Exciting plans to secure a long-term legacy for young footballers across Ynys Mon are a step closer to becoming reality as proposals for an Ynys Mon Football Academy have reached an advanced stage.
As part of the legacy of the Huws Gray Ynys Mon 2019 Inter-Island Games Football Tournament – which attracted 15,000 football fans to the island back in June for a week of high-quality international men’s and women’s football – the tournament organisers’ plans to establish a full-time professional academy on the island for Ynys Mon’s young footballers are nearing completion.
As well as securing £3,000 in donations from supporters who attended this summer’s tournament to assist with the running of the academy, volunteers have been working hard behind the scenes to secure a formal FAW-accredited academy on the island, with Llangefni Town set to assume the role of driving the project towards it’s completion in the coming months, and a final open meeting has been called for Monday, September 30th at 6:30pm in Tafarn y Rhos, for any interested parties to come and get involved in the Academy plans moving forward.
The academy shall be named the Ynys Mon Football Academy, however FAW-accredited academies must be affiliated to Tier 2 clubs, and the Talwrn Road side are the only outfit on the island that meet that criteria.
Llangefni Town FC General Manager Peter Davies has been working with the Huws Gray Ynys Mon 2019 Organising Committee in recent months to move the process of applying for academy status forward and the club will take responsibility for finalising the application in the coming months.
Huws Gray Ynys Mon 2019 Tournament Director Gareth Parry expressed his delight regarding the prospect of establishing a full-time academy on the island:
“We’ve worked hard over the last year firstly to ensure that we put on a fantastic tournament capable of inspiring generations, but also to make certain that we leave as strong a legacy as possible for the youngsters of the island to truly benefit from the events of recent months, and that is why it is so exciting to see the plans for an Ynys Mon Football Academy moving forward at a pace.
“Since the beginning of this process we have had ambitious plans for what we wanted to achieve, but there has been a real appetite and desire to change things for the better here on Ynys Mon for our young footballers, and there is no doubt that securing this academy would be a fantastic asset for the island and for our young people.
“I am hugely grateful for the work done by all who have driven our academy plans forward, and look forward to handing the project over to the safe hands of Peter Davies and Llangefni FC to get this exciting venture over the line, whilst continuing to work with them behind the scenes as and when they need our assistance.
“We’ve said since the beginning that this summer’s tournament was all about leaving a truly positive legacy for the island’s footballers, and we can think of nothing better than securing an academy of this nature to enable us to achieve that goal – our dream is very close to becoming a reality now.”
Llangefni Town General Manager Peter Davies added:
“I am pleased that Llangefni Town FC has been approached to put in place the plans to progress the set up of an Ynys Mon Academy. It will be hard work but if all the Clubs on the Island pull together it will be very worthwhile. I look forward to getting the show on the road at the meeting on 30th September.”
Ynys Môn Island Games Association 