Girls' footy team goes from losing each week to winning promotion to top division

A girls' footy team has gone from losing 20-0 each week to winning promotion to the top division - after a fed-up dad started coaching.

Leek Town Devils under 15s were getting routinely thrashed every time they turned out until Stuart Henley stepped in two years ago.

The car valeter, 41, took the job when the previous manager quit because no one else would - and has transformed the team's fortunes.

With the help of assistant Ivan Austin, 50, also a parent, they renamed the team the Devils and started training hard in February 2020.

The team, who used to be called Golden Hill, now win regularly - and secured promotion for next year after finishing second in their division.

Stuart, from Stoke-on-Trent, credits off-field bonding sessions like quizzes and a focus in training on the basics with the turnaround.

A handful of players had never kicked a football before joining the team, so training them took hours of hard work and patience.

He said: "To be fair the first training session was like watching a men's team just coming out of the pub.

"But after a good few weeks we got down to training and they really started to take it in
what I wanted.

"My ethos has really been on doing the basic stuff well and letting the girls decide what they feel they need to work on rather than dictate the sessions myself."

Filmed within February 2022.