Glasgow City were awarded the ‘Amateur Performance of the Year’ in the Sunday Mail and sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards last night at the glittering ceremony at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow. Representing City on the night were captain Rachel Corsie, vice captain Leanne Ross, assistant coach Donald Jennow, chairperson Carol Anne Stewart and club manager, Laura Montgomery.
Glasgow City were proudly shortlisted for two Awards on the night – Team of the Year and Amateur Performance of the Year. The Commonwealth Youth Games Team pipped City to the Team of the Year. However, City were not about to lose out on both and were named winners of the Amateur Performance of the Year with their prize presented by Scottish Olympian Lee McConnell.
Hosting the event were ESPN broadcaster Kelly Dalglish along with STV and BBC broadcaster, journalist and presenter Steven Jardine. Announcing City as winners, Jardine said: "The most professional amateur set-up you'll ever see flew the flag for Scotland in Europe.
Glasgow City won the domestic Premier League for the fifth straight season in 2011. But it’s their work on the continent, reaching the last 16 of the Champions League in an almost exclusively professional set-up, which rightly earned them and women’s football in Scotland the headlines. All of Glasgow City’s players either work or study full-time and play the game for kicks, not cash. In fact it COSTS them to play every week, and it has cost the club a fortune even to participate in Europe.
But the £20,000 a-round in travel and hotel costs are tomorrow’s worry compared to the glory of winning through the group stages against opposition from Serbia, Malta and the Faroes before seeing off Valur Reykjavik over two legs in the first knock-out round. The brutal loss to top German outfit Turbine Potsdam in the last 16 showed the gulf they still have to bridge – but it won’t stop them trying." The Awards will be shown on STV this Sunday at 9pm.
Source: FOOTYMAD
