Local Amateur Football Team helps Premiership Professionals
Last week, Premiership football club, West Ham United cancelled all tournaments to be held at Upton Park this summer due to entering the Europa League via Fair-Play standings. In their announcement, they said they needed to relay their pitch as their season will begin in July, earlier than usual, so they can compete in the preliminary rounds of the Europa League. This is great news for West Ham, but not so good for all those teams that have entered tournaments to be held at Upton Park this summer. Some 40 teams from all over the UK and in Europe will now miss out on the chance to play at the home of this famous team.
This announcement, coming just a few days before the event takes place, may also mean that many of these teams face the prospect of losing money paid for flights and accommodation. Some teams have been fund raising all year to meet the costs of travelling to and staying at the event and now face the prospect of not playing any football or getting their money back. However, due to the quick thinking of one youth team football manager from Tolworth in Surrey, the under 13s teams who entered the tournament, from France, Jersey and around the UK, will not be disappointed.
Corinthian-Casuals, an amateur club from the 7th tier of the English Football League have offered to hold this event for those teams in the u13 age group. Manager, Peter Doherty said, “It’s a terrible shame we can’t host the whole tournament here at Corinthians, but it’s just not possible. Corinthian’s are probably the last fully amateur club in England and consequently always struggling financially. If things were different, it would be our duty to take on the whole tournament, as even if we are not a cash rich club, we do everything we can to make sure all kids get a chance to play football. It’s part of our Corinthian Sprit ethos…”
Peter, manager of the Corinthian-Casuals under 13 Youth team was one of the teams out in the cold when West Ham made their announcement and was bitterly upset at disappointing his players, so began investigating alternatives. To his surprise, he found that all the other managers in his age group were keen to have Corinthians host the games. He was also surprised to hear that many knew the history of the club and were excited to visit the home of such a highly regarded team.
“It’s not the greatest venue in the world and nothing to match West Ham’s new home or the Boleyn, but our history rivals many professional teams. Back in the day, we were the greatest footballing team in the world and as amateurs, often beat professional sides. We beat Manchester United 11-3! That still stands as their worst defeat ever. We took football all over the world and on one trip to South America in 1910, inspired the creation of Corinthians Paulista. Over the years, their fortunes grew to being the World Club Champions, while we went in the opposite direction and now we struggle to keep the club going. I’m just glad we can offer at least a small consolation to some of the teams and hopefully they will enjoy the day and leave with happy memories of visiting our club."
The tournament will be at Corinthian-Casuals ground in Tolworth, Surrey on Sunday 7th of June, beginning at 10.00am. It is also hoped that an ex-West Ham player will be there to present the trophies to the winning teams.
More info can be found on our Youth website www.ccfcys.co.uk
Last week, Premiership football club, West Ham United cancelled all tournaments to be held at Upton Park this summer due to entering the Europa League via Fair-Play standings. In their announcement, they said they needed to relay their pitch as their season will begin in July, earlier than usual, so they can compete in the preliminary rounds of the Europa League. This is great news for West Ham, but not so good for all those teams that have entered tournaments to be held at Upton Park this summer. Some 40 teams from all over the UK and in Europe will now miss out on the chance to play at the home of this famous team.
This announcement, coming just a few days before the event takes place, may also mean that many of these teams face the prospect of losing money paid for flights and accommodation. Some teams have been fund raising all year to meet the costs of travelling to and staying at the event and now face the prospect of not playing any football or getting their money back. However, due to the quick thinking of one youth team football manager from Tolworth in Surrey, the under 13s teams who entered the tournament, from France, Jersey and around the UK, will not be disappointed.
Corinthian-Casuals, an amateur club from the 7th tier of the English Football League have offered to hold this event for those teams in the u13 age group. Manager, Peter Doherty said, “It’s a terrible shame we can’t host the whole tournament here at Corinthians, but it’s just not possible. Corinthian’s are probably the last fully amateur club in England and consequently always struggling financially. If things were different, it would be our duty to take on the whole tournament, as even if we are not a cash rich club, we do everything we can to make sure all kids get a chance to play football. It’s part of our Corinthian Sprit ethos…”
Peter, manager of the Corinthian-Casuals under 13 Youth team was one of the teams out in the cold when West Ham made their announcement and was bitterly upset at disappointing his players, so began investigating alternatives. To his surprise, he found that all the other managers in his age group were keen to have Corinthians host the games. He was also surprised to hear that many knew the history of the club and were excited to visit the home of such a highly regarded team.
“It’s not the greatest venue in the world and nothing to match West Ham’s new home or the Boleyn, but our history rivals many professional teams. Back in the day, we were the greatest footballing team in the world and as amateurs, often beat professional sides. We beat Manchester United 11-3! That still stands as their worst defeat ever. We took football all over the world and on one trip to South America in 1910, inspired the creation of Corinthians Paulista. Over the years, their fortunes grew to being the World Club Champions, while we went in the opposite direction and now we struggle to keep the club going. I’m just glad we can offer at least a small consolation to some of the teams and hopefully they will enjoy the day and leave with happy memories of visiting our club."
The tournament will be at Corinthian-Casuals ground in Tolworth, Surrey on Sunday 7th of June, beginning at 10.00am. It is also hoped that an ex-West Ham player will be there to present the trophies to the winning teams.
More info can be found on our Youth website www.ccfcys.co.uk