Latest News

Cardiac Risk in the Young

21 Players form GFC will attend a Cardiac Sceening Clinic at UUJ in January. This screening is for Players from U14's and upwards.

IFA Residential Award 2007

This years IFA Residential Award was won by Daniel Kelly from our U14's Team. Daniel will receive his award at the Northern Ireland v Denmark game during the half time break. Well Done Daniel form all at the Club.

June 2007 Mini Soccer Award

June 2007 saw GFC stageing it's first Mini Soccer Coaching Certificate for GFC Past Players. The Eight Players were taken through thier paces by IFA Developement Officer Kyle Ferguson. All players are now Qualified with thier Mini Soccer Certificates.

 

Belfast Telegraph Report

Cup Finals

Junior Football: Hat-trick boys not so green after all


By Robert Fenton

11 May 2006
Greenisland Boys performance at the Lisburn Junior Invitation Cup finals was comparable to the experience of waiting for a bus. If one comes, three come along at the same time.

The Boys had never won a trophy during their spell in Lisburn youth circles, but there was no concealing their joy at the end of the day when they clinched a hat-trick of successes at Ballymacoss Playing Fields.This season they added two league titles to their collection and at last, the club are getting reward for their tremendous set-up. Their previous best cup performance was a defeat for the under-10s in last year's final.

It was fitting at the finals that their first success came against Lisburn Youth, who were also chasing three cups and the under-12 decider was the match of the day.The impressive Jonathan Cosgrove shot Greenisland into a three-goal lead, but Stuart Adams and James Ferguson brought Lisburn back into the game.

David Kelly made it 4-2 before Fergus McBride set up a great finish with Lisburn's third goal.

A cross from Michael McKee allowed Andrew Mitchell to score the only goal of the game for Greenisland under-13s against Banbridge Town.

Greenisland under-15s then beat champions, Shankill Juniors, 3-0 with Darryl Brammeld getting two and Kenny Keyes the other one.

(these are not the only trophies the Club have won in the lisburn League)

Scotland Boys Club
Academy of Football.


Can I take this opportunity of personally thanking everyone at Greenisland boys (especially Laurence Gilloway) for an absolutely fabulous day in Northern Ireland. We can honestly say that we have never been treated so well (and we have had teams all over the world) in terms of friendliness, hospitality and enthusiasm. Your kids were a credit to your community and your country Laurence.
Our kids just thought it was the 'best' and many parents commented on the boat home 'that was the best day trip yet'.
Many thanks to all the people who greeted us at the end, and the Movie House for the 'free' tickets ...what a fabulous film eh!!
It was a terrific conclusion to a great day. Say thanks to everyone who participated in the day. In hindsight I wish I had brought a full squad of younger players (like our Under 6's little team) it would have been more enjoyable for your kids....
You can be rest assured that this will not be our last visit to your wonderful land. You know we will return the favour ANYTIME....Please, please, please keep in touch and this could be a start of a LONG relationship.

Greenisland Change Clubs Name

Greenisland Boys Football is now up and running ten years. During this time the nature of youth football has changed significantly. There are now many football clubs being established at grassroots, part of this growth has been the welcomed development of ladies football. It has always been the intention at Greenisland to encourage inclusion at all ages and genders. It is with in mind that the Club has decided to drop the 'boys' name from our badge, this in no way will change our policies or outlook. It is hoped that this may encourage females to join and be part of our Club. We will be excluding the word "Boys" from the web site in the near future. The Website Address will not be changing in the near future

Thailand Update 20th March

Greetings from Khao Lak. Just few facts for you to pass on to all the team.Arrived safely last Sunday after long journey. I can only descibe this region as a cross between the after math of an atomic bomb and the scene of a Vietnam war zone.Even though we are here it is still very difficult to comprehend what has happened. We have been working 9.00 to 5.00pm for the past week on a project to build 50 small houses in a village called Bang Sak, a little community which was completely destroyed apart from 2 houses!.
We arrived at the beginning of the project, so we feel very priviliged to be part of the first number of houses going up. We, as a group from N.Ireland have passed on donations from various groups back home, and these have been accepted very graciously by the groups involved in the rebuilding process.We have been directly responsible, through the N.Ireland donations, for the funding of a new toilet block in a little school, the timber and building materials needed for 5 houses, water supply at another small school, and funding for the feeding of the relief workers at the small village of Bang Sak. Average daily temp....95.!!!!Hope everyone is well back home and will c u all soon.
Neil

Thailand Visit

On Saturday 12th March 2005, I will be heading off to Thailand, to help in the relief work that is ongoing following the Tsunami Disaster. As part of a team of four from Woodlands Pres. Church in Carrickfergus, I will be joining hundreds of other relief workers from around the world who will be located in Phangnga, a town in the southern region of Thailand which was devastated by the tidal wave. The nature of the work has yet to be confirmed, but this may range from general site clearance work to the much-needed distribution of food and basic essentials.

Greenisland FC have recognised the needs of this relief programme by presenting me with a very much-appreciated donation, which I will take with the best wishes of all at the Club, to give to the work of restoring some quality of life to the people of this region.

I would like to thank everyone at the Club for the support and encouragement they have given me for this very important trip, and hope that through the small part that I may play in the relief work, it may be enough to give someone the chance of a better future.

Neil Reynolds
Manager - Greenisland FC Under 10's. (2005)

Our Thanks

The players and coaches would like to say a special thanks to the following people for their advice & active involvement in coaching sessions in the past.

Jake Gallagher :( World F.I.F.A. Coach )

  • Jake gave coaching sessions to our Under 13 Squad.

Paul Byrne : Ex. Glentoran Player and Manager of Carrick Rangers. Trained our Under 13's this summer..

Rory O'Boyle :( Assistant Manager at Coleraine Football Club )

  • Special thanks to Rory for taking our prep. school which are known as the Munchkins.

Andy McMoran :( Ex Linfield youth team coach and current Under 18's school boy international coach ).

Andy helped out with coaching sessions for our current Under 10 Squad.

Bob Nesbitt : Greenisland FC would like to thank Bob Nesbitt Head Coach Manchester United N.I. School of Excellence for taking training sessions with our Under 13's. Bob is ans Ex. Irish League and School Boy International Coach. Thanks Bob we appreciate your efforts.

 

Girls Tournament

GFC are entering two girls soccer teams into the IFA Girls Soccer Tournament at the Billy Neals Stadium. The Tournament is on Sunday September 9th.

 

New Training kit

New training Kit is now on sale at the club. It can be purchased from the changing rooms on training nights.

July/Aug 2007 Girls Coaching Course

GFC held it's Second Coaching Course for Girls. The Girls were Coached by GFC Coaches Nigel Harris, Andy McLoud, Gary Early and Darren Watters. The 6 day course was held over 3 weeks with the training days being tuesday and thursday's. At the end of the course the girls were presented with IFA Packs and a Trophy. The improvement the girls made over the 6 days was evident to see and was due to the hard work of the girls and the coaching staff. We are hoping to enter a team in the up coming Girls Soccer Tournament on the 9th September at the Billy Neal Stadium.

IFA Residential

Best Player Award

Greenisland are proving that they are the best and are starting to reep the awards, in 2005 Patrick Thompson won the IFA Residential Best Player Award and once again Johnathon Cosgrove won the IFA Redidential Best Played Award for 2006. Johnathon will be presented with his award at Windsor Park at Half Time interval Wed 11th Oct N.I v Latvia. Well done to both boys.

GFC Donate Equipment to Romania

A Thank You Letter

Dear GFC

Thankyou very much for your generous donation of pencil cases, stationary and the many football shirts. the Orphans of Romania really appreciated them and were so excited with what they received. Most of the children attend school, so the pencil cases and stationary were very useful and they now have actual pencils that they can use in class. as soon as I gave one child a pencil case many more were surrounding me asking for on too. This is something that became customary where ever we went. the football shirts were also in great demand. I didn't know beforehand if the children would know anything about football but when they put on a shirt they knew exactly what football team they were wearing. it is lovely to think how a sport can bring so many people together.

The trip was ans amasing experience for me personally. I went out with a charity called School Aid Romania. It started 12 years ago, and many schools in Northern Ireland are members and go out on different trips. i am a pupil at Ballyclare High School and since the charity began our school has travelled out every year, with Methody and St. patricks Maghers. Since the first trip there has been a great improvement in the particular orphanage we have supported, so it is good to know we are making a difference for so many children in Romania.

This year before going out we did a lot of fundraising as a group, so we could have money to buy aid to take out. Our school alone raised £14.500, by running tuck shop, bag backing in safeways and busking, along with many other activities. With this money we were able to buy a mini bus for one of the orphanages called Codlea so hat they would be able to take the children out on day trips. This year I also visited a new maternity ward in a hospital which school Aid Romania had donated financial aid to in the past. The ward was very comfortable and inviting with great facilities and I was told by the teachers it was a great improvement from the year before. We also gave a large donation to a deaf Kindergarten. With this money they will be able to buy hearing aids for the children, so that they will be able to go to mainstream schools instead of special schools.

After returning, I realised what a difference we were able to make to the childrens lives, and even buying them small things makes them so much happier. I would just like to thank you again because without your generous gifts this would not have been possible. IT is just amasing what a difference we can make and it was a real privilage to have been part of the group chosen to go to Romania.

Laura Henderson

WWW.BULLYING.COM

Bullying is a common problem that effects many people from children to adults at sometime in their lives. It is an extremely upsetting experience for everyone involved at school or in the workplace. As with any problem it can be solved only if brought into the open and talked about. Otherwise the scars can continue for years. If you are being bullied you should not keep it to yourself. Let a coach, teacher or parent know what is going on. The web site http://www.bullying.com/ was created by a schoolboy who was himself bullied and now offers help and support to kids and parents, including guidance on ways of dealing with bullying. There is also an e-mail helplink that will answer any questions that you may have.

Players Photos

Any parents or relatives who have photographs of their children or family playing football for Greenisland FC can submit them to me and I will put them on their teams page. You can scan them and e-mail them to me or give them to the coaches to pass on. If you do scan them save the photo as a j-peg using 72 resolution and 5 inches width.

Davy Munn Gets FIFA Award

Davy Munn receiving his award from the World Governing Body of Football FIFA for his contribution to Youth Football in County Antrim. The award was presented to Davy by Jim Grattan Youth Developement Officer for the IFA.

Manchester News

Jonathan Evans


TEENAGE Manchester United footballer Jonathan Evans has proved to be a star in the classroom as well as on the pitch.The 16-year-old's showed his brains are not just in his feet as he notched an impressive nine grade As including four at A* in his GCSEs. Jonathan, who plays for the Reds' under18s, has now received the Governors'
Award for the best results in his year at Ashton on Mersey School. The school has been educating United's schoolboysignings for the past six years and they split their time between the classroom and training pitch at Carrington. And in the case of some like Chris Eagles it was back into the classroom the day after he played in United's
midweek cup victory against Crystal Palace. Jonathan is now a full-time professional but attends lessons one and half days a week where he is studying a BTEC in business and a Maths A level.
Worried
He moved from Belfast to Manchester, where his familyhave now joined him and younger brother Corrie is also playing for the club.
Jonathan said: "My family were worried about me moving to Manchester but I have really enjoyed it and achieved better results than I expected. "I aim to continue with my studies and my ambition is to play for the first team one day." Headteacher Tarun Kapur, said: "We are delighted for Jonathan, he's a mature young man and a role model. He's put in the effort and he deserves his success. It's
very exciting for us to be rewarding so many high achievers.
"Straight A students or not, a significant number of them are receiving results that are a testimony to the fantastic work that they, and all our staff have put in." Dave Bushell, youth development officer at Manchester United, said: "We know it's a very precarious business
for even the most gifted players and we want to prepare them for the end of their careers."

 

E-Mail - stuart@greenislandfc.com