A PIONEERING football tournament tapping into the growing interest in the game among young girls, kicks off this summer.

Durham traffic policeman Ian Kirkup is behind the FA-backed event, to be staged at the sports complex at force headquarters at Aykley Heads, over the weekend of July 6 and 7.

It will involve up to 360 aspiring female footballers, aged ten to 14, while all match officials will be FA-registered women referees.

The tournament will be for seven-a-side teams, each with three substitutes, split into ten to 12-year-old and 12 to 14 age groupings.

PC Kirkup devised the tournament after staging a much smaller version last year, due to the growing interest in the game of his 11-year-old daughter, Rachael.

Colleague PC Anne French, Sheila Jevons, women's football development officer at Durham FA, plus Durham Association of Clubs for Young People and Durham Agency Against Crime, are all helping to run the tournament.

PC Kirkup said: "There are now estimated to be more than 60,000 girls playing football in this country and it's the fastest growing and most popular female sport.

"We believe this is the first time an all-female event of this kind has been organised."

PC Kirkup said last year's fledgling event was "very basic" but proved popular with both parents and players.

He received so many requests to repeat it he decided the latest would be on a "much grander scale".

Vacancies remain available for teams from within the Durham FA catchment area, in the pre-1974 council boundaries between the Tyne and the Tees.

Entries must be made via Ms Jevons at Durham FA, on 0191-384 7006.