Haringey launches new pub footy festival
Friday 28 November 2008
Young men from across Haringey will be encouraged to take a break from the beer and get some exercise when a new pub football festival hits the borough on Thursday 11 December.
The first Haringey Pub Small Sided Pub Football Festival will see regulars from five pubs across the borough test their skills and fitness at the Frederick Knight Sports Ground, Willoughby Lane, N17, from 6pm to 8pm.
The event has been organised by Haringey Council, with the support of Pro-Active North London and the London and Middlesex County Football Associations, as part of a new “Hariactive” campaign to encourage more people in the borough to take regular exercise.
It follows a survey by Sport England which showed men aged between 26 and 45 were among those least likely to be taking part in regular physical activity.
The council is planning to stage a further pub football cup tournament, a mini-league and another festival throughout the early part of next year, with the long-term aim of developing a Haringey-wide pub small sided league.
This is aimed at helping Haringey achieve its target of increase the proportion of adults taking part in sport or physical activity for at least 30 minutes three times a week, from 22.9 per cent in 2006 to 26.9 per cent in 2010.
Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Dhiren Basu, said:
“Many men in the prime of their life aren’t taking part in regular physical activity, and many of these are regular drinkers.
“Through the new pub small sided football festival – and hopefully a football league - we’re trying to encourage these people to take a break from the pub and get some exercise instead.
“I’m very grateful for the support we’ve received from pubs in the borough, and I hope this initiative will encourage more of our residents to take part in sports in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.”
The five pubs taking part in the festival are:
- The Faltering Fullback, N4
- The Three Compasses, N8
- The Bricklayers Arms, N17
- The Priory, N8
- The Great Northern Railway Tavern, N8.
Nine teams in all are expected to take part.
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