Organised by the Irish Football Association, the event which is being held as part of UEFA Grassroots Week, is aimed at players aged 35+. Each 7-a-side game will be 12 straight minutes and will be played using the Small-Sides Games rules (which includes no off-side).
In the men’s section, teams from the Irish FA and the Northern Ireland Football League will be joined by Real Socialdads (Lurgan); Gerry and the Pacemakers (Cookstown); Belfast Barca (East Belfast); Larne Masterz; Inter Row Z (Newtownabbey); NI Vets (County Down); Unatletico (Stewartstown); Unreal Madrid (Lisburn); Mighty Ducks (Ballinamallard); Newington (West Belfast); North Down and Ards; Derry and Strabane; Causeway Giants (Limavady) and Downpatrick FC.
In the women’s section, four teams will be aiming to be the winners of the first ever Northern Ireland Masters Tournament – NI Masters Blue, NI Masters Green, Women’s World United and Donegal Select.
Not only is masters’ football about enjoyment, but there is also the social and health aspects associated with the game – and next week’s event in Cookstown will aim to promote these factors along with encouraging more people to get involved in the game.
Following on from the festival, the Irish FA plans to roll out a Regional Masters Games Programme which will culminate with a National Masters Festival.
Irish FA Director of Football Development, Michael Boyd, said: “We are very grateful to UEFA for their kind support. Football truly is for all, we don’t stop playing football because we get old; we get old because we stop playing football! The Irish FA believes football should always be fun, safe and inclusive.”
Ten years ago, a veterans’ league was established in Northern Ireland by Seamus Heath, the Irish FA’s Grassroots Development Officer for the Down District. The weekly league ran for 6 months with 12 teams (over 35’s) taking part. At the end of the season, Seamus, along with his friend and fellow player, Mark Hughes, formed a squad of players to come together twice a week to train.
The initiative has proved to be a huge success which numbers increasing year on year - there is now a database of 80 registered players (ranging from 40 to 71 years), with over 50 players taking part in the weekly training sessions at Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch.
And 10 years on, Northern Ireland has over 40's, 45's, 50's and 55's teams who play in tournaments, internationals and charity matches along with invitational games in Northern Ireland and across the rest of the UK as well as Europe. The teams regularly play their home nations counterparts and in recent times have played teams from the Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic and Ajax!
The Northern Ireland over 50’s team is currently preparing for the Home Internationals against England, Scotland and Wales. This year’s tournament is being hosted by Scotland (at Kilmarnock FC) over the weekend of June 5-7. Northern Ireland are the only winners of the tournament – having won it in all the four years since it started.
Last September, the Irish FA launched a Women’s Masters Programme. Targeted at former players and those wishing to take up the game for the first time, the programme for those aged 35+ continues to go from strength to strength.
The weekly sessions take place on a Friday from 7pm-8pm in the Shankill Leisure Centre in Belfast and players of all abilities are welcome to come along.
As part of the IFA Girls' and Women's Football Plan (2013 - 2017) it is hoped that the Association will encourage more participation at this level and ultimately create a Northern Ireland Women's Masters Team and thereby replicate recent developments with the Northern Ireland men’s team.
For further information on how to get involved please contact: Ian Stewart: ian.stewart@irishfa.com
Participants at the Masters' Football for women full of smiles during training.
The Northern Ireland Veterans pictured before a recent charity game.
Action from the recent NI Veterans V Dungoyne game.
Players from the Women’s Masters team pictured before one of their weekly training sessions at the Shankill Leisure Centre in Belfast.