The Takeover of Bloomfield Road Stadium

From Tuesday 7^thMay – Friday 10^thMay 2019 The Community Trust engaged over 1900 participants in a variety of activities at the stadium.

This year the Fit2Go Festival reached new heights with a staggering 1496 children taking part in the celebration event held over three days.  Everyone of the 32 primary schools in Blackpool had Year 4 children represent them in the fun carousel of activities held on the pitch at Bloomfield Road, home of Blackpool FC.

Mark Joseph, Senior Health Officer, “This year has been the biggest festival to date and it was great to see so many happy faces enjoying the activities.  To have nearly 1500 children access the Club in such a positive way was a huge achievement for the Trust and a credit to all the primary schools. We are very fortunate to have the support of the football club to allow us use of the pitch at the end of the season and give the schools a unique experience of playing games in the stadium.”

More than 60 Year 11 pupils came along to play in Blackpool FC Community Trust’s BTEC Education 7-a-side Football Tournament on the pitch.  Players from Kirkham Juniors, Clifton Rangers, Foxhall Juniors, Poulton Pumas, Accrington Stanley Community Trust and a team from Blackpool FC Community Trust took part in the event on Tuesday evening.  Clifton Rangers took the title.

“A really enjoyable event for players, coaching staff and spectators.”

In addition, the final league game of the season was played at Bloomfield Road with Blackpool FC Community Trust BTEC Football Academy taking a deserved win 4-2 against Fleetwood Town Community Trust.

If you are 16 – 18 years old, we are currently taking expressions of interest for places available on our September 2019 Football and Sports Coaching Academy. We deliver BTEC Level 1,2 and 3 courses, if you or anybody you know may be interested in gaining qualifications and real experience in the industry, please get in touch for more information on 01253 348691.

Thursday, we test piloted a Unified Football programme with a football festival on Bloomfield Road with our Pan Ability and Sixth Form provisions with great success.

Unified Football promotes social inclusion through training and competition experiences.  This allows people of a similar age and ability, with and without learning difficulties, to play together in the same team to help build friendships and understanding.

On the final day of our ‘Stadium Takover’ 80 pupils took part in the Key Stage 1 Festival. Engaging in a range of physical activities with the opportunity to play mini MEGA football matches in our unique inflatable pitch and taking shots at the target goal.

This was then followed by a Pan Ability Football Festival which we received lots of positive feed back from:

Great Arley School: -“Last Friday a few of our pupils attended Bloomfield Road Football Festival.  All the pupils loved it and behaved brilliantly.”

Stuart Johnson: –  “What a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to play at a professional ground. They were excited in the build up to the event and loved every minute of it whilst we were there. The day was played in great spirit with some really good football played. A massive thank you to the Blackpool Community Trust team for making it happen. It certainly created life long memories especially for the pupils which regularly attend Blackpool matches'”

Kerri – “Playing on the same pitch as the players I watch every Saturday was a dream come true. I was so happy when I scored a goal”

During the week knife crime workshops took place, Walking Football and Premier League Kicks participants enjoyed the opportunity to play at the ground and the weekly FFIT programmes were also delivered, as usual, at the ground.

Throughout the week a wide age range were engaged through the numerous opportunities made available.  As always, we are proud to be supporting our community.