Last week, Pembrokeshire played host to the very first National FAW Football Festival. Held at Tenby, the festival programme was given a great start on Wednesday with the disability football day, at the leisure centre. Teams from all over South Wales competed against each other, creating a wonderfully warm and happy atmosphere for competitors and the spectators alike.
Rebecca Bateman, Pembrokeshire County Council disability officer, said: "I was thrilled with the overall outcome of the day. It was wonderful to be a part of this festival and I hope very much that we can make this an annual event."
Thursday heralded the start of the two-day outdoor competition, held at Tenby AFC ground. With nearly 60 teams, drawn from FAW Centres of Development all over Wales, the festival promised to be a great footballing occasion, and so it proved to be.
Thursday was dedicated to boys only, with the girls teams entering the fray on Friday.
The weather was glorious for the two days, and with over 500 players and at least as many supporters, the whole event was a very impressive spectacle.
The main sponsors for the festival were Texaco, and public affairs manager Phil Thompson was delighted with the event, saying: "Texaco are very happy to continue to be associated with assisting grass roots sports events such as this, here in Pembrokeshire."
As usual with these big events, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes. The whole team from Pembrokeshire County Council's sports development department made major contributions. Lois Hilling and Clair Davies handled the administration, and with the usual late arrivals and subsequent fixture adjustments and all the other usual problems that occur, they did a marvellous job.
John Deason, head of the sports development section, said: "Pembrokeshire County Council sports development is delighted to be involved in this sort of event, in particular, the ethos of this sort of festival whereby there are no 'winners' or 'losers', just teams competing against each other in the development atmosphere."
Thanks also go to Keith McNiffe and his team for providing top quality first aid provision throughout; to Tenby AFC, Tenby Leisure Centre, the catering staff and the harbourmaster, Carl Evans, and Matthew Broadhurst for their invaluable assistance; Dave Reardon for the pitch maintenance; and, of course, all the referees who did such sterling work.
Organiser and FAW football officer Gerry Rigby said: "It was a great honour for Pembrokeshire to be given the opportunity to host this national event and I am delighted to say that Pembrokeshire demonstrated to everyone concerned that, if given the chance, it can produce a top quality event. Everyone pulled together in a great spirit of co-operation which, as organiser, was most gratifying.
"You can be sure that I will be promoting our case to be hosts again next year, and making it a regular annual event for Pembrokeshire."