CLM AND LOCSP FOOTBALL LEAGUE TOURNAMENT SUCCESS

LOCSP Press Release: Thursday 14 May 2009

CLM AND LOCSP FOOTBALL LEAGUE TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
On the pitch at Orient as CLM football finishes for 2008/09.

Leyton, London – Since January 2009 Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) and CLM, the London 2012 construction consortium of CH2M Hill, Laing O’Rourke and Mace have been working together in partnership, providing sporting opportunities for the local communities around the Olympic Park construction site.

This week saw the culmination of the CLM six-a-side football league with the final round of league games and special, one-off tournament taking on the pitch at Leyton Orient FC.

The league has been running since January on the last Saturday of each month at SCORE in Leyton, east London involving three teams provided by CLM, bolstered by five adult teams representing the wider community.

This combination has brought a better understanding to the local community about the work of the Olympics, giving it a human face and allowing residents the opportunity to speak to ‘real’ people involved in building the 2012 games.

The final round of CLM Six-a-Side Football League matches took place on the pitch at Leyton Orient FC’s Matchroom Stadium pitch – a professional Coca-Cola League One playing surface with the Newham Allstars team cementing their lead at the top of the table and with it the championship.

Alongside the league, a special one-off cup took place, running in tandem with the final day of the league.

The CLM Community Cup allowed the opportunity for all of the CLM football teams and their related friends and family, as well as CLM employees, to interact with a wide-range of local community groups including the local police, army and service providers. It also formed part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations for 2009 Football League Community Club of the Year – Leyton Orient.

This prestigious event took place on the pitch at Leyton Orient, alongside the final round of CLM League matches with 20 teams participating – including those from the Olympic Park - CLM, Mace, Bow Boys Massiv, Steve Bridgens Hacker's, Hackney Marshalls, 2012 United, Newham 2 and Newham Allstars.

These teams played against a mixture of local community organisations including teams from the Westminster Police, Army, Waltham Forest Police and local Mosques.

The cup saw Newham 2 win the Plate final and the Goals Soccer Centre team beat Hackney Marshalls in the Cup final.

Steve Sugden, CLM Development Manager and organiser of the CLM Football League said:
“A big thank you must go out to all the teams that took, part both from CLM and the local community, for giving up their Saturdays and for the manner in which they played, giving Giles and the team from Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme an easy time.

“I would also like to say a very big thanks you to Giles and his LOCSP team for organising and running both the league and Community Cup competitions and look forward to working with them again next season when hopefully we will have more teams from the park involved. Until then..!’

Liam McKay, Marketing Administration Assistant, Mace said:
“We came today because we all thought it was a very good opportunity to get involved something we enjoyed doing as well as personally and as Mace, getting to know the local community and getting involved in a large community event.

“Tournaments like this show that Mace can play sport and gel together. Mace is a big place – full of different subsidiaries and sectors and it’s important to get everyone engaged and together. This is especially important from a marketing point of view – its staff engagement; getting everyone involved and doing something good – it’s good for everyone.

“Everyone at Mace is interested in the Olympics. It’s one of our biggest and proudest projects -everyone is excited and aware of our involvement.”

George Baffoe-Djan, Development Manager, Mace said:
“We all thought it would be good to test ourselves against other teams – I thought we may struggle but we held our own quite well. There was a lot of competition for places in our team – it’s not every day you get a chance to play in a professional stadium with such a long history.

“Our team here today is made up of people from all across Mace. There are people from our Hertfordshire office, Mace Plus, Marketing, Finance/Accounts as well as those involved with the Olympics.

“It has been really beneficial and interesting today for us to speak to local residents who are right next to the Olympic site and keen to learn more about it.”

Mario Solari, Part-Time LOCSP Development Officer and referee said:
“It went really well today, I got a bit of stick but it’s all good –it’s part of being a referee.

“The SCORE tournament has gone really well over the past five months – it has been full of good games, good players, and good teams all with a great attitude.

“It has also been really good to see friends and family come down to watch and support their family and friends.

“I am a local east-end boy from Leyton it makes me feel really proud to be part of London 2012, even if it is in just a small capacity– but I am still part of it. It’s really good for people like me and the young people around here to as it will inspire us all to do something constructive and not get involved with negative things.”

Giles Sandercock, LOCSP Football Development Officer / CLM Tournament Co-ordinator said:
“The five month tournament was really competitive with everyone enjoying this competiveness and personally I was pleased that all the teams came back month after month, through all weathers and conditions on Saturday mornings.

“The tournament at Leyton Orient FC was played in a good spirit, with all standards of players playing each other. There was an opportunity afterwards for everyone to mingle with some hospitality and then the presentations were conducted with our version of the ‘Wembley Walk’.

“Everyone enjoyed the fact that there were loads of different partners here from all different backgrounds.

“My coaches and I all got to know the players over the past five months and we would love to expand this next season to a 16, if not 32, team tournament.”

“I would like to single out Steve Sugden who was my link for this whole tournament - he helped out everywhere and very supportive – he was even the tournament’s official photographer!”

For more information about the CLM and LOCSP partnership work please contact LOCSP on 020 8556 5973, email enquiries@locsp.org or visit http://www.locsp.org/.