Guernsey Football Association’s Euro themed small-sides tournament

58 young people attended the Deloitte Fun Fives event at Victoria Avenue, for what was a Euro themed small-sides tournament.

The GFA Youth Council, through the support of Deloitte, offered a free entry for teams to participate in what was an event based around young people enjoying football in a fun and less competitive environment.

The young people created their own teams following one simple rule, only two players in the team were allowed to be current players of the Guernsey FA Academy. This rule was implemented by the Youth Council to encourage players who do not play regular football to take part, to remove the possibility of one team being stronger than all the others in order to level the playing field, and for all to enjoy the experience.

Once the young people had entered into their age categories (Year 7+8 Boys, Year 9+10 Boys and Girls) the Youth Council appointed countries and generated the fixtures for the event. They organised and refereed the matches with support from the GFA to ensure that the event ran smoothly and in the best spirit possible. The teams completed a set of round robin fixtures which led into qualifying stages and knockouts to have an overall winning team within each category – with no trophies presented!

To celebrate the end of the event there was a free BBQ for all participants and, despite the spells of wet weather, the young people enjoyed the day where they were given the opportunity to play with their friends against others for the enjoyment of the sport.

Robert Naftel from the GFA Youth Council reflected on the success of the event when commenting: “The tournament was a good fun experience for everyone who joined and we dealt with the challenges of numbers and teams well. Lots of good football and fun times we’re had by everyone”

The GFA Youth Council, which is supported by Deloitte, will now begin planning for another event to be held later in 2021.