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 29/01/10
The
latest Midnight Football League kicked off in Wigan and Leigh this January
with hundreds of young people taking to the pitches.
The scheduled first night of the competition was initially postponed due
to the weather conditions that caused problems for so many at the start
of the month, but the league finally got underway a week later.
Since then, scores of teams from across the borough have been heading down to either
Robin Park or Leigh Sports Village on Friday nights; braving the cold
for the chance to make it into the finals.
Now in its third year, the Game On Midnight Football League, organised
by Wigan Sports Development Unit, was originally inspired by the
Midnight Basketball concept in the US; set up to provide something
positive for young people to get involved in on a Friday night.
Image right: Shack
FC – from L-R: Nathan Hughes, Matthew Roberts, John Hewitt, Wesley
McKawira, Ryan Hughes.
According to the young footballers involved, the competition appears to
be a hit.
13 year-old John Hewitt of the Shak FC team told The LINC.
“It’s been good, it’s entertaining and it’s something new to get
involved in. If I wasn’t doing this I’d just be hanging around on the
streets, but here I’m getting involved in something and meeting new
mates and I like that.”
12 year-old Wesley McKawira, also of Shack FC, said:
“My mates told me about this and I thought it sounded like a good idea
so I came along.
“When I’m at home I don’t have anything to do; I just kind of sit around
and watch telly, so I’ve really enjoyed coming here on Friday nights and
doing something.
“It’s also good that it teaches you things like working as a team. The
first week we played, because not everyone on our team knew each other
well, we argued, but now we’re getting to know each other and working
better as a team. I think now that we’ve done that we might win some
games!”
Their team-mate, 14 year-old Nathan Hughes added:
“I was in league last year after finding out about it through the Kickz
project. It was really fun last year so I wanted to do it again.
“What I like about it is that there’s a bit of challenge; some teams we
do well against and some we don’t, but we’ll keep trying.”
Stick with The LINC Online’s sports section throughout the duration of
the competition when we’ll bring you more reports, results and photos
from the Game On Midnight Football League.
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