Three Maltese football nurseries in Ian Rush tournament

Five teams from Melita FC Youth Nursery, one from Naxxar Lions Youth Nursery and two teams from St Aloysius College recently participated in the Wales International Soccer Tournament, more popularly known as the Ian Rush Tournament.

A 175-strong contingent of young budding footballers, coaches, administrators and parents welcomed the cool and wet weather of the seaside town of Aberystwyth, on the west coast of Wales, for five days of entertaining football in a tournament that has over the years gained so much popularity with local nurseries, and a reputation of an event that offers the best value for money.

Undoubtedly, the best results achieved by the Maltese were those of the Melita U-11 team. They lost in the final of the Halo Cup to the stronger Centre of Excellence RCT 3-1, finishing second out of 19 teams.

Fourteen teams participated in the U-10 Michael Owen Sports Awards where both Melita and Naxxar fielded one team each. Melita finished fifth while Naxxar, though finishing in ninth overall, won the trophy in the Strand B final.

Two teams, one from Melita and another from St Aloysius College played in the U-12 Cambrian News Cup and Llanbadarn Trophy. Nineteen teams participated in this age group.

Unfortunately, both teams' negative qualifying round results precluded them from competing for the Cup and had to be content with competing for the Trophy.

The U-14 tournament was undoubtedly the toughest tournament. Teams were competing for the Commodore Cup and the BMI Trophy.

Dundee FC and Racing Club, of Buenos Aires, were the strongest contenders for the Cup, whilst stiff opposition was also coming from Dallas Hawks and RCT.

Racing Club claimed the Cup and Dallas Hawks won the Trophy.

Having won their three qualifying matches, St Aloysius were unlucky not to proceed further in the tournament after losing their quarter-final match to South Ceredigion in the BMI Trophy.

Melita also fielded two U-9 teams in three one-day festivals.

On the first day, both teams ended their adventure in the runners-up position of their respective group but on the second day, one of the teams won the day's honours.

Mario Pisani, who conducts TV programmes on local nurseries, accompanied the group. AG Travel, agents for this tournament, said that once again, the response for this year's event was positive which only goes to show the tournament is year after year gaining more popularity with local nurseries.