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This season see's our club celebrate it's 10th Anniversary and this section looks at a few things over the last ten years. From very humble beginings with 15 players at the first session we have grown to a club that caters for well over 200 children from the age 5 years to 16 years old. If anyone has any information that would be useful to inform our supporters please email them to the club at portsyouth@yahoo.co.uk
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Our First Youth Team
Back row L to R: Ivan Ewart (Manager), Ricky Steenson (Asst. Manager), Mark Kerr (Coach).
Middle row L to R: Peter Smyth, Gary Richardson, Steven Herron, Wayne Ewart, Robert Curry, Steven Acheson, Neil Conn, Danny O'Neill, Simon Williamson, R. J. Treanor.
Front Row Lto R: Chris Jeffers, Stuart Wilson, Neil McCartney, Andrew Madill, William Highfield, David Hamilton.
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Where are they now? |
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Ivan Ewart |
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Ricky Steenson |
Our Club Chairman |
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Mark Kerr |
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Peter Smyth |
Hanover |
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Gary Richardson |
Hanover |
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Steven Herron |
Hanover |
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Wayne Ewart |
Killicomaine Blues |
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Robert Curry |
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Steven Acheson |
Glenavon |
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Neil Conn |
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Danny O'Neill |
Nottingham Forest |
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Simon Williamson |
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RJ Treanor |
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Chris Jeffers |
Portadown F.C. |
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Stuart Wilson |
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Neil McCartney |
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Andrew Madill |
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William Highfield |
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David Hamilton |
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The Leagues |
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Our club started back at the start of the 1998/99 season playing in the Mid Ulster Youth League were they finished as runners up in the league and got to the semi final of the Mid Ulster Youth Cup in their first season. From that season on our club has continued to grow and win some silverware along the way. Teams from the club have won the Mid Ulster Youth League on two occassions and the Mid Ulster Youth Cup once. Five years ago our club took the progressive step to push the club on and started entering teams into the Lisburn Junior Invitational League as well as the Mid Ulster Youth League. Unfortunately, we have not succeeded in bringing back any silverware yet but came agonisingly close last season when our U11 team just lost out on the league by 2 points. | | |
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Easter & Spring Festival of Football
By a country mile our club's happiest hunting ground has been the Easter & Spring Festival of Football in Ayr, Scotland. We have won the tournament no less than 5 times & runners up 5 times also, the season just past (2007/08) saw us come home with two winners & a runners up from three teams.
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Other Tournaments
The Easter & Spring Festival of Football is not the only tournament that we have entered. We have travelled to the Blackpool Cup & the M.F.I. Cup in Bolton. One if our teams has also travelled to the Republic of Ireland to the Cork Cup and during the summer of 2008 the same team travelled to the biggest tournament that any of our teams have entered, the Foyle Cup.
Our very first team travelled to Bolton, England in only the the club's second season and won the M.F.I. Cup in 2000 and the same team travelled to the Blackpool Cup in their last year with the club, 2006, and finished the tournament as runners up.
After winning the Easter & Spring Festival of Football for two successive years, 2005 & 2006, our 1996 Lisburn League team went to Cork in 2007 to compete in the Cork Cup and came back home as winners again, beating Leeds United along the way. This summer saw them take on another new challenge by entering the Foyle Cup. This tournament attracts teams from all over the world and their age group saw English Premiership new boys Hull City, SPL team Hearts and French Ligue 2 side Montpellier as part of their competition, when all was done and dusted the team lost the Rosebowl Final to Inishowen Youth League on penalties.
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Good Causes
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Although the primary reason for our club's exsistence is to provide football for young boys & girls and to hopefully bring through some good young players for Portadown FC we do make use of our position within our local community to raise money for good causes.
Over the last couple of years we have supported causes such as Multiple Sclerosis Society, Macmillan Cancer Support & CLIC Sargent Children with Cancer.
At Christmas 2006 we held a duck race on the River Bann and raised over £1,000 for Multiple Sclerocis.
Portadown FC have helped us raise money as well by allowing us to hold bucket collections at Shamrock Park, last season we held three collections at Shamrock Park and the first collections was used for club funds, the second was given to Macmillan Cancer Support.
The final collection was at the final home game of the season against derby rivals Glenavon, a collection was held before the match and then a penalty kick competition was held after the match and over £500.00 was raised which the club rounded up to £550.00 and presented to CLIC Sargent Children with Cancer.
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