When Simon Kirman, manager of Starlands Girls Football Club Under 16s, discovered the transportation he’d organised to take his team to the first SSE Women’s FA Cup final to be played at Wembley had fallen through, he feared the worst.
But a last minute, “stoppage time” tweet for help was answered by what Simon called “two guardian angels”.
Simon recalls the nightmare scenario that turned out better than he could’ve hoped: “Unfortunately the coach company I had booked to take the team to Wembley went bankrupt the day before the final. I had 49 people with front row tickets for the biggest game of the season but no way of getting there.
“So I took to twitter, more out of hope than anything else, to ask if anyone could help us. To my astonishment we made it to the final thanks to the help of two guardian angels.
“Our original coach company helped put us in touch with Mr Hussain, owner from Eminence Travel in Walsall, who came to the rescue. He cancelled his day off to ensure we got to Wembley on time and in style. On top of that, Sally Hancock from SSE offered to assist with the funding of the trip.”
Colin Banks, SSE's Acting Head of Sponsorship, said: “We just happened to be looking at The SSE Women’s FA Cup coverage on twitter and noticed Simon’s plea for help. I couldn’t let a group of such enthusiastic young football fans miss the final so I offered SSE’s help. Thankfully, after a few twitter messages back and forth Simon was able to arrange Eminence Travel to take him to the final and we helped with the costs.
“I can’t imagine how stressful it must’ve been to discover your transportation had fallen through at the last minute so I’m delighted everyone made it to the final.”
Eminence Travel has also offered Simon and his team another trip of their choice: “We cannot thank Eminence Travel and SSE enough, they turned what was looking like a nightmare scenario into a fantastic trip.”
SSE announced in June that it would invest a seven figure sum to help transform the women’s game as part of a four year sponsorship of The SSE Women’s FA Cup.