The ‘Late Night League’ Dublin Regional Finals will be held in Irishtown Stadium tonight Friday 20th March from 6.30pm.
The Regional finals will involve on average 400 young people who have played soccer every Friday night over the previous six weeks, in 25 ‘Centres’ throughout the Dublin Region. Among those in attendance will be Chief Superintendent Frank Clerkin and Dave Malone, Client Relationship Manager, IPB Insurance.
The Late Night League (LNL) is a diversionary programme incorporating soccer leagues at various locations across Dublin since 2008. It is aimed at encouraging ‘at risk’ young people to participate in meaningful activities, thus reducing anti-social behaviour in disadvantaged areas. The Late Night Leagues are open to young people aged 13-21, and take place during prime anti-social hours such as Friday nights. An average of over 1200 young people participated, with approximately 50 in each league to date.
The initiative is based around the concept of using football as a tool for social inclusion and learning. Through partnership and interagency co-operation, the ‘Late Night Leagues’ aim to:
• Divert youths from Crime and anti-social behaviour
• Encourage ‘at risk’ young people to participate in meaningful activities, thus reducing anti-social behaviour
• Promote and further engage with youths and communities
The leagues are run by the FAI's co-funded Development Officers in conjunction with Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, the Department for Children & Youth Affairs, Gardaí from all six Divisions in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, while Dublin Bus provide transport to and from the Regional Finals.
Late Night Leagues are run bi-annually in centres across the Region, with the top two teams and the two most ‘sporting’ teams in centres, going forward to the Regional finals. To date the league has seen an increase from the initial nine centres in 2008 to 21 in 2014 involving over 1200 participants.
National Roll Out of the Late Night Leagues:
As part of its commitment to giving back to society and building better communities around Ireland, IPB Insurance through its Corporate Social Engagement activities has contributed to supporting a national roll out of the Late Night Leagues. In the first quarter of 2014 the FAI have run the Late Night Leagues in a total of 31 venues outside of the Dublin Region, where just under 1700 children & young people have participated locally. To date the Late Night Leagues have been run in 16 Counties and have provided football to over 2900 children and young people.
Counties outside of the Dublin region include Tipperary, Carlow, Westmeath, Donegal, Galway, Wexford, Mayo, Meath, Limerick, Waterford, Cork, Kildare, Wicklow, Clare and Monaghan.
