EFL 2018: Blackburn honours late coach Tim Jacobs by winning the under-16s girls’ premiership
UNITED in grief, Blackburn’s under-16s girls side capped its undefeated season with a grand final victory to honour the legacy of its late coach.
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THEY did it for their coach, the mentor who helped shaped their football and their lives.
Tim Jacobs had coached most of the girls in Blackburn’s under-16s side.
He mentored some of them in the under-14s last year and was going to progress through the ranks with them for 2018.
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Tragically, Jacobs was unable to complete his plan.
After a four-year struggle with bowel cancer he died on February 27 this year.
But he left a profound impact on the girls he coached, as players and people.
Inspired by the captaincy of Jacobs’s daughter Hannah, the Burners put the seal on their undefeated Premier division campaign with a 40-point grand final win over Montrose last Sunday.
Hannah, 16, said the side was motivated by her father.
She rated the win as the best in her career.
“The whole day had such a good feel, right from the start, and getting to lift that premiership cup was awesome,” she said.
“We all thought we had an extra player out there on the field.”
After the game the club returned to Morton Park, placed the premiership cup in the middle of the ground and linked arms in a moving ceremony.
It reflected on Jacobs’s legacy on the young players.
Blackburn Junior Football Club president Peter Parker spoke of his pride at how the girls had been united in their grief.
“It was amazing emotions, it was a sense of utter relief, initial celebration and then lots of tears from lots of the girls, the parents and the coach,” Parker said.
“The strength of conviction of everyone wanting to do this for the Jacobs family, let alone for the club, let alone for themselves, was so strong.
“I just wanted to point out how absolutely proud of the manner Tim would be in which they had conducted themselves in every facet of the year.
“We gave Tim three huge cheers, we sung the club song and that was that.
“Just absolute relief we’d done justice to what Tim had put in place.”
Jacobs, a father to two daughters, was among the pioneers of girls football at Blackburn.
The Burners will now present an annual Tim Jacobs Award, presented to “any female player that most reflects the outstanding values associated with Tim Jacobs”.
In the days before his death, he was still setting targets for 2018.
“He was on our executive committee and I kept him on emails about planning,” Parker said.
“He would come back with what he thought should happen for the year, putting forth his opinion, but he was dying.
“Up until 48 hours before his death, he was actively responding to any logistics or any strategy for the year ahead and he was the same for the planning for these girls.”
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