The 10th Anniversary of the Galway World Cup Fun Weekend
‘Galway City Team from the GAF project win The World Cup in Galway where Ireland’s Young People Continue to Give Something Back’ (www.galwayworldcup.com)
The Galway World Cup fun weekend took place last FRIDAY JUNE 27th AND SATURDAY JUNE 28TH 2008 – where young people from all around Ireland came together to raise €10,000 for GOAL’s school building programme in Kenya. Staff of the Health Service Executive, Neighbourhood Youth Projects, Gardaí Justice Programmes, Big Brother Big Sister and Foróige were at it again organising the 10th anniversary World Cup Fun Weekend.
The Galway World Cup Fun Weekend 2008 offered an opportunity for young people to come together for a National Fun Weekend Tournament promoting self esteem, teamwork, friendship, social, personal and educational skills, sportsmanship and the opportunity to integrate with other young people from around the country while also focusing on inter-cultural awareness from around the world.
A total of 32 teams (youth projects) representing different nations from around the world descended upon the sports centre in Drom, Galway last weekend. The event was opened by special guests and Galway City Lord Mayor Padraig Conneely.
While this tournament was run along similar lines as the FIFA World Cup there was also a fun element to the weekend with various off-pitch fun activities taking place.
The World Cup final was the best final in the 10 years of the event with Galway City Team from The GAF on Eglington Street representing the country of Tunisia winning the world Cup after beating The Wolfe Tone Youth Project from Wexford representing Cameroon 4 penalties to 3 penalties after a 2 – 2 draw in normal time.
In an effort to educate people in cultural awareness each project also represented different countries in a fun way and one of the major prizes will go towards ‘the most creative kit’. The various teams researched, worked and designed sporting kits, national emblems, costumes and flags and displayed them during the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony gave us breathtaking displays of colour and insight into the culture of various nations from around the world. The best Kit was won by The Alf Project from Athlone, Co. Westmeath who represented the country of Zambia. There were also prizes won by Westside NYP and Knocknacarra Justice Project from Galway and lots of teams won various prizes for fair play awards.
Another aspect of the weekend is that all the young people, who are aged between 14 and 16 years, also fundraised for GOAL, the Humanitarian Organisation. Funds of nearly €10,000 was raised and will go towards building a school in Mutumo, Kenya and towards the GOAL Street Children’s Project in Nairobi which the Galway World Cup is twinned with. This fundraising event has given the young people an opportunity to show their solidarity with young people living in much more difficult circumstances.
This project could not have taken place without the continued support of the Health Service Executive, Foróige, Galway City VEC, Bank of Ireland, Galway Gardaí, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and Galway City Partnership who have helped fund the programme for the last 10 years.
For further information:
Ronan Scully, GOAL, (087) 6189094 / (091) 587901
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