The BWCI Guernsey Mini Soccer Festival is for boys aged under 10 and girls aged under 12 and 2009 will be the eighth and largest festival to date. The event is open to FA Charter Standard and the academies/centres of excellence of professional clubs only.
It started out in 2002 as a small local tournament with one visiting professional football club, Everton FC, to play against our local seven Guernsey clubs and has grown each year since to 2008 when we had a record 20 teams taking part, including (another record) 4 teams from professional clubs’ academies.
Date: Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July, 2009
Venue: Footes Lane Stadium & Memorial Field
Teams who Competed in 2008:-
From England - Arsenal FC, Aston Villa FC, Everton FC, Corinthian-Casuals FC (from London), Braunton Wanderers FC (from Devon), Finedon Victoria JFC (from Northamptonshire)
From Scotland - Glasgow Rangers FC
From Guernsey - Belgrave Wanderers FC, Guernsey Rangers FC, Guernsey Rovers FC, Northerners AC, St
Martin’s AC, Sylvans SC, Vale Recreation FC
From Jersey - Grouville FC, Jersey Wanderers FC, St Clement SC, St Paul’s FC, St Peter FC
From Alderney - St Anne’s School
Festival Format
There are two age groups – 1) Boys’ under 10, and 2) Girls’ under 12.
In each age group, the teams are divided into groups with each team playing every other team within its group once on a round robin basis on either the Saturday or Sunday morning. From mid-morning on Sunday the format is a knockout basis with the top four teams in each group qualifying to compete for The BWCI Shield and those teams finishing 5th – 8th in their respective groups qualifying to compete for The BWCI Plate. In both knockout competitions, there are quarter finals, semi-finals, a 3rd/4th place playoff and a final followed by the festival’s closing ceremony.
This format is designed to maximise football for all teams over the weekend whilst ensuring that the FA’s guidelines on the maximum amount of organised football played each day are adhered to.
Playing Rules
Number of players – 7 on each side, including a goalkeeper, plus up to 7 substitutes.
Substitutions – can be made at any time with the permission of the referee and shall be limitless.
Length of matches – 8 minutes each way with a 2 minute half time break.
Playing rules – other than the above, the Football Association’s normal Laws for Mini Soccer apply.
Organisation
The Festival is organised on behalf of the Guernsey Football Association by the following Organising
Committee - Steve Dewsnip (Chairman), Chris Schofield, Neil Laine, Garry Cortez, Paul Mooney.
Referees
All referees at the festival are English FA qualified and provided by the Guernsey Football Association.
Benefits of the Festival to Competing Clubs
For visiting professional clubs – the Festival offers an excellent opportunity for their talented players to visit a beautiful, safe and secure island that they would not otherwise get the chance to visit as part of their footballing education and development; and the chance to start equipping them for overseas trips in the
future as part of, hopefully, their future professional football careers.
For local and visiting junior clubs – the Festival offers both local and visiting children the opportunity to develop their footballing skills and talents against opposition that they would not otherwise get the chance to play against, including the chance of a lifetime to play against professional stars of tomorrow. Additionally, several visiting clubs have commented how well their children benefit socially as well as in a footballing sense. Once again, all visiting clubs left last year commenting that they “cannot wait for next year’s event”.
Benefits of the Festival to Guernsey
We are proud of the success and development of the Festival to date and believe that not only is the continuing growth of the event good for the development of junior football locally and the profile of Guernsey football in the UK and further afield too, but that it also provides a boost to Guernsey tourism in attracting many people to the Island that would otherwise not have a reason to visit.
Festival Facts and Figures Roll of Honour:-
Festival Winners
2002 – Everton
Shield Winners
2003 – St Paul’s, Jersey
2004 – Romford Royals, Essex
2005 – St Paul’s Jersey
2006 – Northerners, Guernsey
2007 – Everton
2008 – Everton
Plate Winners
2004 – First Tower United, Jersey
2005 – St Peter, Jersey
2006 – St Martin’s, Guernsey
2007 – St Peter, Jersey
2008 – St Peter, Jersey
The organisers were honoured by the Guernsey Sports Commission by awarding it the Sports Guernsey Trophy for the year’s outstanding sporting event in 2006.
Approximately 280 players took part in the 2008 Festival.
Since 2002, 1,400 boys and girls have competed in the Festival.
From Guernsey to International honours!
Three players who played in our first Guernsey mini soccer festival in 2002 have this last year gone on to gain international honours. Everton’s Ged Kinsella played for Ireland’s under 16s, Chelsea’s Billy Knott (who was on trial at Everton at the time) played for England’s under 16s, and Everton’s José Baxter captained England’s under 16s to victory in both The Montaigu Tournament and The Sky Sports Victory Shield (Baxter was also a regular in Everton’s under 18 academy side last season and made his debut in the club’s first team at the age of 16 a few months ago.)
What they say about the Festival
BWCI partner, Diana Simon
“As a local Channel Islands company, we are always pleased to support well run and high profile events like the Guernsey Mini Soccer Festival that add value to our local community. The children love the opportunity of playing against the Premiership clubs and it acts as a real incentive for them to develop their skills. We are delighted to continue our support for this great event.”
Festival Organiser, Steve Dewsnip
“One of the ever present problems in local junior sport is to be able to offer our local youngsters the opportunity to improve their skills by playing against opposition of a potentially higher level and from outside of Guernsey. We are very pleased to be working with BWCI again and their generous support will enable us to make the Festival even bigger and better.”
Chris Schofield, the GFA’s Director of Youth & Football Development
“The Mini Soccer Festival has developed into one of the leading highlights on the Channel Islands youth sporting calendar and is part of the GFA’s football development vision of creating better opportunities for the Island’s youngsters. To deliver our development programmes relies on not only volunteers but also financial support from many partners and we are very grateful to BWCI for their continued sponsorship of the Mini Soccer Festival.”
Everton FC Coach, Ian Lavery
“We are delighted to be invited back to the BWCI Guernsey Mini Soccer Festival. For our players it may be the first time some of them have been away from home in a “football environment” and as a staff we learn a lot about the boys on these trips as well as the boys learning a lot about each other and the staff. The standard of football will be high and it will provide our players with a good test of their ability and character. If our players play to the best of their ability we will be more than happy. It also goes without saying that the hospitality and organisation is second to none in this mini tournament and it has become a date in our Academy calendar that we look forward to.”
Arsenal FC Coach, Carl Laraman
“We very much enjoyed the tournament last year. It was a very positive experience for the players. Playing against slightly older players means that we have to move the ball more quickly which suits our style of play. Coming to Guernsey is very relaxing, it helps the players build team spirit and confidence. The facilities, pitches and organization of the tournament are excellent. We are really looking forward to this year’s event.”
Guernsey Rangers Minis Co-ordinator and Coach, Nick Graham
“The BWCI summer tournament is the highlight of our year for Year 5 boys, and something you look forward to as soon as the previous one has ended! It is incredibly well organised, and coaches and players enjoy broadening their experience by playing against lads from Jersey and, of course, the UK. The games are played in such a positive spirit and I think players, coaches and parents all think it is a fantastic weekend of football.”
Grouville FC Coach, Aaron Travers
“I am thoroughly impressed with the professionalism and the organization of the tournament, and the enjoyment of all the players, parents and coaches involved is clear to see. With this in mind, the festival helps to further each and every player’s development by playing against different opposition in different surroundings. Our young players are looking forward to a great footballing weekend, and are extremely excited about the possibility of playing against Premiership Academy Teams!”
Travel Arrangements
The island of Guernsey lies in the bay of St Malo in the English Channel, about 30 miles from the north coast of France and 70 miles from the south coast of England, and is easily accessible by both air and sea from the English and Continental European mainlands.
A heady mix of stunning scenery and the best of contemporary living, Guernsey is the perfect destination. Inspiring walks along the cliff paths, rambles through the rural interior or lazy days on the island’s beautiful beaches, Guernsey has it all. Ask anyone who’s been here. Guernsey is a special place, a thriving community that welcomes its visitors with open arms and leaves a lasting impression on all who set foot on her soil.
It is against this idyllic background that The BWCI Guernsey Mini Soccer Festival takes place in a very safe and secure ‘child protection friendly’ environment.
For those clubs travelling from outside of Guernsey, we have appointed a local travel agent to handle all travel and accommodation requirements for those teams, officials, parents and supporters needing such assistance. For further details on such packages to suit all budgets, please contact Mandy Eulenkamp at Uniglobe Island Travel on 0870 013 0355 or mandy.eulenkamp@uniglobeisland.com.
Further Information
For any further information regarding the Festival including entry forms please contact Steve Dewsnip on 07781 103321 or steve.dewsnip@cwgsy.net