While the Festival of Football highlighted the excellent work being done in County Cork - with 43 club visits, over €1 million given out in club grants, and almost four million people reached on social media - there was noticeable progress made all around the country.
Across 24 different programmes put on by the Football Association of Ireland, there was significant increases in participation levels and the investment of over €140 million into football development has made a big difference.
Here are some of the highlights:
- 35,000 kids involved in Sports Direct Summer Soccer Schools – 400 camps nationwide
- 3,500 girls took part in Aviva Soccer Sisters camps – 127 camps nationwide
- 11,796 kids took part in Primary Futsal programme – 270% rise from 2008 (42% female participation)
- 31,700 kids took part in SPAR Primary 5s – 137% rise from 2008 (41% female participation)
- 4,632 kids took part in post primary schools competition – 70% rise from 2008 (43% females)
- 4,000 kids took part in Late Night Leagues across 87 centres
- 350 participants in 23 different Walking Football events
- 41 clubs nationwide who support Football For All programmes
- 300 girls took part in Glow Football across eight venues nationwide
- 271 new referees (31 female)
- 78 UEFA Pro Licence holders
- 10 FAI-ETB courses with over 200 participants with new centres in Dundalk and Waterford
- 12 clubs achieved Club Mark Entry Level Award – 81 clubs engaged
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Introduction:
2018 proved to be quite a year at Grassroots level as Irish football continued to prosper with more young players getting involved, more coaches earning qualifications, and more work being done on club development.