More than 70 girls from across the capital were visited by footballer Danielle Carter as they gathered for a massive football tournament last Saturday in Mabley Green in Homerton.

The Arsenal LFC and England U23s striker spoke to the players about being persistent in following their dreams of playing at leading clubs and presented trophies at the event.

Danielle said: “I’ve been impressed by the talent. It’s nice to see the rise in women’s football. This is where it starts.”

Four Under 13s teams and Five Under 15s teams competed for a place in the final with Under13s Young Hackney and Under15s Kinja from Wembley coming out the eventual champions.

The tournament was organised by local youth and education activist, Peter Blackwell who runs FA affiliated community football club ReachOut FC.

He has recently been shortlisted for the prestigious Team London Award to recognise his work to make the sport more inclusive for young people in Hackney, particularly championing girls football.

Peter Blackwell said “ReachOut uses football as a tool to help young people build character and confidence, and our girls love it. But because there is so little girls football out there, it’s often hard to find competitions nearby and at the right standard that we can play in.

“I wanted to make sure we ran a competition which would give our girls lots of minutes on the pitch, against similar teams and close to their homes.

“I’m delighted everyone came and had a good time, and hopefully we’ll be able to do it again soon!”