Substance Tournament

On Sunday 13th March, the FC United community team organised a tournament for young men aged 16-19 at the 5-a-side football centre known as the Pits in Ardwick.

The tournament was made possible by the sponsorship of Substance, a social research cooperative based in Manchester (www.substance.coop) who also contract with FC United to provide monitoring and evaluation software. It was contested by teams from across Manchester consisting of young people from West Gorton, Beswick, Salford, Rusholme, Newton Heath, and Wythenshawe.

The teams played 5-a-side matches against each other throughout the day, with West Gorton winning the overall tournament closely followed by Newton Heath’s first team. The trophy is now on display in a shop window in West Gorton with a sign explaining that FC United organised the tournament.

The day was a huge success with members from different teams, interacting with one another and forming good relationships. The teams showed high levels of sportsmanship, and had good levels of respect for all officials on the day.

Eric Allison, Manager for West Gorton FC, who brought two teams down who had already played an 11-a-side match that morning, stated that ‘it was a pleasure to take part and the boys really enjoyed it.’

He added: "The tournament was organised very well; very smooth, everyone seemed to know what they were doing and we were told very clearly and quickly where our next game was and with whom."

Danny Harrison, a tutor at Manchester College, who brought a group from Wythenshawe, said: "All our lads that attended had a really good day and have not stopped talking about it. The organisation by your staff and the fact that our lads met and competed against so many different teams was really good."





In total there were 34 participants



*Miles Platting includes both Miles Platting and Newton Heath.