Festival of Football starting this week in county
The Football Association of Ireland’s six-day Festival of Football is underway this week. The event will culminate on Saturday, July 26, with the FAI’s 93rd Annual General Meeting in Athlone’s Radisson Blu Hotel.
The FAI delegation, led by President Paddy McCaul and Chief Executive John Delaney, is visiting 21 clubs across the county this week. As well as lifting the profile of football within the county, the FAI will also make equipment, funds, match tickets and services available to clubs in Westmeath under a special Club Support Programme, worth up to €100,000.
The FAI visits on July 22 include Joseph’s School in Athlone at 11am, Melville United FC at 11.50am, Monksland FC at 1pm, St Peter’s FC at 3.05pm, Hodson Bay FC at 4.20pm, Custume Barracks at 5.55pm and Temple Villa FC at 7.45pm. Also that day is a Soccer Sisters Camp at Monksland FC at 11am and a 4v4 coaching workshop in Athlone Institute of Technology at 6pm.
That evening at 6pm there will be an exhibition match in the Custume Barracks in Athlone, featuring a Defence Forces Selection against the Irish Amputee Football Association’s international team which is currently preparing for their first World Cup in Mexico in December.
On Wednesday, July 23 the FAI will visit Gentex FC at 11am, Willow Park FC at 12.30pm, Clonown FC at 2.40pm, Kilbeggan FC at 5.35pm, Horseleap FC at 6.45pm and Ballinahown FC at 7.30pm. There will also be a FIFA Live Your Goals Festival of Football, aimed at girls of all ages in Burgess Park, Golden Island, Athlone, from 2pm and will run alongside the Football Fun Day at the same venue. A 7v7 coaching course will run in Athlone Institute of Technology at 6pm.
There will be a Civic Reception in Mullingar from Westmeath County Council on Thursday, July 24. At 8pm Paddy McCaul and John Delaney will officially open the Bealnamulla Sports Park, with light refreshments served from 7.30pm. On the same day the FAI will visit Athlone Town FC at 1.10pm and Athlone Institute of Technology at 2.20pm. A strength and conditioning coaching workshop will be held in Athlone Institute of Technology at 6pm that evening.
Around 250 delegates, representing every league and divisional association in Ireland, will attend the AGM and are due to arrive in Westmeath on Friday, July 25, ahead of the Delegates’ Dinner in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone, at which the FAI will announce the Aviva Club of the Year as well as presenting various awards.
The 2014 AGM will take place on Saturday, July 26 at 12 noon in the Radisson Blu Hotel, as well as an SSE Airtricity League Game in Athlone Town Stadium at 7.45pm, featuring Athlone Town versus St Patrick’s Athletic. The AGM will mark the end of FAI President Paddy McCaul’s four-year term of office. The Athlone man is looking forward to welcoming members of the football family from all over Ireland to Westmeath.