Footie camps are on track to be the best yet
Network Rail and Scottish FA team up with trust
These youngsters are on the ball when it comes to football – and staying safe on the railways.
Network Rail and the Scottish FA has teamed up with St Mirren Community Trust to sponsor its holiday football camps.
The summer camps are the first time St Mirren has had the partnership and Gayle Brannigan from the community trust said it’s made a big difference.
“We are so pleased with this joint partnership”,” she said.
“The extra funding has meant we can make the camps bigger and better. We’ve got more equipment for things like bibs, balls and all of the educational resources.”
The St Mirren partnership will run at every football camp at the club: the two weeks at Easter, six weeks during the summer and October week.
Network Rail and the Scottish FA launched the camps last summer across eight local authority areas where Network Rail has invested in electrification across Scotland’s railway network.
Now it’s been extended with more than 80 camps delivered across all six of the Scottish FA’s regions.
A total of 51 five-day long camps were delivered last year, giving fun football opportunities and rail safety lessons to more than 3,500 young people aged from five to 14-years-old.
As well as small-sided games and technical drills, coaches incorporated key rail safety messages about the dangers of the railway environment into fun activities or delivered directly by officers from the British Transport Police (BTP).
Liam Sumpter, route director for Network Rail Scotland, said: “Scotland’s Railway is one of the safest, but we still see too many instances of youngsters trespassing on our infrastructure.
“By working with the Scottish FA, BTP and local clubs on this initiative, we can help young people improve their footballing skills while delivering the important message to stay safe and off the tracks.”
Andy Gould, head of football development at the Scottish FA, said: “Since partnering with Network Rail last year we have been delighted with the response to the summer football camps, which not only keep children entertained with fun physical activity during their summer holidays, but also provide a young, eager audience to learn key messages about rail safety.
“With Network Rail’s assistance we successfully delivered more than 1,000 hours of fun football activity to children last year and we look forward to building on this great relationship to provide access to these fantastic camps to even more children across Scotland.”
We are so pleased with this partnership. The extra funding means we can make the camps better