WORLD CUP GOALS FROM BOYNE CUP!

NORTH AND SOUTH COMMUNITIES UNITE THROUGH TOURNAMENT

NOW that the World Cup is over, the Boyne Cup can take its place!

The Boyne Cup is a two-day annual boys football invitational taking place at Gormanston Park near Drogheda this coming weekend July 20th-22nd.

This unique All-Island 9-a-side youth football tournament mixes children from both traditions in Northern Ireland with those from the Republic in a way that promotes cross-border, cross-community reconciliation.

“Last year’s tournament was a fantastic success which included 200 kids and parents from eight teams - four from south of the border, two from East Belfast and two from West Belfast - and this year we are doubling in size to 16 teams, with plans to grow the tournament even further in the years ahead,” explains organiser Eoin Gormley.

“We will be running separate tournaments for the U-11 and U-12 age groups (born 2007 and 2006 respectively) and players will require IFA / FAI age cards or government issued ID at check in.”

Players play for their own clubs on the Saturday, and in the evening are mixed into Champions League teams with complimentary kits to battle it out for the Champions League trophy on the Sunday.

This ‘mixer’ places kids from different backgrounds on the same team and in a competitive environment, with their parents all housed in the one facility, promoting bonding across national and cultural lines, and highlighting our mutual love of sport over perceived divisions

Teams are invited to the resort for two days to compete in two competitions: The Boyne Cup on Saturday, which is a competition between the invited teams, with a secondary Plate competition, and The Champions League: Sunday competition in which players are mixed and new teams are formed and named after the major clubs of Europe (e.g. Bayern, Real, Juventus etc).

“The novelty of this tournament is the fact that we mix the kids up into newly formed teams and give them kits (of Barcelona, Real Madrid etc) to play in,” explains tournament founder and director Kieran Lucid

“With teams from across the island and both communities up north, this breaks down barriers at a young age and uses soccer to promote cross-community understanding.”

New, specially designed kits will be provided to the players for the purposes of this tournament, which are the players to keep.

Gormanston Park has entertained a wide range of national and international competitions throughout the years including basketball, indoor soccer, volleyball, badminton, handball, squash, baton twirling, cheer sports, Irish dancing and wheelchair based sports.

More details can be found on the weekend tournament is on www.boynecup.com.