Hopwood Primary School in Football League Kids Cup

Youngsters from Hopwood Primary School and Whittaker Moss Primary School with their trophies

Hopwood Primary School will represent Rochdale AFC at the regional stages of the Football League’s Kids Cup.

The youngsters have earned the right to compete at Chesterfield on 10 March after seeing off competition from 35 other schools in the preliminary rounds.

Pupils from Hopwood Primary School were joined by youngsters from Whittaker Moss Primary School (who were the runners up) on the pitch at half time during Saturday’s League Two match against Dagenham and Redbridge. They were presented with their trophies by Dale’s Football in the Community Trust.

The Kids Cup is a national competition run by the Football League, competed for by nearly 2500 schools and 20,000 school children over the last three years. It gives schools the chance to proceed via the regional finals to the National Final which takes place before the League Two play-off final in May at Wembley.