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Norfolkline Centres of Excellence

SHIP SHAPE!

 

The 2009/10 season was yet another successful year for the Irish FA’s Norfolkline Centres of Excellence with former Northern Ireland international Steve Lomas stepping onboard Norfolkline's Lagan Viking Vessel to help launch their second year of the sponsoring the programme. 

 

The programme helps to nurture and develop the best of the province's young players with over 780 boys and girls from across Northern Ireland, aged between 11 and 15 attending the Centres of Excellence this season.

 

The centres are a vital strand of the Irish Football Association's Youth Strategy and help to support, develop and enhance these young people’s footballing skills, conditioning, diet and general lifestyle.

 

The season kicked off with an August residential for the under-13, 14 and 15 Development Squads.  These residential weekends showcase the talents of the 40 best players in each age group allowing their coaches to see them in training and in games over a period of a few days.  Other residential weekends took place throughout the season for each age.

 

Another successful initiative for the Centres of Excellence programme has been the Festival Days which take place for each age group throughout the season. In fact, such is the success of the festival days that at least 15 scouts from major clubs in England and Scotland are in attendance at each of these events.

 

Norfolkline welcomed former Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Celtic and England striker and current Lincoln City manager Chris Sutton to its annual Under 15 Festival Day in December for boys at the Mid-Ulster Sports Arena in Cookstown.

 

A total of 150 boys from the six county excellence centres all got the chance to impress the special guest whilst they competed in the tournament to see how they compare against other top players from each of the counties. 

 

Chris Sutton was very impressed with the talent on show: “Watching the best young players from every county in Northern Ireland coming together to compete at the Festival Day has been fantastic.  The Centres of Excellence coaches have done an exceptional job with these kids, not just on the pitch but also off it, which is vital if any player wants to succeed as a footballer.  To receive such high quality coaching can only be good news for the future of football in Northern Ireland, and looking at the number of scouts who were here today from clubs in England and Scotland I am sure that some of these players will be snapped up quickly and ply their trade across the water.”

 

With the cream of Northern Ireland’s young footballers on show at the one venue, it is not surprising that the word has spread to the clubs across the water leading to an influx of scouts attending each of the festival days with the hope of discovering the next Jonny Evans, Steve Davis or David Healy.  In fact, there are already the early signs of major progress in this area with numerous players having already made the trip on the Norfolkline ferry to play at professional clubs in England and Scotland.

 

Notable players who have graduated from the Centres of Excellence to ply their trade with professional teams include Ballyclare’s Paddy McNair (Manchester United), Killough’s Paul George (Celtic), Dromara’s Jordan Watson (Sunderland), Belfast’s Michael McLellan and Neil Dougan (both at Preston North End), and Killyleagh lad David Morgan (Nottingham Forest).

 

Nigel Best, the Irish FA's Performance Manager, is delighted with the progress of the programme. He said: "The success of the Norfolkline Centres of Excellence has been phenomenal, and the interest that programme has attracted from many professional football clubs highlights this.  This season we have been looking at the future stars of football in Northern Ireland at both international and domestic level and this is a credit to all of the coaches involved in the Centres of Excellence across the country.  I would like to again say a big thank you to Norfolkline who have been tremendous sponsors of this Excellence Programme."

 

 

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