Press Release

Shantallow’s Ardnamoyle Swifts once again victorious in the National Midnight Street Soccer Finals

19th December 2007

Shantallow’s Ardnamoyle Swifts Midnight Street Soccer team were victorious for the second successive year winning the national finals of the Midnight Street Soccer Leagues in Dundalk’s JJB Soccer Dome last Saturday 15th December.

The national finals were the culmination of ten weeks of Saturday Night Leagues which were run at twelve different venues throughout the Derry, Greater Belfast, Armagh areas.

Congratulating the team and acknowledging the work of the programme, the Mayor Drew Thompson said,

“This project has proved to be very successful in delivering real benefits to the wider community in the Outer North and Greater Shantallow areas. It is a community initiative that is programming activities for young people at times when they need it most. The project shows that we can make a positive impact on young people’s lives by providing exciting opportunities, which they enjoy being involved in. Finally, I would like to congratulate the team on their success.”

The local programme was again coordinated by the Youth Educated Safety (Y.E.S.) Project, Derry City Council’s Fit Futures, and Shantallow Community Residents Association. The primary focus of this project is to provide young people with an alternative to anti social behaviour whilst enabling them to develop their physical health and well being.

Derry City Council’s Fit Futures Development Officer Teresa Bradley said,

“I am delighted with the success of the programme and I am very proud of how well the Shantallow teams did at the finals. Programmes like this are a fantastic outlet for young people giving them an opportunity to interact and make new friends with young people from other areas. Due to demand, we have also tailored a programme for age 9-13 year olds from 8:00pm - 10:00pm on Friday nights”

Community Safety Partnership, N.I. Housing Executive and Lloyds TSB funded the participation of the city-based project.

Cathal Mc Cauley from Shantallow Community Residents association (SCRA) said:

“We are delighted at the teams success in the National Finals and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone involved. The SCRA are committed to participating in a number of on-going initiatives all delivering youth programmes which address community safety issues benefiting young people and the wider community”.

ENDS

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