A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT MADE FREE v FREE A DAY TO REMEMBER. A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO Kieran Doherty AND HIS TEAM FOR PRODUCING THIS PERFECT REMINDER OF WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT.
The National Children’s Football Alliance (NCFA) hosted a FREE v FREE event for children at Cirencester Town FC in their impressive indoor facility on Sunday 20th June. This was the precursor to a charity football match on the Town’s artificial pitch.
The FREE v FREE involved children from all over the country who just turn up to play. Mixed ages, mixed gender and mixed ability. The children refereed their own games, scored lot of goals and had tremendous fun.
A young documentary maker, Kieran Doherty filmed the event and interviewed individual children about why they like football, which they thoroughly enjoyed.
The charity football match was arranged by the NCFA and Cirencester Town Football Club to raise money for four charities;
The NCFA, The Big Yellow bus project, which is a double decker bus to house homeless people in Cirencester. Shine, a post-natal depression support charity and a charity that is building a school for vulnerable girls in Zambia.
The match was between a This Country and friends XI, which included cast members of the BAFTA winning BBC comedy and two directors from the NCFA, Ernie Brennan and Paul Cooper who had a combined playing age of 112!!!
The attendance was around 1200 which was amazing support for four great charities. Many of the people who attended were fans of This Country and they had travelled from all over the UK and even abroad to support the event.
It was also an emotional day as cast member Michael Sleggs who played Slugs in the hit comedy passed away the week before. There was a minutes applause for Michael before the match.
The match ended 4-4 at full time and The This Country team won the resulting penalty shootout.
A total of £7400 was raised for the four charities in what was a most enjoyable day.