Goalkeeping legend Pat Jennings made a special visit to St Columb’s Park in the city to officially launch the 2013 McDonald’s Irish FA Community Awards, which will take place in Derry/Londonderry for the first time in September.

Pat, McDonald’s Head of Northern Ireland football, joined Deputy Mayor Alderman Gary Middleton and over 100 local school children at a special event in St Columb’s to celebrate the launch of the awards, which will take place in the Millennium Forum on September 27th.

In recognition of the event coming to the city, pupils from Drumahoe Primary, Chapel Road Primary and Ebrington Primary took part in a coaching event organised by the Irish FA.

After practising their skills, the boys and girls got the chance to meet Northern Ireland legend Pat Jennings and put their questions to him during a Q&A session.

Speaking at the event, Pat said:

“On behalf of McDonald’s, I’m delighted to announce that the 2013 Community Awards will be held in Derry in September. The event is one of the highlights in our local football calendar and it’s great to be able to bring it to the city. I’m looking forward to attending the awards and I wish everyone who’s been nominated the very best of luck.”

Deputy Mayor Alderman Gary Middleton said: 

“It is a great pleasure to welcome this event to the city both in terms of the opportunity that it provides for our young sports people of the future and for the value that it adds within the city to host this celebrated event.  What is significant about the McDonald’s Irish FA Community Awards is their recognition of people who are carrying out great work in local sporting communities and the fact that the nominations are made by the public make the acknowledgment extremely worthy.  We look forward to extending a warm welcome to all involved here to the UK City of Culture in September.”

Geoff Wilson, Head of Marketing and Communications at the Irish FA added:

“The McDonald’s Irish FA Community Awards were launched three years ago and every year they have continued to grow in stature.

“It is really important that we recognise the volunteers in our game throughout Northern Ireland, together with highlighting best practices.  The Association is delighted to bring the awards event to Derry City this year as part of the ‘City of Culture’ programme.  I would encourage those in the football family to enter the awards and recognise the unsung heroes in our local game.”

The McDonald’s Irish FA Community Awards, now in its third year, recognises and rewards the unsung heroes of grassroots football. Some of the awards categories are still open for nomination so if you know coaches, clubs or volunteers then please nominate them today at www.irishfa.com/communityawards

The Community Awards are part of the wider McDonald’s programme of support for grassroots football across the UK. To find out more about the programme or to vote in the Awards, please visit www.mcdonalds.co.uk/kickstart

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