On Monday night, Portadown Football Club were delighted to host 50 young people and their leaders, as part of the Uniting Communities Through Sport and Creativity programme with SSYCC and T:buc.

The programme has attracted participants from local schools including Clounagh Junior High, St.John the Baptist College and Killicomaine Junior High, as well as local youth centres.

Co-ordinator, Richie Smith, the young people gathered in the board room to hear from Portadown striker, Harry Anderson about his career path to the Portadown first team and Neil McCullough gave an inspiring overview of his journey in football, from ball boy at Shamrock Park to playing in a league winning team and eventually becoming part of the first team management team.

A tour of the stadium followed where Dave Wiggins informed the participants of the club’s illustrious history and honours and how the club badge came into being.

The young people were interested to hear of the many volunteer opportunities which exist at an Irish League football club including graphic design, photography, filming and video editing, managing social media accounts, fundraising, stewarding, ticket sales and more.

Football coaches from Healthy Kidz then delivered a brilliant and very enthusiastic coaching session on the practice pitch at Shamrock Park for half of the group, while the others regrouped in the boardroom for a TikTok workshop with Oasis.

A fantastic night was had by all and it was brilliant to see lots of organisations partnering up to deliver a fantastic programme for the young people of the greater Portadown area.

A big thank you to Portadown FC for being a fantastic host last night for our Uniting Communities group. Young people from different backgrounds got the opportunity to do a tour of the Stadium, speak to player and coach as well as taking part in a football session with Healthy Kidz and tik tok workshop with Oasis at Shamrock Park. Thanks for the football top that we will give to the best participant in the programme