Street Soccer

The inaugural Gillette Champions Cup took place on Friday 11th December 2009 at the home of the Manchester FA at Salford Sports Village. The event was a celebration of the conclusion of a sponsorship deal that will see Gillette's distintive branding appear of Street Soccer's Bolton, Manchester and Wigan kits. The three-way tournament featured teams from Street Soccer Bolton and Manchester and a rep team from Proctor and Gamble. P&G FC were the eventual winners, finishing the day with a 100% record after defeating Street Soccer Bolton 2-1 in what turned out to be the decider in very keenly fought tournament. Joel Perera of Proctor and Gamble gratefully received the winners trophy on behalf of P&G FC, presented by Lee Duplex, Buying Director of Rayburn Distribution, co-sponsors of the event.  Lee Fitzsimmons of Street Soccer Bolton was nominated as 'Player of the Tournament' by Lee Duplex for his eye-catching display in the centre of Bolton's midfield.

Please see our Gallery to see photos of another fantastic day in an amazing year for Street Soccer as we seek to help disadvantaged men in Greater Manchester release their full potential. 

After months of negotiation Street Soccer is proud to announce the conclusion of a sponsorship deal with Proctor & Gamble. The deal  will see Gillette branding appear initially on Street Soccer Bolton, Manchester and Leigh kits and the introduction of the Gillette Champions Cup into Street Soccer’s annual events programme. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.

Street Soccer is proud to announce that on 25th October volunteer, Eddie Leavy, Chris Kennedy from the Bolton project and Steve Dyson & Chris Satterthwaite from the Manchester project all passed their FA Level 1 Coaching Certificate. The course was held at Salford Sports Village and run by the Manchester FA. The qualification is the first rung on the ladder for those keen to be involved in football coaching, with Steve and Chris already linked up with a junior coaching scheme in their own community in Salford.     

The 2009 Street Soccer Cup took place on Saturday 8th August at the prestigious facilities at Nicholls College in Ardwick. Seven teams, split into two groups, took part in a keenly fought tournament and even though the tackles were flying in all teams deserve credit for the great spirit in which the tournament was played. Over the course of the tournament the referees had to issue minimal  cautions and not a single player was dismissed from the field of play. Stockport ’B’ were the eventual winners of the Street Soccer Cup defeating Manchester ’B’ by the narrowest of margins in the final. Stockport proved to be worthy winners having topped their group with an unbeaten record of two wins a two draws. They also had the  distinction of knocking out last year’s champions Bolton in the semi-final stages. After a 1-1 draw in normal time Stockport held their nerve to win the penalty shoot-out 3-1 and progress to the final. 

A special feature of this year’s tournament was the introduction of the Street Soccer Trophy for the teams that did not qualify for the knock-out phase of the Street Soccer Cup. The Trophy was played on a round-robin basis with Manchester ’A’ proving the stronger of the teams with a 100% record. 

Special mention goes to Salford ‘A’ who were voted ’Fairplay’ winners by their opponents. Having topped their group with an unbeaten record the Salford boys were eliminated at the semi-final stages by runners-up Manchester ’B’. 

And Finally… in what has to go down as an incredible achievement John Miller from Bolton again won the ’Player of the Tournament’ award, retaining the accolade he had won just 12 months earlier at the 2008 event. 

Street Soccer has announced that their fifth project will launch in early 2010 in Leigh. Partnering with Christ Church Pennington, Sports Village Church, The Eden Project and a number of other professional referal agencies Street Soccer Wigan & Leigh will stand alongside the other projects at Manchester, Salford, Bolton and Stockport and see up to 100 men per week access the services of Street Soccer across the Greater Manchester area. Utilising the state-of-the-art facilities at Leigh Sports Village the project will help disadvantaged men in Wigan & Leigh release their full potential  

Street Soccer has announced that Manchester based recruitment consultancy firm Watson Moore will be the headline sponsors of the Soccer 24 fundraiser on 12th/13th June. On their involvement in Soccer 24 director of Watson Moore, Derrick Watson had this to say.

"Street Soccer is a highly professional initiative with a track record of facilitating positive change in many marginalised mens' lives. That is why I want to give my support to this impressive work."

http://watsonmoore.com

Street Soccer has announced their plans for their inaugural Soccer 24 fundraising event. Dubbed the 'ultimate test of Soccer Endurance' the 24 hour event will take place on 12th/13th June at the home of the Manchester FA at Salford Sports Village. For more details check out the website:

www.soccertwentyfour.webs.com

Part of the continual professional development of Street Soccer sees the adoption of the tagline 'Raise Your Game'. This is in direct reference to the projects aims to 'help disadvantaged men release their full potential' and will be used on all future publications issued by Street Soccer

As the professional football clubs enter a period of frantic negotiation over multi-million pound player transfers in the January transfer window, Street Soccer announce the conclusion of a deal (not quite in the multi-million pound category) that sees Simon Murphy leave Ambassadors in Sport, after a 16 year association to team up with Andy Thorp on the Street Soccer management team. Simon replaces Mike Pennells who has left Street Soccer to pursue a career in physiotherapy.