Over 300 girls took part in annual Festival of Football in Fingal

More than 300 girls descended on the AUL complex in Clonshaugh for the 17th Fingal Festival of Football, which has become a fantastic showcase for girls’ football in Fingal.  

The Fingal Sports Office used the event on Saturday 17 August to promote the Irish Federation of Sport 20X20 campaign which aims to achieve a 20 per cent increase in the media coverage, participation, and attendance of women’s sport by 2020.

The Fingal Festival of Football provides opportunities for some girls to put on a club jersey for the very first time and also acts as pre-season warm up for the more established teams.

This year’s Festival involved teams from all over Dublin, Meath, and Kildare, and over 89 players travelled from Donegal to take part. St. Ita’s FC triumphed in the U14 Cup competition, and Bohemian FC beat Raheny Utd for the Shield. Meanwhile, the visitors from Donegal took home three trophies in the U13 and U12 competitions.

The event was organised by Fingal County Council Sports Office in collaboration with FAI/Fingal Development Officers Paul Keogh and Sharon Boyle.

Paul Keogh, FAI/Fingal County Council Development Officer, said: “We are delighted to assist Fingal’s Sports Office with this great event. It provides for a fun- filled day and helps harness the great work of the volunteers who put in hours of work to ensure girls have regular football as without them there is no girls’ football.

“We have seen great growth in girls’ football over the last few years, especially in the Fingal area and events like this are encouraging clubs to provide opportunities for girls to play on teams with their peers.”

Niall McGuirk, Fingal County Council Senior Sports Officer, added: “We made a conscious effort to include girls in the Festival of Football nine years ago and it has grown from four U13 girls teams to a girl’s only event with 40 teams and over 300 players from U8-U14 taking part in 2019. We hope that this event, combined with the work being carried out by the FAI, MGL and volunteers in clubs around Fingal, encourages girls to stay involved in football for many years to come and help promote the 20 X20 campaign.”

Mayor of Fingal Cllr Eoghan O’Brien said: “Fingal’s Festival of Football is a fantastic opportunity to promote and showcase the physical and social benefits of the sport. It is particularly encouraging to see the involvement of over 300 girls in the teams this year – football is for everyone, and I welcome the efforts of all concerned to make this a reality.”

For more info contact the Sports office at  [email protected]  or 087-120-6431, or check out Fingal Festival of Football on Facebook.

Check out more photos here