ONE OF THE AREA'S biggest football tournament for kids kicks off in York tomorrow.

The two-day annual Rawcliffe Junior Football Tournament will involve about 900 youngsters and 90 teams from the area.

Age groups ranging from Under-8 to U14 boys and U14 to U17 girls will be in action at Rawcliffe Recreation Field on St Mark's Grove.

The event is the Rawcliffe club's biggest fund-raising event of the season and last year they made £4,000.

In addition to the football, there will be a barbeque, bar, bouncy castle and other attractions.

The host club will be fielding a clutch of teams at various levels. Their U7s, however, are too young to complete until next year.

They have just bought a new kit with monies received from Timpsons and the Nestl Employee Giving Award scheme.

Three of the team - Jamie Butt, Niall Smallwood and Billy Annett - have spent time at Leeds United. The young squad is looking forward to next season when they will be playing in a league for the first time.

Rawcliffe's U9s will be in the thick of the action after winning their mini-league this season.

They are looking forward to a big year in 2007 as they will be going on tour to Holland and are looking for sponsorship to help with the trip.

Anyone interested in helping out should contact Sarah Bean on 01904 690010 or e-mail Sarah010b@aol.com Woodthorpe Wanderers U11s will be defending the title they won at Rawcliffe last year after another strong season which has seen them beaten just twice all term as they finished runners-up in the Ryedale Junior League first division to Wigginton Grasshoppers. However, they beat the champions 4-1 with goals from top scorer James Green (2), Matty Baxter and Jean Luc Weller to win the Ryedale League Cup at Pickering, and they also reached the quarter-final of the North Riding Cup.

On their way to the League Cup victory, they beat Tadcaster Albion 19-0, Nestl Rowntree 3-0 and second division runners-up Thorpe United 3-1.

As well as competing in this weekend's Rawcliffe event, Woodthorpe will be aiming to win the York Mini-Soccer tournament for the third successive year and hope to win the Hamilton Panthers tournament after finishing as runners-up for the last two years. They also hold the New Earswick and Tadcaster Magnets titles for their age group.