SAINT PATRICK’S Athletic’s futsal team head to Finland next week to challenge for the Uefa Futsal Cup.
As reigning Irish champions, after defeating Bohemians in the Eircom futsal league last March, the Saints will travel to Helsinki for the finals tournament on 13 August. With preparations underway, team manager Ovidiu Matiut and coach Junior Da Silva are hopeful of a ranking.
“The team grew out of the Sports Against Racism Ireland (Sari) league last year,” says Matiut. “I made a selection from the whole league, which is the best of eight teams.”
This dream team comprises players from Poland, Brazil, Hungary, Moldova and Ireland, not to mention coach DaSilva from Brazil and Matiut, who is Romanian-Irish. The support of St Pat’s is integral to the team, says Matiut: “We had initially approached St Pat’s for affiliation as they had a good international supporters club and were very involved with diversity in the sport. It is a club with a strong community base.”
Matiut is keen for futsal to become more popular in Ireland, especially with adults. “There are many leagues for younger players at schoolboy level, but it is only now becoming available for older guys, over-21s,” he says.
One of the problems, according to Matiut, is that as an indoor sport, there is often little room for spectators. “We are playing and training here, the facilities are good, but if we wanted to have a following of supporters come to see us play, there is very little room for them so we cannot promote the sport.”
He points out that the sport is recognised more on mainland Europe, where it is played by many clubs, especially in Spain, Italy and eastern Europe.
Futsal is played indoors between two teams of five with rules similar to soccer, but with much less contact and a ball designed specifically not to bounce too far. As a result, the skills required are somewhat different than for soccer.
As the pitch is smaller, the players must have total control of the ball and be able to react very fast. There is no time for dribbling in this game.
“It is faster and more intense,” says Matiut. “The clock stops whenever game play stops; we can also change players with the permission of the referee so there is a constant renewing of energy in the game. The players must also have perfect balance to avoid contact.”
The St Pat’s futsal team train three times a week at Saint Michael’s Community Centre in Inchicore and at the Saints’ home ground, and all have recently passed strict fitness tests with St Pat’s.
“These guys all have careers, families and studies,” says Matiut. “It can be hard for them to make the sacrifice to train and travel as much. But they are incredibly motivated.”
