northerncare have been working in partnership with FC United of Manchester, the supporter-owned football club, since 2006 to provide free tickets to young people in care and staff accompanying them for all the club’s home fixtures.

If young people from your Local Authority wish to request tickets, they are available from Laura Harvie at Head Office. Please call freephone 0800 040 7870 or email Laura direct at laura.harvie@northern-care.co.uk

Our 4th football tournament for 10-17 year olds was held on Saturday 8th November 2008 at Powerleague, Trafford Park. We had over 100 young people take part including those from our own homes across the country and children from 4 Local Authorities – Salford, Bury, Oldham and Cheshire. The 12 teams battled it out in the group stages and then went on to play either for the main Cup or into the play offs for the Shield and the Plate. Once again we had a great turnout and the young people could watch the FC United players (who didn’t have a match that day) training on the pitch next to them in between their own games and pick up a few pointers from the experts! The winners on the day were:

The Cup Winners - the Gold Team
Runners Up - the Yellow Team
Shield Winners - the White Team
Runners Up – the Scarlet Team
Plate Winners - the Green Team
Runners Up – the Sky Blue Team

Players of the Tournament went to Kevin from Salford (best older player) and Connor from northerncare, The Nook (best younger player).

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who took part!

After the tournament we all went for a buffet and presentation at St Ann’s Social Centre where players from FC United along with Billy Grace, the Operations Director at northerncare, congratulated all those who took part and awarded the medals, trophies and FC United goody bags. Thanks to all who helped on the day, organising and supporting the teams and especially to the children and young people who took part. We will release details of the next one (possibly to be held in April 2009) as soon as we have them. If children from your Local Authority’s homes would like to get involved next time, please contact Laura Harvie on the details above.

All the children and young people who entered were given the opportunity to win more FC United goodies through a competition. The challenge was to write a match day report/poem on the football tournament or draw a picture about the day. The winner received a signed FC United football and shirt and the runner-up received a signed football. To read the winning entries please visit our Achievements section (Competitions).