Wembley final for Idle school representing Bradford City

Blakehill Primary, led by driven sports coach Mathew Lumb, came out on top of the qualifying rounds of the EFL Cup (Road to Wembley) in Bradford to become the Bantams’ official representative.

They then continued their winning streak by becoming champions of the North, putting them into a showdown underneath the arch in London with the South of England winners, a school side representing Walsall that won the trophy last season.

A proud Lumb said: “It’s been a crazy few months and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for these boys, with all but one of them being in Year Six.

“I’ve only been at Blakehill for a year or so, and my remit was to up the amount of sport we do here, so we’re now basically entering all the competitions we can think of.

“The Road to Wembley started for us in November time and we finished in the top three of our heat at Goals, which is by Hanson Academy.

“There were equivalent qualifiers at Marley and Dixon’s Allerton, and it ended up with the best 12 teams in Bradford playing in a finals tournament for the right to represent City going forward.

“We won that to become Bradford champions for a second year in a row, but we didn’t make it to Wembley last year because we then went on to be beaten by Crewe Alexandra.

“After becoming Bradford champions this season, we arranged games with high school teams in the city, just to give us the opportunity to practice against bigger lads, and we were beating them.

“The EFL provided us with a Bradford City kit and we went down to Accrington for the North finals.

“We just squeezed out of our group behind Stockport, but then beat Wrexham 1-0 in the semis and Grimsby 1-0 in the final.

“That put us into the Wembley final and it’s all systems go now for that next month.”

Blakehill’s big day out under the arch is on Sunday, May 19, and discussing the build-up between now and then, Lumb said: “I’ve spoken to Ian Ormondroyd (former Bantams striker and current CEO of the club’s Community Foundation) and he’s looking to see if he can get some City players to come to the school for a Q&A session with the kids.

“The club have already invited us to their League Two game against Newport at Valley Parade at the end of this month and they’ll get to go behind the scenes on a tour then do a lap of the pitch.”

Bradford City are doing their bit for Blakehill, while Bradford (Park Avenue) have already welcomed the boys to Horsfall, where they met club mascot Ronnie the Ram. (Image: UGC.)

As for the final and the day itself, Lumb said: “The EFL are paying for it all, and there’s going to be a documentary about it, with Sky Sports doing some filming for it.

“The boys will get the weekend in London, and we’ve been given some spending money to take the lads out for a nice meal on the Saturday night.

“The game itself is at midday on the Sunday and it’s nine-a-side over what I believe will be half the Wembley pitch.

“There are no subs, so all nine of our lads will get to play the whole game.

“We’ll get to wear City colours, in a kit sponsored by Utilita, and we get to visit the Wembley boot room.

“All the lads will be given a pair of boots to keep, and they can wear them for the final if they wish.

“We know it’ll be a tough game though, because this Walsall school that we’re facing also won this tournament last year.”

But a competition success a fortnight ago will give the Blakehill boys some confidence, as Lumb recalled: “We entered an international tournament in Blackpool where there were eight school teams from across Europe.

“We went down on the Friday, played on the Saturday and Sunday, and won the whole thing.”