Carlisle Futsal Club and Gretna FC are today pleased to announce a link up between their academy programmes.
The partnership will see both clubs jointly promote and support the development of the players in their respective academy programmes primarily through providing competitive playing opportunities but also by promoting each others Football and Futsal activity in the local community.
Carlisle Futsal Club, an FA Charter Standard Club, have been at the forefront of the development of Futsal in the area in the last 2 years putting in place a full academy programme, running adult leagues with over 300 participants, developing Academy teams at U14s, U12s, U10s, U8s and U6s level and creating an adult men’s team that now compete at the highest level of domestic competition in England, the FA National Futsal League.
Gretna FC 2008 are the reincarnation of the famous Gretna FC Club that surged through the Scottish football leagues in the 2000’s reaching the Scottish premiership and the Scottish Cup final in 2006. In 2013, the club became founder members of the Lowland League, having previously played in the East of Scotland Football Premier Division and now play their home games at the famous Raydale Park. Gretna Youth Academy has been up and running since late 2014 and is showing impressive growth with teams at U7, U9 and U11.
Al Tindall Carlisle Futsal Club Chairman commented ‘The objective of this partnership is primarily to provide competitive playing opportunities for the teams in our respective academy programmes in both sports. Plans are at an early stage but there is talk of a summer small sided football tournament which Gretna would host and a winter Futsal tournament in Carlisle. We can share coaching resource and expertise and provide guest coaching sessions for each other. Its exciting for us to be able to provide our academy members with more opportunities to practice what they do every week in training in a competitive situation. We have really struggled to find them competitive opportunities given our location due to the distances we have to travel.’
Jon Reay Coach at Gretna FC 2008 Youth Academy added ‘It’s fantastic. I really think this will benefit both academy set-ups. Our first objective here in the Gretna area was to give youngsters the opportunity to get playing football & we have been overwhelmed with interest. We now want to focus on competitive games. So in addition to the local league this partnership will allow us to play Futsal and Football games throughout the entire year. It can also be a useful way to see how our respective teams & players are coming along. I’ve seen how important Futsal techniques can be in the development of a player especially from a young age so this can only help us. Small sided games is what it’s all about for youth Football & I look forward to seeing this project flourish in the coming months ‘
Anyone interested in playing Football or Futsal at any age or level for either Club should contact Al Tindall (Carlisle Futsal Club) on 07894799509 or Jon Reay (Gretna FC Youth Football) on 07545153899. Both Clubs are also looking to form partnerships with other Sports clubs locally, please get in touch.
For more info on the Gretna Youth Academy here is a link to their website http://www.gretnafc2008.co.uk/youth-academy.html
Follow Grenta Youth Academy on facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gretna-FC-2008-Youth-Academy/738382159549690?sk=timeline
