23rd March 2009
By Zoe Bishop
On Sunday 22nd March the London Irish Community Team hosted their third annual St Patrick’s Party Matchday Festival for the U7-U10 age groups before the exciting Premiership clash between the Exiles and Northampton Saints. The event was held at the University of Reading Sportspark and was attended by 43 junior rugby teams along with all their supporters and the sunshine! All teams in every age group put on an impressive display of rugby (TAG for U7s and U8s) throughout the pool stages and fought hard to win points to get them to the top of their table. The prize being a place in the final which would be played on the Madejski Stadium pitch in front of over 21, 000 rugby supporters at half time! Based on the Guinness Premiership scoring system each team scored 4 points for a win and 2 for a draw with bonus points being awarded for scoring four tries or more or coming within 1 try of the winners. After playing four games each all team’s scores were calculated and the results were announced per age group by Community Coaches Ian Price and David Williams. In the U7 category Farnham went through with 20 points and would face Bracknell in the final who also scored 20. In the U8s competition Oxford topped Pool 1 with 20 points and Farnham were Pool Two winners with 15. U9 teams Wimbourne and Farnham both won their pool s scoring 19 points, and in the U10 mini festival Bracknell A would face local rivals Maidenhead A after scoring 19 and 17 points in the pool stages. All teams were thrilled to reach finals and were very excited about playing in front of a packed St Patrick’s Day crowd. In the spirit of St Patrick’s Day and all Community events teams were also marked on their fair play attitude by the community referees with the winners of each age group being invited to form the afternoon’s game ‘Guard of Honour’. Wootton Bassett, Maidenhead A&B (U7s), Redingensians, Maidenhead B, Oxford B (U9s), Farnham and Aldershot and Fleet (U10s) all made an excellent tunnel for the players to run through at the start of the game. Whilst the Exiles were slightly ahead by 1 point at half time, it was the youngsters that had it all to play for in the break. After 9 minutes of playing on the pitch in four very exciting finals the following teams had done enough to claim their St Patrick’s Party Matchday Festival Champions status; Farnham U7s, Oxford U8s, Farnham U9s and Bracknell U10s. Both runners up and winners were delighted to receive their medals and cup from Club Captain Bob Casey at the end of the game, who was thrilled to meet the young rugby stars and congratulate them on their achievements. Commenting on the day Community and PR Officer Zoe Bishop said “Today has been fantastic and demonstrates how strong junior rugby is within our community . Every team that took part showed off their rugby skills and entered in to our special St Patrick’s Party festival spirit which combines playing in the morning together with exciting Premiership action in the afternoon. The event was a great success thanks to our wonderful hosts the University of Reading Sportspark and Groundsmen, all our referees, the University of Portsmouth Sports Development Students and of course all the teams that took part! I’ve had really good feedback from a number of teams and am delighted to hear that the children, coaches and parents all enjoyed the day. We’re looking forward to doing it all over again next year!”
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