Richardson eyes talent at ‘World Cup’

CORK CITY FC manager Damien Richardson is heading to the World Cup looking for new talent.

However, the soccer boss won’t be jetting out to South Africa. Instead his quest will be achieved by a short car ride to Churchfield next Saturday where an astonishing 16 different nationalities will take part in a tournament organised by gardaí.

The initiative is being undertaken to embrace the many different cultures now evident in Cork and to help them integrate not just with locals, but with other nationalities.

Teams competing in the competition include Cameroon, Eritrea, Togo, Moldova, Sudan, Poland, Lithuania, Congo, Angola, Nigeria, Liberia, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Iran, Ireland and a team made up of a number of Eastern European nationalities.

“I’ll be attending the tournament, which I’m looking forward to. You never know, but you might get a real find. At the moment we only have English and Irish playing for Cork City, but I’m sure that some of the younger players of foreign nationality will be coming through. Our youth development squads are already looking at them,” said Mr Richardson.

He said that soccer was a world game and in several places it was played on the streets. “In inner city Dublin where I lived soccer on the streets broke down barriers. Integration is all our business and I’m delighted to be involved with this tournament,” the Cork City FC manager added.

Gardaí from the community policing section are organising the tournament, which kicks off at 1pm at the Sam Allen Sports Complex at Knockfree Avenue, Churchfield.

A reception for the teams will be held afterwards in City Hall, hosted by the city council.

All players and supporters will be invited to attend.