One month on, looking back on Radyr Rangers Festival 2024
Sunshine, football, all the fun of the fayre, and the red arrows, we look back at Radyr Rangers Festival 2024!
After months of planning, of rustling up interest, of inviting teams from across south Wales, of speaking to sponsors, of mobilising the Under-11 (U11) parents and other age groups across the club; the Radyr Rangers Festival 2024 was upon us. And what a day it was.
This year we hosted over 48 teams, with 24 sides taking part in the morning session for U8s and U10s, with a further 24 U9 and U11s in action in the afternoon. Coupled with a first ‘exhibition’ outing for the Radyr Rangers U6s Development Squad during the lunchtime slot, over 500 children attended The Mound Field to enjoy a football fiesta!
We welcomed teams from both the South Wales Football League and also some from the Vale of Glamorgan, with Cardiff Crusaders, Maindy Corries, Whitchurch, Pontprennau Pumas, Cardiff Academicals, Heath Park Rangers, Cardiff Cosmos, Lisvane Panthers, Canton Rangers and Ty Celyn all in attendance, not forgetting a strong showing from friendly local rivals Gwaelod and Pentyrch, so there were plenty of ‘derby matches’ (even with the festival’s ‘non-competitive’ ethos!). Indeed, some age groups had proved so popular we could have increased capacity by a third and still ended up with a waiting list!
Radyr Rangers had such brilliant representation across all the age groups, with so many of our local youngsters taking part, our teams needed to sport both our traditional black & white stripes and our new blue away shirt to break up some of the monochrome clashes.
The club asks the Under-11 cohort to take the reins on the festival each year, and this year’s group certainly embraced the prospect of ‘putting on a show’ for the local community. They worked tirelessly in the months and weeks leading up to the event and it all culminated on Saturday 8th June. This was indeed a big day in every sense, with volunteers setting up pitches and stalls at the Mound at 6am, and finally doing the final sweep of the field at 7pm, ensuring no stone of preparation was left unturned and every effort was made to leave the field as we found it (if not tidier!).
As the sun shone over the Mound, and the on-pitch action also heated up, the BBQ, cakes, sweets and refreshments stalls were all a roaring success, with volunteers being sent out for fresh supplies / emergency rations at midday to ensure the afternoon crowd was not left hungry.
The hairspray stall proved such a hit that by 11am most children’s heads were either neon pink, shocking white or bright blue! One Radyr Rangers U8 coach even led from the front, with his hair-do a combination of blue, purple and silver, although we never found out if the silver was from the spray-cans or a result of coaching the U8s for a couple of seasons!
Some of this year’s new stalls also proved to be winners, with the ‘pre-loved’ kits flying out and the trophy Photo Booth, where players and teams could get snapped with the World Cup and European Championships trophies (or reasonable replicas at least!) capturing some winning smiles. The raffle also proved hugely popular, with a signed Cymru football shirt proving to be a really eye-catching draw, amongst some other great prizes.
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The weather gods had smiled upon us for the day, and the masters of the sky also treated us, as the lunchtime crowd witnessed an impromptu fly past from the Red Arrows; the event MC seized the opportunity to imply it was all a planned part of the day’s entertainment!
What smiled on us the most, however, and enabled the day to run so smoothly was the support from within the Club, together with local businesses and from across the wider community, making it a such a fantastic community event. While the U11s were tasked with running the show, they were more than ably supported; the U9 & U10s parents oversaw the smooth running of the car parking, and players from the U14 & U15s stepped up in responsibility to act as match referees, which certainly improved the atmosphere, pace and quality of the matches. From the U6s playing their first games in front of a crowd, to the U14s & U15s refereeing, it really was a day that the whole club could be proud of.
Indeed, even former players pitched in, with Radyr Rangers’ old boy, Wales international & Premier League captain Tom Lockyer sharing his memories for the festival programme. Tom spoke of how important the club had been at the outset of his footballing life, and how much he loved playing with his friends growing up in Radyr.
We also had immeasurable support from across the broader community, with The Radyr & Morganstown Association, the Radyr & Morganstown Community Council, Radyr Primary School, and our local Councillor (and new Deputy Lord Mayor) Helen Lloyd Jones, all offering terrific assistance to provide support and equipment for the successful running of the festival.
The local business community also embraced the event and stepped up to sponsor the event at an unprecedented level, and we wish to thank them all for demonstrating their community spirit. The headline sponsor, CR Electrics, even took a busman’s holiday to pitch in and solve some power issues on the day!
The festival is the club’s main way of generating its income, with the monies raised critical to the club’s ongoing function. So once more a huge ‘diolch!’ to CR Electrics, Harding Evans, MGY, Pugh’s Garden Village, Veezu, CLA Trust & Legacy Planning, BYB Accountancy, WR Bishop, Bruton’s the Bakers, Bellway, and Principality for all their efforts and support.
Lastly, we thank all the children, coaches and parents who attended and made the day so special; you can’t have a football festival without football, and we saw scores of smiling sweaty faces, we heard cheers across the field as goals flew in, and it culminated in a wonderful atmosphere for the players and supporters alike.
The Club is going from strength to strength, and we are already looking forward to the 2025 festival. So if you want to come back next year, or will be a new side that wants to join the fun, please drop us a line to [email protected] and we’ll get in touch when we have a date and plans in hand. Thanks for your support and we hope to see you again in Radyr next year.