ALMOST 2,000 young people took part in a football festival held in the Wee County over two weekends earlier this month.

The event, hosted by Alloa Saints, saw 1,800 players across 166 teams take part in four full days of football.

As well as parents, families and friends there were 250 coaches overseeing the event.

In the first of two massive weekends for youth football in the Wee County it was West End Park that all roads lead to on both Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7.

On the Saturday, the winners of the 2022 Alan McGillivray Memorial Trophy was Maddiston FC. In the third place final Yett Farm YFC were the winners.

In mixed weather conditions of sun wind and dreaded rain, many of the players were competing in their first ever competitive football competitions. Some great play and skills was the order of the day.

Sunday saw the 2008s competition which was a lot more competitive than previous years with many teams travelling through from the west of the country. The football on show was well worthy of praise and every player deserves massive credit.

Winners of the Alan McGillivray Memorial Trophy was Blantyre YFC while Dumbarton FC took the third place final.

The second weekend, on August 13 and 14, saw the action move from the 11-a-side pitches of West End Park to the rugby pitch, astroturf and grass area at Lornshill Academy in what was quite incredible conditions.

Across the two days more than £2,000 was raised for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland and Forth Valley First Responders.

Paul Robertson, Alloa Saints chairman, said: “We were overwhelmed by the massive response we got to the festival, the support of parents and the numbers that were in attendance over the four days was really overwhelming.

“This was the first time we had held an event of this size and the grounds at Lornshill Academy brought a brilliant arena in which players, parents and coaches could excel.

“We would very much like to thank our parents who worked tirelessly over the four days as well as the Clackmannanshire Council staff and school janitor who all provided the support to make the competitors entry and exit from the festival safe and quick.

“We would also like to thank the event partners CHSS, Forth Valley First Responders, ThinkShare Stirling and McGillivray Electrical as well as Morrisons Alloa and Eds Independent Traders Tullibody, the supporters of the event.

“We have learnt a lot from this event and will take this forward to our next event which will be held in June next year.

“In the meantime, on behalf of all at Alloa Saints, we would also like to thank everyone for their understanding and support during these events and also apologise to any residents of Alloa inconvenienced by traffic issues.

“We assure them that plans will be amended for next June's event to minimise similar disruption.“