northerncare, because every child is individual.

northerncare's 6th football tournament in partnership with FC United of Manchester was held on Saturday 19th September 2009 at PlayFootball in Bury. We struck lucky with the warm weather, and were pleased to have such a good spell as the children and young people had been looking forward to the day since the last one in April. With the homes’ staff there to support them and all the FC United volunteers there again to lend their services with refereeing, timekeeping and scoring, the tournament got underway. The 9 teams consisted of children and young people aged 10-17 from northerncare homes as close as Lancashire and from as far afield as the West Midlands and East Yorkshire along with Local Authority homes across Salford and Bury.

The fun began at 10am as the 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 prizes of the Shield and the Plate. Nerves are always on edge when any of the trophy finals finish in a draw and after the Plate final wasn’t decided in extra time, 2 brave players stepped forward to take penalty kicks, with the Purple Team coming out victorious. The Cup final was just as tense with the team from Bury emerging victorious and Salford coming Runners Up for the second time running.

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who took part!

The winners on the day were:

The Cup Winners – the Sky Blue Team
Runners Up – the Navy Blue Team

Shield Winners – the Orange Team
Runners Up –the Black Team

Plate Winners – the Purple Team
Runners Up – the Yellow Team

Players of the Tournament went to:

Group 1: Ryan from The Birches and Tyler from The Nook
Group 2: Chris from New Haven and Kyle from Oakwood
Group 3: Domonic from Piers House and Lee from Mill House

After the tournament everyone enjoyed a great buffet and presentation where David Rae, northerncare’s Chief Executive, congratulated all those who took part and awarded the medals, trophies and FC United goody bags. We all then went down to enjoy the FC United home game against Guiseley which ended, unfortunately, in a home team loss of 2-1.

The next tournament for boys and girls aged 10-17 will take place in April 2010 and if any young people from your Local Authority would like to enter, please contact Patrick O'Neill on 01253 316160.