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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Belfast disability football club making a difference on and off the pitch

A West Belfast disability football club has been making its mark on and off the pitch.

St James' Swifts FFA was set up five years ago for members of the community with learning, mental and physical disabilities to enjoy the beautiful game.

Since those modest beginnings in 2017 the club has grown in size, catering for players aged between 13 and 52.

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And after tasting silverware success at a recent tournament in Blackpool, St James' are keen to grow the game even further in Belfast.

"We will be five years old in July," said coach Darren Coyle.

"St James' Swifts Football Club would have teams in a lot of age groups, and we would have had kids coming through with autism, and some with learning and physical difficulties.

"We decided to set up a team they would be comfortable in and get to enjoy and play regular football.

"Around the same time the Irish FA had started up a league to fall into line with the rest of the UK as part of the Football For All programme. So a few teams got up and running and we managed to get one going in West Belfast.

The club currently has around 35 players (St James' Swifts FFA)

"When we started out five years ago we only had about five or six people. at the initial training session This season we have about 35 people from the ages of 13 right up to 52.

"We cater for everyone, regardless of gender, religion and everything else. We have some players who live in the St James' area, and we have players from East and North Belfast and other parts of the city.

"St James' Swifts Football Club is a huge part of the community. They have been really supportive and have seen the progress made.

"It is a community club that is making a difference, and they have always been very supportive of our guys.

"I absolutely love coaching the club alongside my other coaches Peter Hawthorne and Artur Lamcyzk."

While some clubs may limit their training for players, St James' Swifts is keen to immerse their members into the full football experience.

And Darren says his players have fully embraced the drills introduced to them each week.

"The players really love it. I have been with a few other disability football teams, and sometimes you see coaches limiting the type of exercises they do," he explained.

"I have experience of mainstream football, and I wanted to remove those barriers for players. So we train the same way you would see a mainstream team train.

"The players are learning all the time and they absolutely love it. And it is great seeing the numbers grow. That's why I got involved, to give these guys a chance and to see how happy they are."

Players are all smiles during a training session (St James' Swifts FFA)

Those training sessions reaped reward recently when St James' returned home from Blackpool with a trophy.

"The players are still buzzing from that trip. I feel sorry for the parents who had to listen for months about going to Blackpool!" Darren joked.

"But it was so rewarding and so worthwhile.

"We got the guys a hotel in Blackpool along the beach front so they could do the amusements and things like that.

"That was the first time we had travelled outside of Northern Ireland with the team, and we will definitely be going back next year.

"We had two teams competing, and the A-team won their tier after a penalty shootout which was pretty dramatic. And our B-team finished runners-up in their tier, losing 1-0 in their final.

"To have a winner and runner-up was fantastic. It was much better than expected because some of the teams we were coming up against were more established. It was tough competition throughout, but it is great to see."

Players range from the ages of 13 and 52 (St James' Swifts FFA)

And Darren hopes disability football in Northern Ireland can continue to grow and offer players a bigger and better experience.

"Hopefully we see some big tournaments coming here in a few years' time," he added.

"At the minute we have a monthly 5-a-side competition, and there are five different ability levels.

"Teams meet up once a month and play at the Valley Leisure Centre in Newtownabbey.

"What I want to do, and I have discussed this with a number of clubs, is to increase the amount of weeks per month they are playing.

"A lot of the coaches and players want to play more football. I was talking to another coach today about setting up an 11-a-side league for disability teams.

"It is in the early stages but things seem to be heading in the right direction. I don't even think some people are aware that there are teams like ours out there. So we want to spread the message."

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