World Cup Fever Grips Torbay

WORLD Cup football fever came to Torbay when primary schools were drawn against each other for a top tournament. Four hundred boys and girls — will compete in the day-long Herald Express Luscombe World Cup on June 18.

Twenty schools are taking part in the competition which runs as the real World Cup is being staged in South Africa.

Yesterday a prestigious live draw was held at the Newton Abbot home of Pro-Direct, leading online sports retailer.

Herald Express editor Andy Phelan and Pro-Direct customer support manager Matt Bradshaw paired schools with countries.

They will now represent those countries when they compete on Paignton Community and Sports College's £1.3 million all-weather pitch.

Mr Bradshaw said: "We think this is a fantastic event that the schools will love. We hope that this will encourage the children at this age to take up sport.

"Pro-Direct are always happy to support local sporting events such as this, especially at key grassroots level."

Andy Phelan said he was looking forward to what will be a landmark sporting event.

He added: "It's great to see so many schools keen to be involved.

"We're very grateful to Paignton Community College, the Torbay Sports Partnership and our friends at Pro-Direct, who are all helping us to put on what I'm sure will be a memorable day."

John Julyan, partnership development manager for Torbay Sports Partnership, said: "With World Cup fever gripping the country, we wanted to build on that.

"Sport has the power to inspire young people, so we wanted to harness that during the World Cup year and stage a big event.

"There will be a real festival feel."

The competition will also be in memory of John Luscombe, a former Torbay teacher who died in 1996. Always involved in schools football, he was a founder of the Torbay And District Primary Schools' Football Association. His family asked for an annual tournament to be played in his memory and the John Luscombe Memorial Trophy was started in 1997.

See a video of the big draw on www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/media

Print Version  Send To A Friend