A League for All
Wednesday 10th February 2010
More than 500 children are to take part in a football tournament which aims to use the “beautiful game” to build understanding of race and gender issues.
The P7 children from nine schools in the north and west of Glasgow will field teams who will be a mix of race and gender.
The “A League for All” tournament was officially launched today at Knightswood Primary School. Helping launch it was Community Director Kieron Dempsey, Club employee Ami Small, one of our new community coaches Daniel Turner, first team player Paul Cairney and ex footballers Chic Charnley, Derek Ferguson and Jim Duffy.
The tournament, which will be played at the Petershill complex in the middle of May, will take the form of a round robin event. The eventual winner will be decided by league position and goals scored. Teams will be five/six-a-side with player pools of between seven and 10 footballers.
The tournament is designed to raise awareness of issues around race and gender and to remove the barriers of exclusion through the game of football.
It is hoped that by linking football, with notions of equality, fairness, cooperation and competition, the league will be an opportunity to help reduce ignorance and encourage teamwork, leadership and friendship.
The partners in the tournament are Glasgow City Council, Partick Thistle Football Club, Scottish Refugee Council, Show Racism the Red Card, The Jags Trust with sponsorship provided by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum and Unison
Billy Singh, Campaign Manager with Show Racism The Red Card said:”A League For All is an excellent project, Glasgow’s school pupils are clearly very receptive to anti-racist education and when given the facts on issues around asylum, they respond positively.”
Kieron Dempsey, Community Director at Partick Thistle Football Club/Jags Trust, said: "Partick Thistle Football Club and the Jags Trust are delighted to be involved with this event. We have a real opportunity here to focus on bringing together young people irrespective of race or gender to reduce barriers, improve understanding, promote team work, cooperation and - most importantly - fun, whilst highlighting the benefits of sport in gaining good health and fitness.
"This is a city that revolves around football it's great for Partick Thistle as the local club to be able to assist promote such a positive message through the medium of football to the children of Glasgow."
The tournament will benefit from the support of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum which are providing footballs and promotional material for the schools taking part. Unison sponsored the posters for the event.
Pictured below are the stars of the day. Paul Cairney, Jim Duffy, Chic Charnley and Derek Ferguson, alongside teachers and, most importantly, representatives of the pupils of Knightswood Primary School.
