English Schools' Football Association

Park Hall Stadium, Oswestry host England v Republic of Ireland International Fixture in the inspiresport Centenary Shield

The English Schools’ Football Association are thrilled to announce that Shropshire Schools’ & Colleges’ Football Association have managed to secure, Park Hall Stadium, the home of The New Saints FC in Oswestry to host this season’s second inspiresport Centenary Shield fixture against the Republic of Ireland Schoolboys on 8 April 2016.

Following on from the first fixture against Scotland on the 1 April, this match will mark the last of the team’s home fixtures to be played by the newly formed ESFA U18 International England Schoolboys squad in the Centenary Shield competition. The competition is in its second year of sponsorship by youth sports travel company, inspiresport.

Mark Hignett, ESFA Council Member and SSCFA Vice Chairman said ‘This promises to be an exciting occasion for Shropshire and for Oswestry in particular. England versus the Republic of Ireland is always a great sporting occasion and this promises to be no different with the two countries having won the shield between them in the last two seasons.

We are absolutely delighted to be working with The New Saints FC to stage this prestigious international fixture at their Park Hall home and to be able to make use of their excellent facilities. I am sure that football supporters from Shropshire and the surrounding areas will make this a fantastic evening of international football and that they will get behind our boys as they attempt to re-claim the Centenary Shield back from our visitors.’

Graeme Kirkham, Facilities Manager at The New Saints FC said ‘On behalf of The New Saints Football Club of Oswestry Town, I would like to thank everyone at the ESFA for approaching us to host this extremely prestigious fixture. We are delighted to be hosting the English Schools’ final home fixture, in the inspiresport Centenary Shield. We will be calling on all local football supporters to come down and watch these two top level international teams, in what promises to be a great encounter.’

The match is all set to take place at The New Saints FC, Parkhall Stadium on Friday 8 April 2016 with a 7:30pm kick off. The match will mark the perfect opportunity to get involved with the ESFA International Programme and watch some budding future stars of the beautiful game compete to champion all other home nations in 2016.

Tickets to be part of this fantastic opportunity are available to order now from SSCFA - details as below:

Tickets are available to order from Lisa Sandford at SSCFA by calling her on 01743 235442 or emailing her.

The ESFA wish the best of luck to both England and ROI Schoolboy teams in this second leg of the competition.