Futnet on the British Isles – Part 1
Between 17 and 20 November EFTA General Secretary visited Belfast and Dublin where she met with the representatives of Northern Ireland, Ireland and England to talk about the current and future futnet plans and activities on the British Isles.
EFTA General Secretary Ms Zuzana Viňanská describes her visit:
“On Friday 18 November, early morning, I was joined in Belfast by the representatives of English Futnet Association (EFNA) Mr Jarek Dylag and Mr Tomasz Zieba who had flown over from Birmingham. They updated me on the latest developments in futnet in England.
Regular futnet trainings are now held on Thursdays evening at 5.30 pm in the International Futsal Arena in Birmingham and everyone is invited to join in. The trainings are led by the the former participants of the Slovak women‘s futnet league.
In early November EFNA representatives did a futnet demo at a college in West Bromwich (near Birmingham) which met with a positive response and regular futnet trainings have started there for 15-16 years olds. A tournament for the schools from the West Bromwich area is planned for the middle of December.
The female coach of the women’s football team West Bromwich Albion FC is also keen to try out futnet with her team, hopefully, setting the base for the first English women’s futnet team.
An outdoor tournament is planned for the summer 2012 for the British Isles nations and an idea is being considered to organise even a futnet marathon!
EFNA delegates also expressed their wish to organise a course for referees and coaches in Birmingham early next year.
I was really pleased to hear that futnet in England is catching on and I have a great respect for all that EFNA representatives – for the time being, all on a voluntary basis – are doing for our sport. I particularly appreciated the fact that Mr Dylag and Mr Zieba both did not hesitate for a second to come over to Belfast (and Dublin) to meet their Irish and Northern Irish counterparts and were eager to learn and exchange their experience in futnet development in order to make it as efficient and speedy as possible. I can say that they will definitely have EFTA’s support for their current as well as future activities.”