2020 will see a lot of eyes on Hills Football with the
expansion of their pathway programs. 2020 will see the return of GSAP under the
banner of Hills Football. As in 2019 Hills United FC operated the program on
behalf of Hills Football. Hills Football Head of Football and TD Dan Sheppard
said “I would like to take this
opportunity to recognise the excellent work done by Hills United, and in
particular Alex Tobin. I look forward to working closely with Alex and Hills
United in providing all players (boys and girls) with the best development and
football opportunities going forwards.”
The assessment period was undertaken throughout November and
December with some 330 players registering for the process, with only a maximum
of 118 positions available for selection, broken down to 56 female (U10-U13)
and 64 males (U13-U16). Players needed to reside within the Football NSW (FNSW)
Metropolitan West boundaries which is the old Granville District Boundaries,
Blacktown Association, and Nepean Association as per FNSW rules to be eligible
for either program. As such we are pleased to announce that of the 118 players,
we have 80% of Hills based residents within our program. When asked Dan
Sheppard added that “it is fantastic that we can offer another layer to the
football pyramid in the Hills area. We know there is a talent pool of players
here that want to expose themselves to something different. I am glad that we
have been able to offer this and very humbled that in our first season we have
had such a high response rate from the local football community. To get 80% of
local player base in the first year shows players here want to explore other
football pathways. It also shows how well our local clubs have done in their
player development and should be very proud of the wonderful they are doing on
the grass each year.”
Of the 118 players on the program the club that has fed the
most players into one of the pathways programs with a total of 23 players came
through Hills United FC. A large number were part of the GSAP program in 2019. With
80% of the players coming from within the Hills Football demographic, we have
broken down below where those players have come from.
Congratulations to all players for making the 2020 squads. Congratulations to all Hills Football Clubs on the successful part they have played on the journey. Below we would like to announce the squads for the 2020 GSAP and AYL with the club they played for in 2019.
