'Are we not good enough?' Girls football team win tiny plastic cup as boys get full-size trophy

When the South Morning Primary School girls football team lifted the coveted Edinburgh Schools Cup last year, they were given a small plastic trophy. It paled into comparison to the large, grand trophy presented to the winning boys team on the same day. The team of 10, 11, 11, and 12-year-olds was shocked and furious when they wrote to the competition's organisers to highlight the inequity. However, the tournament-winning team is now celebrating their second victory after being presented with a massive, new trophy of the same size as the boys.

Willie French, president of the Edinburgh Primary Schools Sports Association (EPSSA), admitted to being quite ashamed by the glaring injustice. After getting the girls' letter, he spent £1,600 on a new trophy and handed it over to them in school last week.

I'm really proud now because we stood up for ourselves,

Caitlin Tierney, 11, who was part of the winning team, said.

The boys were rewarded with their big trophy after beating Liberton Primary School 5-2 in the tournament final last summer, according to Rebecca Scotland.

We went up to protest and asked why did the boys get this huge trophy and we've just got this plastic little thing,

she said.

It spoiled our day because all the P7s came down to watch us and we were given this tiny trophy, and I was just yelling for the whole night.

I was extremely distraught, and we were worried that we weren't strong enough?

The girls' tournament had been running since 1997, according to French, but it was the first time their final had run on the same night as the boys.

I set up the presentation, three trophies were included, and then there was this sad wee diddy-looking trophy, and I was really ashamed,

he said.

It was only taken home because it was the first time we had seen the four trophies all together, and I thought this is not fair.

He received the letter from the girls' team later.

They very articulately and eloquently stated their argument that a cup like that didn't recognize the importance of the girls and made them feel inferior to the boys,

he said.

Tom Wills, the team's head coach, expressed concern that the cup's size would diminish their sense of accomplishment.I was so proud of what they had achieved, and I wondered, 'Is that it? ',he added.I asked them to concentrate on what they had achieved and how hard they had worked to get there," I believe they understood.

However, he said they were determined to write to the tournament's organisers to protest.

They didn't need encouragement to do it; it was entirely their own doing,

the tournament's champion said.

The team's champion, Vivienne MacLaren, was disappointed that they were not handed a proper trophy when they won the tournament, which was held in Meggetland.

We need to be seen as just as important as and deserving of respect as the boys,

she said, so I think it's really admirable what they've accomplished. The girls were replaced with James Dalgleish, City of Edinburgh Council's education, children, and families convener, at the funeral where the girls were given their replacement cup. "The South Morning Primary School girls' football team has earned their place in history by influencing the commissioning of a new trophy, assisting in level playing field not only in football but also in other sports.