HEREFORDSHIRE Football Association's development officer Paul Carpenter is thrilled with the progression of the female game within the county.

Carpenter has been instrumental in helping Herefordshire embrace the number one female sporting activity in England.

He is delighted that a HFA Girls' Coaching Centre will be launched at Hereford Leisure Centre in September.

More than 140 girls have been nominated for trials at under-12, under-14 and under-16 levels.

The successful girls will receive professional coaching with the players then being picked to compete against other coaching centres.

Initially, the centre will be for 20 weeks but the HFA eventually hope to approach the Football Association for help in funding an academy.

Carpenter said: "The HFA are committed to supporting the female game in our county. Girls' and women's football is now officially the number one female sport in England, with over 80,000 participants."

The Football Association has ploughed a lot of money into the female game at grass roots level - and Herefordshire is benefiting as a result.

Carpenter said: "We are finding that an increasing number of girls are getting involved in football and a lot of clubs are taking girls' football seriously. We want to develop the girls' game and keep encouraging more open-aged women's teams so that players are not lost after finishing youth football.

"In Herefordshire, the demand by females who want to play football is outweighing the supply of training and matches."

Carpenter is involved in a host of girls' football initiatives. An active sports' girls' partnership is being launched at the end of June, for instance, to increase the opportunities for girls to play throughout the county and feed into clubs.

A Herefordshire Primary School girls' football tournament is scheduled for this summer and a competition is planned for teams at under-14 and under-16 levels at the Herefordshire Partnership Youth Games at the end of June.

Twelve teams have just completed the Hereford-shire Primary Schools' Girls' Mini-Soccer League, which was launched in partnership with the Hereford United Football in the Community Scheme.

Sixteen teams have taken part in a Herefordshire Secondary Schools' Mini-Soccer League and a HFA Girls' Mini-Soccer Friendly League has been re-launched as an Under-12 Mini-Soccer and an Under-14 11-a-side competition.

"There are a lot of girls in the age groups in Herefordshire who want to play football but many have not got a club to play for," added Carpenter.