Local School Take On Premier League Opposition

A team of five girls from Rickmansworth School recently competed in a Premier League Enterprise competition at the home of Stoke City Football Club, T

A team of five girls from Rickmansworth School recently competed in a Premier League Enterprise competition at the home of Stoke City Football Club, The Bet365 Stadium.

The team were representing Watford Football Club at this year’s Premier League Enterprise Challenge Play-Offs having beaten off local competition from St Michaels, Bushey Meads and another team from Rickmansworth School.

The Premier League Enterprise Challenge is an annual competition where secondary school pupils are challenged with a football-related business task, set by Premier League Executive Chairman, Richard Scudamore. From there the schools are mentored by their local football club before presenting their ideas to a series of judges.

This was the first time Watford FC were represented and they were not disappointed. The initial club heat drew some amazingly innovative ideas from schools and it was Rickmansworth that went on to win the chance to compete against other clubs.

This year’s task was to come up with business ideas to engage international fans and the team from Watford really impressed with their unique concept to create a ‘Hornets Pass’ that would allow international fans access to all local attractions.

The team rightly earned the right to represent Watford FC and went on to put on a fine show at the Play-offs, however although they did receive some positive feedback from the judging panel, this was where their Enterprise journey would end.

The year nine pupils, Beth Christie, Rebecca Dunstone, Amelia Hearn, Aliah Khan and Varnah Suthaharan, can definitely hold their heads up high on a sterling effort.

Rickmansworth School

Sam Gillings of Watford FC’s Community Sports and Education Trust acknowledged their success;

"All five girls did the Watford FC and Rickmansworth School extremely proud; not just at the Play-Off, but throughout the whole programme! They attacked the challenge with creativity, commitment and conviction which was displayed during their presentation to the panel of five judges. They have certainly set the bar high for the team representing the club in next year’s challenge!" 

Premier League Enterprise is joint-funded by the Premier League and Sport Relief and uses the backdrop of professional football clubs' business models to deliver enterprise education to inspire young people and increase their aspirations and skills. The Challenge is a national competition that gives the teams an opportunity to present their response to the business task.

The Enterprise programme has engaged more than 11,000, thirteen-to-fifteen-year-olds in educational sessions run by Premier League and English Football League clubs since it began in 2009. 100 schools and 600 young people are due to take part in this year’s Challenge.


For more information please contact Kristian Hitchins on 01923 496231 or via Kristian.hitchins@watfordfc.com

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