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Meet the Ripon teen living his football dream

Monday, 1 December 2025 06:30

15-year-old left back Olly Phillips.

A talented footballer from Ripon is living his dream after being selected for Harrogate Town’s academy squad.

Ripon Grammar student Olly Phillips has been enjoying playing against top-tier clubs, including Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester City since he was selected for Harrogate Town’s under-16 team.

This followed a summer of challenging trials and a tough training camp, with players from all over the north of England competing to get into the final squad of 18 players.

The 15-year-old, who plays left back, first took up football aged seven, encouraged by his father Craig.

More recently he has been playing against Doncaster Rovers and York City, progressing into the next round of the National Cup, a country-wide knock-out competition.

The teenager, who hopes to train as a physiotherapist and also plays for Ripon Panthers, said he found the selection process, up against about 40 experienced players, tough.

Olly said:

“Many of the others were of a high standard and played for other pro clubs. It was a three to four step trialling process to get in and retain my place from last year.

“The new squad is really good, with some amazing players.

“I was really happy to be selected as I have been training with Harrogate player development centre for years – and it was clearly worth all the effort. Not many players get this opportunity.”

In addition to being selected to play for Harrogate Town against Liverpool and Manchester City, the highlight of his footballing career was being part of Ripon’s under-15 team which won the league title last year.

His ambition now is to play football at the highest level.

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