News

The Centre was recently launched by Raymond Kennedy, President of the Irish Football Association.

The Eddie Irvine Sports CIS Mini Soccer Centre caters for over 80 children from the County Down area under the guidance of Bobby Murphy, Sport Development Manager at Eddie Irvine Sports, who has over 30 years grassroots coaching experience.

The CIS Mini Soccer Centre is aimed at providing fun and informal coaching based around small-sided games for boys’ and girls’ regardless of ability. Coaching sessions include speed, agility and quickness training, skill development games and mini soccer matches with an emphasis at all times on fun.

Speaking about the Eddie Irvine Sports CIS Mini Soccer Centre, Bobby Murphy, Sport Development Manager at Eddie Irvine Sports and CIS Mini Soccer Centre Co-ordinator, said: “Having been involved in grassroots coaching for over 30 years, including roles as an IFA County Coach and Ards Grassroots Development Officer, one of the key areas that Eddie Irvine Sports will focus upon is trying to get more children involved in football at a young age through mini soccer.

“Through the Eddie Irvine Sports CIS Mini Soccer Centre our aim is to introduce children to football and help them develop their skills, have fun and make new friends, whilst teaching them important qualities such as respect, discipline and teamwork.

“By introducing the children to the fundamentals of mini soccer, we hope that they will develop and progress as young footballers and maybe one day we will have a Northern Ireland International coming through the ranks of the Eddie Irvine Sports CIS Mini Soccer Centre.”

Speaking at the official launch of the Eddie Irvine Sports CIS Mini Soccer, Raymond Kennedy, President of the Irish Football Association, said: “CIS Mini Soccer Centres are often a child’s first serious introduction to football.   The emphasis is therefore that they should be fun, enjoyable, safe, rewarding, and provide a positive learning experience. 

“The Eddie Irvine Sports CIS Mini Soccer Centre is certainly very popular with the budding young footballers in the area – all the boys and girls enjoy coming along to the Centre each week and that is what it is all about – it is important that they have fun while learning and developing their football skills.  I would just to like to commend everyone involved with the Centre for all their hard work in running a first class CIS Mini Soccer Centre.”

There are currently 44 CIS Mini Soccer Centres across Northern Ireland that cater for 4,115 children (3,507 boys and 608 girls), with each CIS Mini Soccer Centre taking place at a sports centre and run by co-ordinators who all have a minimum level 3 coaching award.

Aileen Walters, Sponsorship Manager, Co-operative Insurance (CIS) said: “CIS has a strong tradition of supporting football at grassroots level throughout the UK through our Kits for Kids and coaching initiatives. The CIS Mini Soccer Centres provide an ideal platform to extend this support throughout Northern Ireland with activities which link to our sponsorship of the CIS Insurance Cup. 

"Eddie Irvine Sports FC is a fine example of a CIS Mini Soccer Centre, numbers are increasing and thanks to the enthusiasm and skills of Bobby and his coaches, I am sure this trend will continue throughout the year.”

For more information on Eddie Irvine CIS Mini Soccer Centre, please contact Bobby Murphy on 077 6356 7966 or email: bobby@eddieirvinesports.com.