The football team from Britannia Primary School in Ipswich now have their fingers crossed that Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich Town will be joining them as they head to Wembley.
Britannia overcame the opposition in the Kids Football Cup, southern section, and have their date with destiny against northern section winners Derby County on Wembley’s hallowed turf on Saturday, May 28 – the same day as the Sky Bet Championship play-off final.
“It’s like a dream come true for the boys,” said Greg Williamson, assistant head and year six teacher at the Ipswich school. It’s pretty special for me, too. What an opportunity for them to play at Wembley. I know many of them are Ipswich Town fans and they would love Ipswich to be in the Championship final as well.”
Britannia got to Wembley, representing Ipswich, in a competition divided into Championship, League One and League Two divisions.
They beat MK Dons in the semi-final.
Their captain, 11-year-old Tom Chilvers, said: “Everyone dreams of playing at Wembley – I can’t believe we are going to do it.
“The best thing for us would be for Ipswich Town to be in the final as most of us are Ipswich fans and we can watch them after our match.”
Britannia have an all-round superb record this season and are also through to the national finals of the Danone Nations Cup, which is being held at Leicester City’s King Power Stadium. It’s a competition run by the English Schools’ FA.
But it’s their Wembley date that has the ‘X-factor’.
“Not only are we playing on the Wembley pitch, but we are being put up the night before, going out for a meal and having a stadium tour,” Mr Williamson added.
“They are a great bunch of boys with good attitudes and they are working hard at school as well.”
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