Football for all in Manchester

By Patrick Hart

Albert Square in Manchester has seen many great sporting moments. Its location outside the town hall makes it the last stop on any homecoming tour by a trophy-winning team from Manchester City FC or Manchester United FC.

Over 1,000 players
What the square had never witnessed, however, was a football match featuring over 1,000 players and a remarkable tally of goals. But as the town hall clock struck midnight on Wednesday, and the action at the second annual Starball Match moved into a second day, the scoreboard read: Internazionale Manchester 252-162 Real Mancunian.

'Part of the calendar'
The first edition of this footballing marathon took place in Glasgow during the build-up to last year's UEFA Champions League final. The decision to revive the formula in Manchester was the right one, according to event organiser Mike Parrott of Manchester city council. "Glasgow set out the stall and showed how to do it. We've taken that on and hopefully added another dimension. It can become part of the Champions League calendar."

School teams
The Starball Match started at midday on Wednesday - 24 hours before the presentation of the Champions League trophy to the lord mayor of Manchester, Roy Walters. The city will host the final at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium on 28 May, but for the children of St Benedict 's primary school, Glasgow and St John's, Chorlton, there was no doubting which was the main event.

Thirty matches
Their teams took part in the first of 30 consecutive matches, preceding the cup handover ceremony at the town hall. One side wore the blue of Inter, the other the white of Real. "It is tremendous that these children can be involved in this," Parrott said. "They are playing as part of the wide Champions League event. While the élite play at Old Trafford in the final, these guys are actually part of the event now."

Scottish visitors
St Benedict's came down from Glasgow with the cup from the inaugural Starball Match. They had held the trophy, having "kicked the last ball of the last game" 12 months before. Their coach, John Brown, a youth development officer with the Scottish Football Association who helped organise the 2002 match, said: "Schools football is growing again in Scotland and we're hoping to encourage it more and more."

Mixed teams
St John's, meanwhile, had been chosen to open and close the curtain on this year's tournament due to their reputation for sporting excellence. Recently they won a girls' football competition at United and here both schools fielded mixed teams during an hour-long contest on the astroturf court.

Rolling substitutions
Nominally five-a-side, the games were marked by rolling substitutions, and as Ben Gardener, a Manchester United official who assisted the organising committee, explained, "over 1,000 kids from all different parts of Manchester" were able to participate. "We wrote to all the schools in Manchester, Trafford and Salford - the three city councils - to see who wanted to play," he said. As well as schools, adult amateur clubs also sent teams, along with local radio stations, Greater Manchester police, and the Manchester Evening News."

Press coverage
The newspaper had a more significant role than just to purvey players. "The council was in charge of the logistics but United used the local press to promote the event," Gardener said. "The Manchester Evening News did all the publicity free of charge and because the paper is read by the community as a whole we were fortunate to get applications from different community groups and associations." Which is why in a week when Albert Square was turned into a theatre of football, many of Manchester's players turned out to perform.