September after their football matches. The girls also sold raffle tickets, helped shave their dads' heads and beards, with some girls shaving half their heads too, as well as one girl who ran a World Cup sweepstake.

Merridy James, mother to Ava, 12, is a former primary school teacher and current construction site project manager, who volunteers as a coach for the Meerkats alongside her husband, Steve.

Merridy and Steve established the Meerkats team after their daughter, Ava, fell in love with football after watching Arsenal play. Initially, they expected to run the team up until Ava wanted to stop playing football, but together they have created such a tight-knit community of players and their families they have decided to carry on until all the girls want to stop playing.

Speaking of their fundraising, Merridy said: “We all felt very proud when we realised how much we had raised. Our team ethos is about creating a football family that is there to help each other and this is by far our biggest achievement.

“Of course, we can never truly take away what has happened to the family, but we hope they will be able to use the money to lessen their financial burdens, as well as give them the opportunity to enjoy the rest of their time together as a family. They have already been on a few lovely excursions together, which makes it all worthwhile.”

Ava, 12, added: “Even when the things we were doing to raise money were difficult, we always reminded ourselves to think about who we were doing it for, which helped us to push on. Anyone can go through it. We wanted to make their lives as easy as possible.”

The Meerkats team are centred around making football an enjoyable experience for everyone and have grown to take part in extra-curricular activities together, including an annual campout at farms, skiing, tubing, and canoeing.

Commending the team, one of the girls’ parents revealed her daughter has had trials for Aston Villa F.C. and England, admitting she wouldn’t be where she is now if it wasn’t for the Meerkats.

Commenting on their Nationwide Building Society Mutual Respect Award win, Merridy added: “The girls have already had great praise from everyone involved with the Meerkats, such as parents and friends, but to get a bit of external validation and win Nationwide Building Society’s Mutual Respect Award for all the effort they’ve put in makes it all the more special.

“Respect is key”, Merridy continued. “If you don’t have it for your opponents or each other, how are you going to succeed in life if you don’t have that empathy or respect for others. As a team, we always ensure we’re respectful to teammates, opponents, referees, parents, and coaches on the pitch. When we took up the fundraising it wasn’t to win an award, but the fact that these girls have put in so many hours fundraising for the family, to me, is the definition of mutual respect for their teammates and community.”

Paul Hibbs, Head of Advertising at Nationwide Building Society, commented: “Mutual respect in grassroots football is integral for its longevity. We launched this initiative as part of our wider Respect programme with England Football to recognise and honour those driving forces within the grassroots community, and we’ve already seen great results.

“The overall Positivity Score has strengthened within the grassroots community, with 67% of individuals now agreeing that their grassroots football experience is more inclusive, safe, and enjoyable. Amongst those involved, coaches, parents, and volunteers have the highest Positivity Scores. With that in mind, I can’t think of any winners more deserving this month than the Meerkats team – spreading positivity and showing the utmost mutual respect for their teammates.”

The Meerkats hope to continue improving grassroots football by growing their community and have plans to do more social events every couple of months, taking the girls to see local football games and the Lionesses live, as well as a big event which they have coined ‘Meerfest’ in August.

As a partner of The FA’s Respect Programme, Nationwide Building Society aims to thank those who have gone above and beyond to build mutual respect within grassroots football, making society more tolerant and inclusive.

Each month, Nationwide gives nominees the chance of winning the Mutual Respect trophy and two tickets to an upcoming England football team game. Its panel of judges then decides the winner each month, based on what the nominees have done to promote mutual respect, either on or off the pitch.