Before COVID, Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership’s Local Area Coordination (LAC) Learning Disability ran fun-filled five-a-side football tournaments twice a year, in partnership with Glasgow Life, at the Nethercraigs facility. Sadly, COVID came along and put the brakes on the tournaments for a couple of years.

We all know how important physical exercise can be to improve a person’s mental health and we knew from feedback how much everyone enjoyed the tournaments. It was also a great way for participants to get together to meet old and new friends, undertake physical exercise and healthy competition, whilst having some fun along the way! With this in mind, our LAC team were keen to get the football tournaments back up and running.

The Nethercraigs facility previously used now has a new owner - Pollok United, who use sport and recreational activities as a way to engage the local community and improve the overall health and wellbeing of the area they serve. The Pollok United team were delighted to be involved in the tournaments. The LAC team also involved Philip Peek from the Glasgow Life Sports Equality Team, and they came along on the day under the banner of Glasgow being named the European Capital of Sport 2023.

After joint meetings with the LAC team and Pollok United everything was in place for the tournament to take place on 27 April 2023. An additional benefit for the participants was that Pollok United had kindly agreed for the tournament to be held with no cost to the participants, and they also provided medals for the winners and runners up, along with the all-important winner’s trophy. Seven teams took part on the day and there were some fantastic football skills on show along with some unbelievable goals.

The eagerly anticipated final took place between Key/Community Lifestyles and the Greater Easterhouse Supporting Hands (GESH). Key/Community Lifestyles was the well-deserved winner and we’re sure the cheers could be heard in the city centre when they lifted the trophy!

The event was very successful with all the players asking when the next tournament would be. The LAC team began organising the next tournament straight away, taking place in the last few days of October 2023.

Liam Herbert, our HSCP’s Head of Planning and Strategy (Older People Services and South Locality) said, “It's fantastic to see such a successful series of events being restarted for our learning disability service users. Full credit must go to our Local Area Coordinators for driving this work forward and embodying our Maximising Independence ethos in everything they do. Thanks again to Pollok United for their partnership in this endeavour”.

Andy Elliot from Pollok United advised that “Pollok United were delighted to work in partnership to facilitate the five-a-side tournament at Nethercraigs. Well done to the team for organising and big thank you to everyone who came along to support the event”.

Philip Peek (Glasgow Life Sports Equality Team) said, “Glasgow Life was delighted to attend and promote the European Capital of Sport at the LAC football tournament in April. It was fantastic to see such a great turnout. The tournament provided attendees with the opportunity to showcase their football skills, socialise and improve their physical and mental health wellbeing. The event embodied everything that ECOS is all about. We look forward to working with the LAC team again in the future.”