CLUB
PROFILE
Forde McGhee
looks at how
Blantyre Soccer
Academy
is growing
and continuing
to achieve its
goals since
being established
just three years ago.
Blantyre has always
been proud of its football heritage
having many clubs inside and in the
surrounding areas team like Blantyre
Victoria, Blantyre Celtic, etc. But
in 2010 there was a huge change
in the community of Blantyre, in a
footballing sense, when Blantyre
Boys Club changed into Blantyre
Soccer Academy solely at the 2003
age group. This would spark a bright
future for the people of Blantyre
interested in the sport.
Since being founded back in
2010 Blantyre Soccer Academy
now currently works with over 280
young people and the age range of
this cohort spans from 3 years of age
through to 11 years of age. They also
have an Under 19 and Amateur team
which provides a full player pathway
for The Academy.
The Academy strives to
promote positive living, nutrition,
discipline and exercise and instill
in young people the advantages
of a healthy lifestyle. It also seeks
to provide young people with
and she told me:
“We are really enjoying being part
of the academy, everyone has been
very welcoming. The academy as a
whole want its own facilities and also
want to add more younger teams in
the future to expand again, we as a
team are encouraging our players
to get in to coaching and helping out
with the younger teams, we look
to make the academy bigger and
stronger for the future and think that
is possible because we are in a very
professional environment with a lot of
supportive people around us”.
Also recently BSA picked up the
National Grassroots Community
Champions Award at Hampden which
was presented by Kenny Dalglish
and just shortly before that, BSA
Chairman and Under 19’s coach Joe
McGuire received the South West
region’s grassroots award for best
volunteer in youth football.
In early October of this year, the
club received the SFA’s Disability
Club Award after creating a disability
section within its structure. David
we are encouraging our players
to get into coaching and helping
out with the younger teams,
positive role models and regularly
invites successful sports persons
to visit young people so as to
encourage them to participate in the
diversionary and positive activities
promoted by the club.
I recently got the chance to talk to
Mary Sneddon who is part of the new
Under 19’s set up within the academy
and asked her how her and the team
on a whole were liking life being part
of the academy and how they as a
team wanted to build for the future
58 | YFS Magazine | Issue #1
McArdle, Scottish FA disability
development officer , said: ‘The club
have worked extremely hard to
engage with local groups to ensure
the disability club is fully integrated
to the club structure. Blantyre are
a well ran club with the ethos being
all about their local community and
how football can be used develop the
community.’
Promising times ahead for an
already very successful soccer
academy in the area of Blantyre.