TU Dublin hosts charity football match

TU Dublin hosted a charity football match for Women’s Aid at the TU Dublin Grangegorman sports facility, with sponsorship from Black and Irish among others.

On March 28th, Capalotragz, a clothing brand based in Ireland, and members of the TU Dublin Grangegorman campus, including myself, participated in a friendly five-a-side football game for Women’s Aid charity.

The event was also sponsored by energy drink Red Bull and Capalotragz themselves, and also Black and Irish, a platform that highlights and celebrates the successes of being black or mixed, in the Irish community.

Kelly Capalot, owner of Capalotragz and other business ventures, made an appearance at the event, and played in the tournament.

Well-known public figures like Simba Bianchi, the owner/Head Sound Engineer of Jungle Beam Studios, and Nesto, who is a producer, and artist manager for Celine, and audio engineer for Selló, an emerging artist from Clondalkin, also made an appearance.

Leon Diop, co-founder of Black and Irish, was also present for this event. Although he didn’t play, he was at the touchline recording videos of the game taking place. He also did some post-match interviews, which were very fun to watch.

DJ Bxbyfxce also made an appearance.

Unfortunately, the turnout for the event was not as big as expected, due to a miscommunication on who was able to participate in the event, although that didn’t stop on-lookers on campus, who stopped by and participated. Free cans of Red Bull may have persuaded some students to join in and play, for a good cause.

Dami Ologunola, one of the people who plans the majority of TU Dublin African society events, was also present for this one, and thanks to him, it attracted names like Simba and Nesto.

In total, there were about 25 people who participated in the event. There were five teams, and each game that was played had a goal limit – each game ended once a team scored two goals.

The winner of the games would also stay on and keep on playing, so it was sort of a king of the castle ordeal.

The energy for the event was amazing, with different people from different colleges coming down to see what was happening. The weather was also on our side, with spells of sunshine, with a little bit of drizzle.

Team selection was very quick, with most people pairing up with their friends, which ultimately made the competition more interesting.

Most teams didn’t take it seriously, which allowed for some funny moments throughout the day. There was one particular moment where one team lost, because a player scored an own goal on purpose, because he wanted to switch teams.

The teams were fairly balanced. However, one particular team had two semi-professional football players, and as expected, they dominated the entire tournament. I believe they only got knocked out of the pitch once.

After a couple of 5-a-side matches , there was a big 11-a-side game with substitutes as well, I had the honour of leading my team with two goals, which ultimately won us the game, the final score was 5-3.

The original plan for the game was to play until a team scored seven goals, however at this time, people had other plans, and had to go home.

Overall, it was a lovely day for students, and others, to group together, and play football for a great cause.