[T]wo teams from Cumberland took part in the FA National Youth Futsal Festival North West Regional Finals last weekend, held at Tranmere Rovers Futsal Hub on Saturday 10 June.
Keswick JFC and Workington Wanderers JFC, both of the West Cumbria Futsal Spring League, travelled to the Wirral having emerged winners of the league’s Under-12 and Under-13 division respectively.
For the uninitiated, Futsal is a small-sided form of the game, played indoors with a smaller ball with reduced bounce. The emphasis of the game is on speed, skill and technique, with games played at a high pace. Popular in South America in particular, the game is credited to enhancing the skills of world-class stars including Lionel Messi, Neymar and Ronaldinho.
In action first were Keswick, who played some excellent Futsal throughout their matches. The team finished the competition as runners-up in the Under-12 age group, narrowly missing out on victory to Bolton Futsal Academy.
Workington Wanderers took on teams at both Under-13 and Under-14 level and once again impressed in their games, playing some exciting Futsal as they enjoyed an impressive run in their competition. Unfortunately, the Wanderers were to finish third, narrowly missing out on a place in the final, which was contested between Bolton Futsal Academy and hosts Tranmere Rovers Futsal Academy.
A spokesperson for the West Cumbria Futsal League said: “Everyone connected to Keswick JFC and Workington Wanderers JFC should be really proud of the players’ achievements, as they finished second and third respectively out of the whole North West region. It shows how far they have come in a short space of time and were only beaten by specialist Futsal academy teams.
“All kids and parents who made the long journey thoroughly enjoyed their day and were a credit to themselves and their clubs. The officials at Tranmere Rovers said it was a pleasure having them and there were no issues from either set of players during their games.
“West Cumbria Futsal would like to thanks Blackburn Rovers for supporting the league this season, Cumberland FA for giving the winners of the Futsal league the opportunity to represent them at the regional finals and last, but no means least, to all at Tranmere Rovers Futsal Hub for being brilliant hosts for the day; especially Coach Carlos and his players, who took time out to offer tips and advice to the players and coaches at Workington Wanderers.”
The league will be starting back up in September, so if any teams are interested in joining, please get in touch with Brian at [email protected]
