A Perthshire girls’ football team has been presented with new kits issued as a prize at Westminster – just in time for their first game.
Scone Thistle Girls officially established their under-15s team in February and kicked off for the first time on Saturday when they hosted Raith Rovers.
The team were kitted out in black and red stripes thanks to a prize won by Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart in London.
The long-serving SNP parliamentarian won a full team’s customised football kit at a recent reception hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group, which Mr Wishart chairs, donated by the English Football League.
After winning the prize, Mr Wishart reached out to local groups via Twitter and decided to gift the prize to Scone Thistle Girls Under-15s following their establishment in February.
The kit has been embroidered with the team’s logo and was debuted this weekend as Thistle beat Raith Rovers Girls 2-1 at Scone Recreation Park in what was the Jaggies’ first ever league match in this age group.
Coach Fiona MacDonald said: “We got some girls together in June last year on a pay-to-play basis. We’ve recently had five or six girls move up from the under-13s, so now we have enough for a full squad.
“That was the aim all along. We’re building pathways for the girls and we’re hoping for an under-17s in the future too.
“We’re competing in the East Region and there are 12 teams in the league, and we’re starting our season against Raith Rovers, who are definitely one of the better teams.”
Mr Wishart said: “I was thrilled to win this prize and to be able to gift it to a team in my constituency.
“It was a happy coincidence that Scone Thistle Girls Under-15s has just been established and I was only too happy to be able to provide the team with their very first kit.
“Members of the coaching staff and even some of the players themselves reached out to me online after seeing that I had won the prize at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group and I was delighted that a new team would be able to benefit from this great opportunity.
“I am looking forward to going along to present the team with their new strip and I hope it will bring them a lot of success.
“With the Scotland Women’s Team qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, it is great to see young female players being inspired by Shelley Kerr’s squad.”
