St Mary’s Awarded Grant for new Futsal Team

The indoor football game Futsal, has been given a kick-start at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham after being granted £3,000 by the Football Association (FA) earlier this month. Spearheaded by St Mary’s Athletics Union President Pietro Palladino, the new five-a-side Futsal team was launched in September and offers a recreational ‘pay as you play’ scheme for students as well as a performance team, which plays in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) Tournament. The grant was awarded as part of the FA’s Small Sided Development Fund (SSDF), which is designed to support the growth of small sided football in England. The money will be used to enhance the sporting experience of students by offering students the opportunity to play the sport, as well as providing work experience opportunities with coaching and leadership qualifications. Since its launch the sport has gone from strength to strength at the University College and already attracts around 30 players to its weekly ‘pay as you play’ sessions on campus, which cost just £1 a time. Meanwhile, the performance team has already had success in the BUCS tournament where they are currently top of the table. What’s more, the University College is developing its partnership with the West London Futsal Club, which will help to promote the sport on campus and provide players with a pathway from recreational participation to playing at a performance level, in addition to opportunities in other areas including media, officiating, physiotherapy and coaching roles. Pietro commented, “Futsal is a very new and up and coming sport in England, I played it a few years ago and so coming into the role, one of my objectives was to start up a Futsal club. I found out about the SSDF and with the help of BUCS and fellow colleagues, we put together the application and were accepted. I’m really pleased with the result and I know the sport has been well received by both students and staff alike. The aim now is to keep this growing and make it sustainable for the future at St Mary’s as lots of work is being done to do just this throughout the country.” St Mary’s Director for Sport Andrew Reid-Smith added, “More and more people are choosing to play small sided football and the Futsal programme offers an exciting opportunity for St Mary’s students to get involved.” St Mary’s is one of the leading institutions for sport in London, and was recently named as one of the top universities for sport in Which? University student survey 2013. It offers more than 20 sports clubs and students are encouraged to set up their own club or society if one is not already on offer. For more information please visit the website.