Tigers excelled in their South Yorkshire Ability Counts League swansong, looking resplendent in their kit courtesy of P&L Whippies.

Kasper reports on the results.

Game v Bradford 5-2

Game v Sheffield Black 5-0

Game v Hillsborough Hornets 2-1

Goal scorers, Captain James 1, Jordan 3, Josh 7, Ethan 1. Recognition to Andrew, who did a sterling job in the nets keeping many on target shots out.

Thankyou to player I who came to support her teammates.

Coach Allan shares his thoughts on the day.

“ Bradford edged the first half but Tigers came back to win 5-3. In the second game the team performed even better winning 5-0, but the best game of the day was their third match which ended in 2-1 win against Hillsborough after a very close game. ”

Coach Chris chose Elliott as the player of the day. “ Elliott took a bit of time to get up to speed but when he did there was no holding him back.

I’ve honestly never seen this young man get stuck in as much as he did today. ”

Josh made his competitive debut today and at the post match McDonald’s meet up he explained to Jo how he felt running out with his new team for the first time.

“ I had a fantastic day today. I scored my first goal in my first game, and we won all three matches. That made me feel better and more confident as the games progressed. I believe I can contribute positively to the team and bring a lot of energy to it .” Josh

His parents echoed his sentiments adding, “ we are delighted to witness Joshua playing in his team for the first time today. The smile on his face indicates his happiness, which, in turn, brings joy to us, his parents. ”

What a finish for our Comets at their final South Yorkshire Ability Counts League fixtures on Sunday.

After two games and a plethora of goals this intrepid little band of ballers lifted the championship league trophy. With almost the full team in attendance (thank you to injured player George who came to support his teammates) with gleeful faces the boys shared a memorable moment that will last a lifetime.

Lets have a shoutout to our goal scorers of the day Neil, Lucas and Jamie, a notable mention to Ollie who always has the best smile on his face and whilst a skilful player also genuinely looks thrilled to be playing football.

Coach Chris announced his player of the day was EJ. “ I chose EJ for his ‘can do’ positive attitude and exemplary conduct, a shining example of a BIFC team player. ”

Captain Leon says, “I can’t wait to bring the cup to training so we can celebrate again and drink fizzy water from it like the pro’s do. ”

Coach Paul shares this message to the team. “ Well done to all the players not just for these games, for the whole season. You’ve all come together as a team in your first season together. Even when injured you come out in force to support each other, you got the result you hoped for and are league champions and I think you all deserve a pat on the back for your team work and effort, best bit is, you all had fun. ”

And the final words go to grandparent Kev.

“ Well what a great day for BIFC football teams all round. The Tigers excelled in all their matches and the Comets having only just lost their initial match came back to win their second game . This cemented their place as Under 12 league champions. Having 2 children who both play for the Comets I couldn’t be more proud of this result and of the team as a whole, as without each other and the inclusivity of the team and support from BIFC this wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you to all involved both behind and in front of the scenes. Great finality to a great season. ”

South Yorkshire Ability Counts League Christmas Message from our Chair, Mike Stylianou.

Hi, everyone.

Just a quick note to wish all of your families and friends a Happy Christmas.

Last year, the South Yorks ACL raised over £3000 in our Christmas appeal for those living with physical and educational disabilities. The money will be used by Sheffield Children’s Hospital to provide external facilities for residents at the Ryegate Centre.

 We were proud to present a cheque to Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity and are delighted to understand that the works are under way. It was a great afternoon at Sheffield Goals Centre, when Jeremy and Sarah Makepeace from Sheffield Forgemasters and Cheryl Davidson from the Children’s Hospital Charity joined us for a wonderful afternoon.

This year, we set our sights on a similar amount in support of the National Autistic Society. At the time of writing, and with one matchday fundraiser to go in January, we are well within sight of our £3k target for the second year in a row. Thank you to everyone for their contributions.

Our League enjoys a fantastic reputation in Disability Football. During the season, we constructed a disciplinary process founded on education, rather than sanction, and we would like to thank our Referee Secretary, Sean, and his colleagues Brian, Tony, Danny, Dan and Peter for refereeing our matches with such skill and empathy.

I would also like to thank Margaret Gregory for her fantastic work on our League website, at wwwsouthyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com and to our regular matchday contributors.

Finally, Colin, Paul and I would like to thank all of our coaches, players, families, carers and supporters for another fantastic year.

Merry Christmas and have a safe and healthy New Year.

Mike, Paul and Colin

Some places are still available for our pan-disability event on Saturday, 7th September 2024.

To enter your club, please email:  bartoninclusivefc@gmail.com

In loving memory of Liam Jinks, we are proud to announce that our annual event will now be delivered over two days! 

 – Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th Sept 24! 

 Sat: U12 | U16 | open age (inclusive) 

 Sun: Walking football (men’s & women’s)  Baysgarth School, Barton-upon-Humber 11am – 3pm

 £20 per team 

We wish to extend a special thank you to Liam’s parents, Ann and Paul, for their unwavering support. It is our privilege to honor Liam’s life through the beautiful game of football. We eagerly await your visit to our club.

Sophie Bartup.

Barton Inclusive FC Chairwoman

Match reports of the final matches of the 2023/2024 season are now on the 7-a-side page.

Pop across and see who the winners are or why not check out all our pages on the website.

Happy footballing and see you all next season!

“ The outstanding winners,” said South Yorkshire Ability Counts League Chair Mike Stylianou. “

Last Sunday’s www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com adult five-a-side Divisional Tournament gave the League the opportunity to recognise one of its member teams, Derek Dooley Blue. 

The team, coached by Claire Cowlishaw and Nathan Pearson were awarded the Annual Darren Warner Fairplay Trophy for the adult five-a-side category.

@SYorksACL asked Chair Mike Stylianou about the history of the award.

“ The Shield was created in memory of Darren Warner, who sadly passed away in 2021, ” Mike told us.

“ Darren was one of the founding members of the current league when it became independent from the FA. The League’s ethos of fair play and sportsmanship was typified by Darren and the teams he was involved with, so the Trophy honours that legacy by rewarding the adult team from both the 5 & 7-a-side sections achieving the highest respect scores as decided by our referees. ”

“ Derek Dooley Blue were the outstanding winners of the 5-a-side section, ” Mike explained. “ They were unanimously chosen by the league’s referees because of  their respectful attitude to opponents, referees and each other. They typify our League’s ethos of fair play. ”

Claire, the Dooley Blue coach, was delighted by the award. 

“The team were so happy winning the Darren Warner Fairplay award this season,” she told us. “ It feels that they are being recognised for all their hard work and great sportsmanship. They play with a fun attitude, and they are always happy with their performance – even when they don’t win – as long as they have given 100% and play with a smile! ”

Disability Sport Yorkshire Volunteer of the Year

If anyone can recommend a good cabinet maker, it might be worth passing his
details on to Derek Dooley Academy coach, Nathan Pearson. He’s going to need
a bigger trophy cabinet – and well deserved too !

Nathan, a popular coach and player with the http://www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com, had already won the Disability Pathway Coach of the Year at the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA’s Grassroots
Football Awards in Sheffield in October of last year when he arrived at the Disability
Sports Yorkshire Awards Dinner at Elland Road in Leeds on 1 st March.

Nathan was one of the winners of a “Service to Sport – Volunteer of the Year Award,”
so we decided to catch up with him to learn a little more about his well-deserved
award and about the evening.

SYorksACL: – It’s another well – deserved award, Nathan. Congratulations! Tell us about
this recognition.

Nathan: – Thanks so much, this award means a lot to me because it’s about my volunteering
which I have been doing for a lot of years now, and to be recognised for it is truly outstanding.

SYorksACL: – Who nominated you and for what did you receive the award?

Nathan: – For this award I was nominated by the amazing Dawn Wood, Sheffield City Trust,
Yorkshire Sport Foundation – Tom Hughes and Sheffield City Council – Gareth
Hayden in the category ‘volunteer of the year’.

S Yorks ACL: – Tell us a little about the evening and who made the presentation? Who
came along to support you? 

Nathan: – It was a truly amazing evening of awards for lots of different categories for lots of
amazing people. It was presented by Pennine Recruitment; the people who came
along included my brilliant dad and brother and the amazing Julie Callaghan, also the amazing Claire and Richard from Derek Dooley.

S Yorks ACL: – You’ve had a brilliant year and are known to all at the SYACL as a
really special coach.  What are your ambitions as a coach in the future? 

Nathan: – Thanks so much, that means a lot to me. For me, my ambitions are always to try to
inspire young people with disabilities to participate in sport. In my opinion it doesn’t
matter what sport I’m involved with as long as I can motivate the participants to try
sport and to have lots of fun doing it; that will always make me extremely happy.

Congratulations to Nathan from everyone at http://www.southyorkshireabilitycountsleague.com !

On the third anniversary of the death of our fixtures secretary, Darren Warner, footballers from Club Doncaster Titans, the club Darren formed to give his son an opportunity to play competitive football, gathered together last week to celebrate Darren’s life and to play a match to commemorate his passing.

Pictures of the event at Doncaster, together with a picture of Darren on matchday duty and with Mike and Sam.

Together with Chair and Darren’s good friend  Mike Stylianou, and with the support of Sheffield FA’s Sam Firth, the South Yorkshire Ability Counts League set off on an upward trajectory which continues to this day.

RIP Darren – and thank you.

On Thursday 12th October, grassroots football’s finest were recognised at a prestigious awards ceremony at Hillsborough.

The awards, which recognise local winners and highly commended recipients of the England Football Grassroots Football Awards 2023, were presented by BBC Radio Sheffield Sports Editor Andy Giddings.

The local grassroots community made over 160+ nominations across 12 categories earlier in the year, and the winners and highly commended recipients were selected by an independent judging panel.

A video of each individual award winner was shown at the awards ceremony to showcase what makes them deserving award winners. Videos are available on Youtube.

Photographs from the event can be found on our Sheffield FA Facebook page – courtesy of Chris Wharton Images.

A certificate and award were presented to each winner and highly commended recipient by Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA Intern Chair Brian Coddington. 

Commenting on the success of the evening, Brian said: “This year’s awards ceremony was once again a fantastic evening where we were able to say thank you and show our appreciation to so many outstanding volunteers.

“We can never take for granted the tremendous work that grassroots volunteers do year in, year out. They are the beating heart of grassroots football in our county, and it’s a privilege and an honour to recognise their achievements at these awards.

“Congratulations to all our local winners and highly commended recipients, and I wish you even more future success as you continue to play a critical role in growing the game.”

For more information about our awards, please contact Marketing@SheffieldFA.com

Spartans FC recently took a trip to Barcelona / Calella. Tour at Nou Camp Stadium, open top bus tour in Barcelona and days out in Calella.

They wanted to share their photos with the Syacl web family and if any other team has had a football trip they would like to share within the league, please send the photos and reports in.

Football match against the Marpi Foundation at Pineda de Mar – match won by the Spanish team and penalty competition by Spartans FC.

Many thanks to Special Olympics Barcelona, the Marpi Foundation and FC Barcelona for helping to make many dreams come true .

The Sheffield & Hallamshire has today announced on Twitter that @SYorksACL, are the silver winners of the UEFA Grassroots Award 2022!

The award was a UEFA grassroots award for re-start after Covid and registration of teams and players, and SYACL officials were presented with 20 footballs to share amongst their clubs at the 5 X 5 and 7 X 7 Disability County Cup Finals on Sunday 24th April at Eco Power Stadium, Stadium Way, Doncaster DN4 5JW.

SYACL were the only League to continue with social distanced disability football when the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions allowed.