Dartford girls’ Academy enjoy perfect start to maiden National League South Championship season with nine wins from nine

Dartford’s new-look girls’ Academy have enjoyed the perfect start - quite literally!

The club put together a team that offer students a full-time course and football coaching at Princes Park with education partners SCL in the summer.

The first half of their maiden National Youth League Championship campaign could hardly have gone better, either, with Dartford having racked up nine wins from nine league fixtures, scoring 36 goals and conceding just five.

While the football side of the Academy is vital, George Kingdon - spearheading the project - has been eager to find the right balance between that and educational development.

He said: “The squad has been put together through a structured recruitment process that included talent ID sessions, ongoing player monitoring and recommendations from grassroots clubs.

“The aim was to create a balanced group with a mix of technical ability, game under-standing and long-term development potential.”

Dartford started their league season with a 5-0 success over Cambridge United. Substitute Olivia Oladele-Ajose and Isabella Taffs were at the double and Isabelle Edgar was on target, too.

Taffs again bagged a brace in a 4-1 victory over Oaklands Wolves in their top-of-the-table match while Oladele-Ajose and Ellie Stirling also scored.

The Darts are plying their trade in an under-21 division - despite the group being made up of players between the ages of 16 and 18.

“It provides a strong and competitive environment aligned with their stage of development,” explained former primary school teacher Kingdon, whose team’s sole loss of 2025 was a 6-5 extra-time League Cup defeat to Procision Oxford.

“The programme is designed to support both performance and progression, with a clear focus on