Seel Park to be a seat of learning

FOOTBALL: 

MOSSLEY’S Seel Park stadium is one of the eight selected to play host to a pioneering new Northern Premier League Football Academy course.

The Evo-Stik Northern Premier League will become the first in English football to launch a youth league and academy aimed at combining football with further education, for 16 to 18-year-old students from Tameside and Oldham.

Officially sanctioned by the Football Association, Seel Park’s course is being run in partnership with Loughborough College. Twelve students have already signed up, though there are places for up to 20.

The pilot will see students at the eight clubs study for a BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Sport, as well as working with FA and UEFA licensed coaches and competing in a newly-formed Evo-Stik NPL Academy League on Wednesday afternoons. The Mossley team will also feature in the FA Youth Cup.

The programme will run alongside existing youth set-ups at participating clubs, offering the best of each year’s intake the chance to play senior non-league football at Witton Albion, Mickleover Sports, Radcliffe Borough, Leek Town, Burscough, Newcastle Town, Lancaster City and Mossley.

Evo-Stik NPL chairman Mark Harris said: “We are proud to be leading the way again with the backing of the FA and the expertise of Loughborough College. There are many academies and numerous youth leagues, but the NPL Football Academy is the first to combine both.”.

INFO: www.nplfootballacademy.co.uk