Broomhall Allstars kick off in style
Local youths in the Broomhall area of Sharrow have come together through their love of football to play in a new youth football team, Broomhall All-stars FC.
The team was set up by Broomhall Forum and other partners including Sheffield Homes, South Yorkshire Police, Hallam University and Activity Sheffield to help meet the needs of young people in the area.
A donation from Sheffield Homes has helped the team on their way by providing vital support to buy a football kit for the youth first team. The Allstars are planning to join the local football league at the start of the new season.
Broomhall Forum initially set up informal football training sessions to help bring together local children aged 8-15. Within months the sessions had a large number of regular attendees and training and selection had started for an official football team, known as the Allstars.
Since then, the Allstars have gone from strength to strength and now have an ‘A’ team aged 13-15 and two ‘B’ teams for juniors and seniors, made up of 70 regular attendees in all. The team has also had a positive effect on youth cohesion in the area.
Lloyd Samuels, Broomhall Youth Development Officer said, “ Its important that we don’t ignore local youth. This project shows how with good partnerships we all can build better communities through our kids. I’m proud of what the team has achieved, everyone has taken their responsibilities to play for the club very seriously and are constantly pushing each other and us to work harder and harder for the club.”
To mark Sheffield Homes’ donation and the arrival of the official Broomhall Allstars FC kit, the team invited Sheffield Homes to play them in a friendly football game and presented Sheffield Homes’ Director for Housing Management, Janet Parry, with a team football shirt signed by all the first team players.
Janet Parry, said, “It’s so important that young people have positive activities to be involved in and we’re really pleased our contribution has made a difference to the young community in and around Broomhall.”
She joked, “Our staff really enjoyed playing against the Allstars, especially as the team agreed we could have rolling substitutions.”