FA National Football Festival Northwick Park and Wembley Stadium 6th August 2009
21 Sep 2009

FA National Football Festival Northwick Park and Wembley Stadium 6th August 2009

Through their sponsorship with Westwood McDonalds, Thanet Colts Under 10’s were invited to the FA National Football Festival 2009. So early on the 6th August 11 very excited players and 35 equally excited parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends boarded the coach to travel to London. The day was split between two venues, the first being Northwick Park where on arrival the boys received gift bags from the sponsors McDonalds. The format for the morning was that each team would play three 15 minute games against teams from throughout the country. Thanet Colts were drawn to play against teams from Phoenix Sports (Greenwich), Bramley Juniors and Beverley Whitestar FC. In the opening game against Phoenix Sports despite having the bulk of the possession and creating numerous chances the game seemed to be heading for a draw until Jordon fired a ferocious shot into the roof of the net. For the second game the boys had shrugged off any weariness from their long journey and from the outset played some fantastic football to run out comfortable winners 6-0. For their final game the Colts faced a team from Bramley. Despite being tougher opposition than their previous two games the young Colts players again produced some outstanding football with slick passing and movement and again ran out 6-0 winners. So the morning session of the festival ended with the Colts winning all three games, scoring 13 goals and without conceding any.

However the highlight of the day was yet to come as everyone boarded the coach for the short journey to Wembley Stadium. On arrival at Wembley all supporters made their way to take up their seats whilst I proudly led my players through to the changing rooms area which was already decked out with the badges of Manchester United and Chelsea in preparation for the Community Shield which was to be held just 3 days later. After a few deep breaths the boys walked down the tunnel and out into the stadium to be greeted by the noise of 2500 supporters cheering all the players on. After taking up our seats in the VIP area we listened to a short speech by McDonald’s football ambassador, Sir Geoff Hurst. An extra bonus for the boys was that they were chosen to stand with Sir Geoff Hurst and Sir Trevor Booking for all promotional pictures for the event and so can be seen standing proudly in front of all the players and coaches. Once all the formalities were out of the way it was time for some football. The Colts had been drawn to play against Newcastle City Juniors for their exhibition match and made their way round the pitch past 2500 supporters, soaking up the atmosphere. Newcastle City proved to be far tougher opposition than any team the young Colts had faced previously and ran out 3-0 winners though were flattered somewhat by the scoreline. After the game was over we all made our way up the 107 steps to the Royal Box to collect a commemorative medal. The boys were obviously disappointed at not winning at Wembley but the results of all the matches were immaterial as the whole reason for the day was for 11 young footballers to experience something that very few professional footballers get to do; play the game they love on the hallowed Wembley turf.

As the day was drawing to a close everyone took the opportunity for some photos and to buy a memento of the day before boarding the coach back to Margate.

On a personal note I would like to say how privileged and proud I felt to be the manager of the all players who represented Thanet Colts so impeccably throughout the day. I am sure that all who went will remember this day for a long time and treasure the memories.