Charlesland Mini-League Scores Big

Alzheimers United FC are HERE!

nfortunately, GG couldn’t make it along to the first-ever Charlesland Mini-Soccer League…

Organised by local legends Paul, Colum & Terry, we therefore sent our jumped-up roving reporter, Jennifer Whitmore, along instead.

Take it away, Ms Whits…

The first Mini-Soccer League was held in Charlesland, Greystones last week and was deemed to be a huge success by all involved. Organised by three local parents, the league ran over one week and culminated in all teams playing games on the final Saturday, with knockout stages and finals.

Paul Smith, one of the organisers, said: When we began to organise this a few months ago, we could never have anticipated how many children wanted to be involved. In the end, 130 children took part and were split across 2 age groups, 5 – 7 (non-competitive) and 8 – 13 (competitive). We encouraged local parents and older teenagers to manage the teams and referee the games and they all loved it requesting they are put down to do the same jobs next year!. All participating children received medals and some of the qualifying competitive teams received trophies. With support from our sponsors we were able to provide water and fruit to the children every evening throughout the week and we finished the event on Saturday with free burgers and pizzas for all involved.

“We couldn’t have done it without the support of local businesses and groups, such as EBS Greystones, SuperValu Charlesland, Stephen Roche Construction, Charlesland Grove and Park Committee, Alan Rowlette Photography, Doyles Butchers, Pizza Hut, Greystones Municipal District, Garden County Radio, Greystones Guide. We even had our local community Garda on hand to talk to the children about road safety and playing in the estate so it really was a community event.

“And the day was such a success, we plan on making it an annual event and making it bigger and better next year.”

Nice. Luckily, Ms Whitmore was also on hand to hand out some sweet, sweet medals to the children, stating, “This is a fantastic example of a community working well together – everybody got involved and participated in one way or another. The large number of children that were involved also demonstrates the huge demand for children’s services and supports in the Charlesland area and I think we now need to look at what will be available to these children in the future as they get older.

“The time to start planning for this demand is now, and I look forward to working with the Charlesland Community to do that.”

For more information, contact Paul, Colum or Terry on [email protected]. Full gallery of pics from previous leagues here.