It’s that time of year again! This year’s EA SPORTS™ FAI Schools 5 A Side competition comes to an exciting climax this month, with four Regional Finals taking place around the country during the month, culminating in the National Finals on Wednesday May 27th.
The competition, which is the biggest competition in primary schools soccer, is now in its tenth year. Bigger and better than ever, this year’s competition has seen thousands of students competing at county and provincial level since March. In total, over 14,000 primary school students representing over 900 schools from every county are taking part in the competition.
There are five divisions to suit all school sizes. While FAI Schools and EA SPORTS™ encourage boys and girls to play on the same team, there is also a separate competition for girls’ schools. A number of teams can represent one school, depending on the size of their student body, giving more children the chance to develop their skills in a safe, child centred and exciting environment.
The first round of Regional Finals takes place tomorrow (Wednesday 13th May), with the Munster Finals at Brickfield in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, as well as the Connacht Finals at Shiven Rovers in Galway. The remaining Regional Finals take place the following Wednesday, 20th May, with the Leinster Finals at the MDL Grounds in Navan, Co. Meath, and the Ulster Finals at Kingspan Century Park, Monaghan.
The National Finals, taking place at Leah Victoria Park in Tullamore, will see 160 participants from 20 schools from all corners of the country compete. Competition sponsors EA SPORTS™ will be hosting a special EA SPORTS™ Zone at the event, where competitors will have the chance to check out some of EA’s exciting new sports titles launching this summer.
Each team competing will get an EA SPORTS™ goodie bag, along with a commemorative medal from the day, with the winning teams receiving the coveted EA SPORTS™ FAI Schools trophies.
The EA SPORTS™ FAI Schools Match Report Competition
Calling all budding sports journalists!
This year, EA SPORTS™ and FAI Schools are joining forces with the Irish Daily Star, to offer aspiring journalists a once in a lifetime opportunity.
If you’re going to be attending one of the following, you could be in with a chance to win this exciting competition:
Munster Final at Brickfield, Nenagh , Co. Tipperary Wednesday 13th May
Connacht Finals at Shiven Rovers, Newbridge, Galway Wednesday 13th May
Leinster Finals at MDL Grounds, Navan, Co. Meath Wednesday 20th May
Ulster Finals at Kingspan Century Park, Monaghan Wednesday 20th May
National Finals at Leah Victoria Park, Tullamore, Offaly Wednesday 27th May
Spectators at each of these events are being invited to submit a 250 word match report. You can report on one of the matches played on each day, or even do a full write up on the whole day….it’s completely up to you. A team of top sports journalists from the Irish Daily Star will choose the best match report from each day, and it’ll be printed in the following Tuesday’s Target.
To enter, simply email your 250 word match report, along with a photograph of yourself, to diane.fay@fai.ie Please title the entry as “EA Sports Match Report Competition”. Details are also available on www.faischools.ie