Soccer One Schools Events

On Tuesday 2nd March, 12 teams of S1 pupils from secondary schools in the Renfrewshire area were in attendance for a Bank of Scotland Football Festival held at Ferguslie Sports Centre, Paisley.

 

Nearly 100 local boys played from 10am to 12.30pm at the Festival which had been organised by Scottish FA Regional Development Team to celebrate the success of the initiative in the Region.

 

The schools involved included Paisley Grammar, Castlehead HS, Gryffe HS, Park Mains, Gleniffer, St Andrew's and Trinity HS who all participated in a tournament format over 4 pitches. The final was won by Gleniffer High School over Gryffe by way of a penalty kick shoot out after a goalless game. The players won their school a new set of Scottish FA footballs, bibs and cones.

 

Bank of Scotland Soccer One is a national network of football activity running in participating High Schools across Scotland from August to June. Run in partnership with the Scottish FA and title sponsors Bank of Scotland, the programme aims to create new football teams in schools for boys and girls, regardless of ability.

 

Scottish FA Development Officer for Renfrewshire, Gary Hocknull commented "Today's Festival was arranged to allow some competition for the local schools to play each other. This is the first week of three for Soccer One activity. We're running a similar tournament next Tuesday for S2 boys and then S1-S4 girls the following. It's been a fantastic day and the boys have really enjoyed the games. Each school had lots of opportunities to play and the feedback has been great. A big thank you to the teachers and volunteers for bringing their school along to the event as well as Ferguslie Sport Centre for accommodating us."

Soccer Two

St Mirren in the Community, in partnership with the Scottish FA was delighted to host our second Bank of Scotland football activity at Ferguslie Sports Centre today.

 

The Soccer Two Festival was open to all S2 boys within Renfrewshire secondary schools.

Nearly 100 boys participated within 12 teams from schools including Paisley Grammar, Renfrew High School, Gleniffer HS, Trinity HS, Gryffe HS,St Andrews Academy, Castlehead HS and Park Mains High School. Today follows on from last week's successful Soccer One Festival.

 

The existing Bank of Scotland Soccer One programme gives first year pupils at high schools across Scotland the chance to take part in regular coaching sessions and games. Additional funding from CashBack for Communities has now allowed the pupils to continue into second year with Soccer Two.

 

The final was played out between Castlehead HS & Paisley Grammar, with Castlehead victorious in a 3-0 win. The team were presented with a Soccer Two kit bag containing footballs, bibs and markers for the school PE department.

 

SFA Development Officer for the Region, Gary Hocknull commented, "We didn't think we'd better last week's numbers and attendance, but it is credit to the popularity of the programme that we have as many young footballers playing today. The boys have really enjoyed their day, and every game was played in a great spirit. Congratulations to Castlehead, who also happen to be part of our School of Football initiative in the area. The kit is going to a very football focused secondary school."

 

We would like to thank the school staff for their support in bringing the boys along and to the St Mirren in the Community coaches who volunteered their support in refereeing the games.

 

Soccer Girls

Renfrewshire's Bank of Scotland Soccer One activity finished with a flourish today as over 100 S1-S4 girls participated in a "Soccer Girls" Festival at Ferguslie Sports Centre.

14 teams representing schools from Gryffe HS, St Andrew's Academy, Johnston HS, St Benedict's, Gleniffer HS, Renfrew HS, Castlehead HS and Park Mains all took part on the Scottish FA's third festival within a busy three week period. The Soccer Girls followed the successful Soccer One and Two festivals.

 

The format for the day was a 7-a-side tournament, with the final contested by Park Mains and Johnston High. A 2-0 victory saw Park Mains take the title and some new kit for their school in the form of Scottish FA footballs, bibs and markers.

A huge thank you to the teachers for bringing the girls along and to the St Mirren in the Community coaches for voluntarily refereeing the games and ensuring the day went smoothly.

"Today rounds off a fantastic 3 weeks of secondary school football activity," said SFA Development Officer Gary Hocknull. "A huge thank you to our sponsors Bank of Scotland for supporting what is a very important and popular programme within the schools. Our next block of festivals will run in May coinciding with Uefa's Grassroots Day initiative on Wednesday 19th."