THE Isle of Man Junior Football League will be well represented at this Saturday’s English FA Cup semi-final between Everton and Liverpool with six of its players chosen to be flag bearers at Wembley.
Alex Craine, Adam Kinvig, Harry Quinn, Benjamin Miller, Jack Cochrane and Conylt Corkill were selected to represent the league and will head to London this weekend for the all-Merseyside semi.
Junior League chairman Brian Callow commented: ‘This is a great honour for the junior league and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those youngsters involved.
‘To be chosen from the many affiliated leagues to the English FA I feel is recognition of the work our league has done in providing a safe and fun environment for all our youngsters to play the game.
‘With our league recently being awarded ‘charter standard’ and the success of our continuing ‘respect campaign,’ we feel football in the island has a great future.
‘We would like to thank the English FA and the IoMFA for their contributions towards the travel costs involved to take part in this great event.’
IoMFA CEO Frank Stennett added: ‘The IoMJFL has made tremendous progress in recent times and has come up with some really positive initiatives this season linked to the Respect campaign.
‘There are so many dedicated people working behind the scenes ensuring that our junior boys and girls can go out every week and enjoy the game of football on the island in a safe environment.
‘As always, there are far too many people to name individually. However, I would thank Brian Callow for his fantastic leadership of the league and for others like Dicky Gale, Keir Morris and John Batty who have laid down important foundations for the game for this important age group.
‘I would also compliment the players who have taken on board the whole ethos of the proper conduct and are a great credit to our island.
‘The hard work is being rewarded in so many ways and the award of the opportunity to be involved leading the two teams out prior to the semi-final is just one example.
‘Good luck to our six flag bearers who will have the added bonus of being on live TV and leading out Everton and Liverpool in front of 90,000 spectators.
It’s a fantastic ‘money can’t buy’ opportunity for our youngsters.’