Helena Pielichaty

Hello. My name is Helena Pielichaty (pronounced pierre-li-hatty) and I am writing a series of books about girls’ football. It’s called Girls FC and you can visit my website on www.helena-pielichaty.com to find out more. There will be 12 books altogether and I am just finishing book 10.

The team I support is Huddersfield Town. I have been watching them play since 1981 which is when I met Pete, my future husband. He has supported them all his life, being Huddersfield born and bred. Before I met Pete I liked football but never went to any matches. When I was little I followed Leeds, like Tom, because I lived near there. Maybe if I’d been taken to the matches as a kid I would still be a Leeds supporter, or if my family hadn’t moved around so much. Who knows?  It wasn’t until I moved to Huddersfield when I was 17 I realised there was so much rivalry between the two clubs.

The first Town match I went to was away to Wimbledon FC and I loved it. Attendance was pretty male dominated in those days and I quite liked that too, especially going for a game of pool and pie and peas afterwards. I was never one for all the lippy and hairdressers stuff. Town are having a pretty good season at the moment. If we can get a consistent run together we might be in line for promotion. Lee Clarke, the manager, seems to know what he’s doing.

I also follow the women’s game. England Women are better than the men’s in terms of world rankings. They qualified for next year’s World Cup in Germany much easier. I don’t have an affiliation to a particular league team but I do have a soft spot for OOH Lincoln Ladies as they are local to where I live and my daughter used to play for them (more of her later). I also follow the Lincoln Griffins FC, another Lincoln team. They helped me with my Girls FC books. The women’s game is going through huge changes at the moment. I’ll tell you more later.

I’m really excited about this blog. I hope you enjoy it, whoever you support.

http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/

England v France - Tom Palmer

My name is Tom Palmer. I write football stories. And... I support Leeds United.

As I write England are losing 2-0 to France at home. And it's poor. It's worse than poor. Unless you're French.

I am watching it on TV in a Welsh hotel room. Tomorrow I have to talk to 200 Wales fans at Cardiff City's stadium. That's going to be fun, isn't it? Especially as Leeds lost 4-0 to Cardiff a couple of weeks ago.

But I can take it.

And look at the team. Apart from Ferdinand and Gerrard... and maybe Milner, none of these players would be first choice.

That's what I'll say to the Welsh mockers tomorrow.

But, really, England don't move me too much. Not like Leeds. I watch every assault on Leeds' goal like someone is twisting a knife in my stomach. With England it's more like a weak stomach ache.

Club versus country: how do you feel about it? Please comment at the bottom.

Maybe if there were some Leeds players in the team, I'd be more interested. But that's not likely just now...

http://www.tompalmer.co.uk/

Welcome to Goal Lines - Tom Palmer

Lots of people like football.

Children's authors are people.

Therefore... lots of children's authors like football.

And this website is here to prove it. The plan is for a group of children's authors to blog their thoughts on the beautiful game. Several times a week a new writer will tell you:

(1) what they think of the latest football news

(2) who they support

Here goes.