Phil Codd is a key member of Middlesbrough Futsal Clubs FA National League playing squad and has been their no.1 goalkeeper for the past two seasons. He is studying at Cumbria University and whilst he is in Carlisle he has been an active member of the Carlisle Futsal Club community, sharing his knowledge and participating in the Clubs community engagement programme. Here he shares his experience of helping organise and run the Cumbrian Schools County Futsal Finals.
Five Cumbrian schools competed at the Sands Centre (Carlisle) to be crowned the county champions in this year’s futsal competition. All of the teams impressed on the day, most choosing to play a fast passing game. The five schools that competed were: Trinity School (Carlisle), Richard Rose Central Academy (Carlisle), Southfield Technology College (Workington), West Lakes Academy (Egremont) and Queen Katherine School (Kendal). The competition was played in good spirits, as commented on by Mike Stainton – event organiser and chairman of the Cumbria Schools Football Association.
There were some very well contested matches – notably the game between Trinity and Richard Rose Central Academy. The game was pretty even throughout, but Richard Rose found it difficult to beat the Trinity and Carlisle Futsal academy keeper. Trinity managed to score through some well worked team goals, the pick of the bunch a strike from their captain after a well worked corner.
Trinity were the overall winners on the day which was well deserved as they offered up exciting play all afternoon, which was very easy on the eye.
Cumberland county football referee Marc Clements had his first taste of refereeing futsal. Afterwards he commented saying, “It was a great experience having the chance to officiate some futsal. The games were all played at a very fast pace, which I thoroughly enjoyed throughout the afternoon.”
The children all had a positive experience of futsal. For me, this is the most important outcome from the afternoon. Futsal needs to be promoted to children in the right way. Not just as a development tool for football, but a game in it’s own right. There are opportunities for these children to get involved in futsal within Cumbria. Their nearest FA National League team is Carlisle Futsal Club. The club has a good structure with a strong academy set up. There is also a futsal and education dual course offered by Carlisle United Football Club for year 11 school leavers.
Well done to Trinity School on being crowned Cumbria County School Futsal Champions. We hope to see some of you make it into the Carlisle Futsal Club first team in the future.
