FC United drum up support at Moston’s Africa Day celebrations

Last Saturday afternoon Moston celebrated Africa Day with an event at the Simpson Memorial Hall on Moston Lane organised by the North Manchester Inclusion Partnership. Africa Day commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 which helped to bring independence to many African countries and is celebrated annually on 25^th May all over the world – indeed it’s a public holiday in several countries.  

Around six hundred people flocked to this free event in Moston which showcased the range of different cultures across the African continent and featured delicious food, a fashion show, drumming performances, moonlight stories for children and various workshops including discovering ‘the journey of chocolate’.

And FC United were also represented as community liaison officer Vinny Thompson, Lynette Cawthra, Lesley Jones and board member Paul Butcher ran a stall and spoke to attendees about the football club from just up the road.

Most people had heard about FC United but have never actually been inside the ground – so the plans to make one of our pre-season friendlies this summer free to local people are really important and need good publicity. And many said that they’d been to watch United or City as a special one-off treat and would like to get to more football matches but struggle to afford it.

So people were particularly interested to hear that it’s just £3 admission for kids (and free for under-fives) to watch the men’s team – and that they can come and watch women’s football too. Indeed one especially interesting chat was with Sue Bowen who had memories of playing with her twin sister for Manchester United’s women’s team in 1979-80, back in the days when they had to find their own way to matches and pay weekly subs to play.

Various Moston and Harpuhey-based organisations also expressed interest in engaging in projects and partnerships with FC United in the future, which is really encouraging. 

The FC volunteers left the event pleased to have had many people saying they’d come and check us out once the new season starts, but also very aware of how much work needs doing in our local community across North Manchester to help make that happen. The fact that our fanbase isn’t currently representative of Moston, or Manchester as a whole, in terms of age, gender or ethnicity is something that’s recognised in the club’s five-year vision and aiming to increase our attendances by one thousand by 2027 by offering a vibrant, fun and more inclusive match day experience will be one of the club’s key objectives over the next few years. Last Saturday afternoon was all about us making new friends in the heart of one of Manchester’s most cosmopolitan communities.