Working in Partnership to Help Young People Achieve More

Our 5th football tournament was held on Saturday 4th April 2009 at the newly built PlayFootball in Bury and we had our best turnout yet. The 9 teams consisted of children and young people aged 10-17 from northerncare homes and 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 Shield and the Plate. The Cup final was a tense, nail biting 12 minutes with the Navy Blue Team 1-0 up until a last minute throw by the Red Team’s keeper resulted in an impressive equaliser on the half volley by Dwayne from Piers House. As the final whistle went and with the score tied at 1-1, a sudden death penalty shoot-out would decide the winners, from which the Red Team emerged victorious.

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who took part!

The winners on the day were:

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

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

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

Players of the Tournament went to Chris from Bury Sky Blue Team (older player) and Nathan from The Nook, White Team (younger player).

After the tournament everyone enjoyed a great buffet and presentation where Howard Woolfenden from northerncare congratulated all those who took part and awarded the medals, trophies and FC United goody bags. We all then went down to enjoy the rest of Youth United Day before watching the FC United home game against North Ferriby United which ended in a very impressive home win of 4-0.

“All the young people who have taken part from across Salford really enjoyed the day and thought the running of the tournament was excellent, the venue was brilliant and the facilities provided really helped in keeping the groups in an area easily to monitor and keep entertained. Each year the young people and staff look forward to taking part and meeting up with the young people from across different areas and authorities which is great for building relationships and also meeting up with young people who they have previously already made friendships with. We look forward to the next tournament.”

Martin McRoy, Residential Child Care Worker, Salford City Council

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 or get involved in the next tournament, please contact Laura Harvie at northerncare’s Head Office by calling freephone 0800 040 7870 or emailing Laura direct at laura.harvie@northern-care.co.uk