Glentoran FC is delighted and excited to announce that the club is launching a Disability Football section within the Glentoran Academy. The new body will be launched on Thursday 25th. It will include both Junior and Senior sections totalling 34 players aged from 6 to 17 years. Glentoran Academy has grown steadily since its foundation in 2008. From a start of 6 teams competing in the South Belfast Youth League the Academy now provides football for 260 boys and girls with almost 30 teams playing under the Glentoran banner across 13 age groups. This provides a fully cross community experience for both the young players and coaching staff and also includes a vibrant girls’ section. While the Disability Section is launched this week it has been months in planning. The club representatives have had several meetings with Alan Crookes at the Irish FA. Through Alan’s support the Academy was able to form a partnership with Belvoir Blades FC. In preparation for the launch a number of Academy coaches have worked alongside Belvoir coaches. The merger completes on 25th February with the official formation of Glentoran Disability Football Club. We would like to thank Alan Crookes and everyone at Belvoir Blades for their help and support. Academy Manager David Lowry explains the background to this groundbreaking development:
"When I was asked to take over the day to day management of the Academy in September 2014 I was tasked to ensure the Academy became financially stable, increased participation, increased its contribution towards social inclusion and outreach work and, of course, continued to provide quality players for the first team. This was no small task in a voluntary role but one I felt was more than achievable with the right help and support. The first, most obvious area for improvement was through expanding the junior section of the Academy where our youngest team was under 10s. I asked my brother, Stephen, to take over the management of the Junior Section and he has transformed it brilliantly by helping to increase its numbers by over 100 players from as young as four years old. By incorporating Glentoran Ladies into the Academy we significantly broadened the range of playing participation and of course added significantly to our goal of complete inclusivity for all at Glentoran. Our girls’ section has gone from strength to strength under the guidance of Peter Neill. On the quality front our Academy continues to thrive with Glentoran providing more players than any other club to the Northern Ireland to the Victory Shield International squad for each of the past two seasons and we had the additional pleasure of seeing young Academy players Patrick Cafolla and Karl Hamill making their senior team debuts this season. Adding the new disability football section is the latest step in our exciting Academy project as we continue to strive for excellence while also providing sporting and social opportunities for the young people of East Belfast and beyond. I am delighted that Sean McManus has agreed to manage Glentoran Disability FC and under his stewardship we are confident we will further increase participation and would like to invite any other young people who wish to come along and take part to please contact the Academy at info@glentoranfcacademy.com for details”.
"I would like to thank the Glentoran Board of Directors who, through Academy Director Grahame Jenkins, have given the Academy great support over the years. Thanks to this ongoing support we can continue to seek new ways to reach out to our community and expand our Academy. This will shortly lead to the launch of a Polish Language coaching school which we hope will lead to the provision of strong opportunities for the fuller integration of the Eastern European community in East Belfast.”
Glentoran Disability FC Manager, Sean McManus, said “Glentoran Disability Football Club is open to all children and adults with any disability, in the catorgories age 7-14 & age 14 and over. We offer coaching sessions and organised matches in a safe and enjoyable environment. We encourage people with disability to develop their health, independence and realise their full potential”.
The formal launch of Glentoran Disability FC will commence at 6pm on Thursday 25th February at Dundonald High School.