Queentown’s Rovers Women’s football team has hoisted the Football South ODT Women’s Championship cup for the second year running.

The cup was officially presented at the Queenstown Events Centre last Saturday, after their final game of the season against Dunedin’s Green Island, which they won 1-nil, thanks to a Madi McLean goal.

But head coach Holly Aldred says the side actually secured the championship the week prior, with a 3-all draw against Northern.

The team has dropped only three games all season, all in the first round, before going undefeated in the second round of 10 games, winning eight and drawing two, along the way putting 5500 kilometres on the odometer, travelling between Queenstown and Dunedin, where
their league’s based.

With players ranging in age from 16 to 44, representing the likes of Brazil, the US, Scotland, England, Australia and New Zealand, Aldred says the future of women’s football in the resort is strong — bolstered even further by the recent Fifa Women’s World Cup.

‘‘Even before the World Cup, there was interest, but now I think with the buzz … it’s just going to grow.

“It shows that women can compete on the same level.’’

Aldred hopes more funding will become available, ‘‘because there has to be’’.

‘‘It’s very exciting.’’

She says she couldn’t be prouder of the women, who started training in January to get ready for their first game at the beginning of April, while the team’s hugely grateful for the support they receive from the growing crowd of friends and family who’ve supported them at
their home games, and those who help out on and off the field.

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