Galway International Soccer Festival

**Terry** · 27/04/2005, 10:18 AM

The inaugural Galway International Soccer Festival will be held at Salthill Devon’s new facility at Drom, Galway next August. The festival is being organised in conjunction with the Event Company who run a number of highly successful tournaments in the UK such as The Wales International Soccer Tournament.

The tournament will cater for boys and girls for the ages 8 to 17. There will be eight age groups with approximately 100 teams participating in the event. The Under 15 age group will be aimed at professional clubs and representative teams i.e. teams representing a county, city or region. Teams confirmed for the elite competition include Glasgow Celtic, two FAI representative sides, top Canadian side Calgary Foothills FC (previous club of England International Owen Hargreaves) and ex-Chelsea and Glasgow Celtic player Paul Elliot’s soccer academy FC Yarnton.

The Festival will be the first major youth international soccer tournament to be held in the Republic of Ireland and aims to fill this gap in the market by providing a high quality event. We are confident that the tournament will establish itself as a focal point within the Irish youth soccer calendar while also furthering the development of soccer in the West of Ireland. As well as being a sporting occasion, the festival will also incorporate a cultural dimension with entertainment and excursions provided for all visitors.

Galway over the years has established strong relationships with numerous cities in North America, the UK and Europe. The Galway International Soccer Festival will be an opportunity for the city to both renew and celebrate such ties through cultural and sporting exchange. The festival will provide a significant boost to local tourism. Ireland West Tourism has acknowledged the tournament’s potential and have given the club their full support in staging the event.

**Eire06** · 27/04/2005, 10:22 AM

Love the Galway 5 a-side weekend..
Look forward to it all summer...

**galwaygirl** · 27/04/2005, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Eire06

Love the Galway 5 a-side weekend..
Look forward to it all summer...

Eire06, the 5-a-sides are totally different to what Terry wrote about.
But i know what you mean when you said you loved them. It's the best weekend all year in Galway.

There's only one problem this year though, they're starting on Sat 5th June which is the same day as the Israel game

but the sunday is always better anyway

So here's my diary for that weekend..

Fri 4th Sligo Rovers -v- Galway Utd.
Sat 5th Ireland -v- Israel.
Sun 6th Salthill 5's

**Eire06** · 27/04/2005, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by galwaygirl

Eire06, the 5-a-sides are totally different to what Terry wrote about.
But i know what you mean when you said you loved them. It's the best weekend all year in Galway.

There's only one problem this year though, they're starting on Sat 5th June which is the same day as the Israel game

but the sunday is always better anyway

So here's my diary for that weekend..

Fri 4th Sligo Rovers -v- Galway Utd.
Sat 5th Ireland -v- Israel.
Sun 6th Salthill 5's

OH thought it was in place of the 5's thought they were re vamping it this year...

Edit: Ok just re-read it.. really should pay attention to what I'm reading.. I'm such a dumba$$

**Terry** · 27/04/2005, 12:29 PM

IMO the 5's are gone to crap! only a few years ago the likes of shamrock rovers, Derry city and others were entering along with teams from both england and america. Also heard the competition was been moved to the drom to elemination the amount of alcohol been consumed by the players between games (just to cover themsevles for insurance reasons).

**gufct** · 27/04/2005, 1:08 PM

Soccer has destroyed the 5's as no el players are allowed play in it anymore by their teams.

**galwaygirl** · 27/04/2005, 1:40 PM

Originally Posted by Terry

IMO the 5's are gone to crap! only a few years ago the likes of shamrock rovers, Derry city and others were entering along with teams from both england and america.

There are still 4 or 5 teams that come over from england and america religiously every year

Originally Posted by Terry

Also heard the competition was been moved to the drom

Well for the last couple of years as the competition got bigger, saturday's matchs were split between both locations, ie some groups playin in Salthill & the the rest playin Drom

Originally Posted by Terry

... to elemination the amount of alcohol been consumed by the players between games (just to cover themsevles for insurance reasons).

Is there not a bar in Drom as well

Originally Posted by gufct

The change to summer Soccer has destroyed the 5's as no el players are allowed play in it anymore by their teams.

fair enough gufct, but i agree with them not being allowed play. Everyone knows 5-a-side matchs can get very dirty and it would be a big risk for any eircom league team to put a team in

**GalwayFrancis** · 27/04/2005, 7:40 PM

Originally Posted by galwaygirl

Is there not a bar in Drom as well

nope, no bar up in drom, just a tea room...the reception room upstairs would be perfect for a bar, but they decided not to, it even has a huge balcony for a smoking area

**Terry** · 28/04/2005, 6:51 AM

I was thinking it was a "snack" bar!

**TheLedge** · 28/04/2005, 2:41 PM

is it DEFINITE that the SALTHILL 5'S are being played in the Drom??

ffs!

half the craic is that if you get knocked out you get straight to the pubs in the sun(!)...

Can you confirm this? If this is the case, i think you'll find that you wont get half the numbers as is traditional!

I'm supposed to be coming back from Manchester to play in it. my flights are booked and all.....