The MYDL held its inaugural winter indoor league over January and February 2010. This Under 13 7-a-side league was held at the Highland Football Academy in Dingwall and attracted teams from far and wide including Caithness United in the North, Buckie Thistle Youths in the East and Fort William FC in the West.
The format allowed teams to play indoors in the excellent surroundings of the HFA.
The first event saw two mini qualifying leagues of four teams playing round robin fixtures to determine 1st and 2nd place teams, who qualified for the MYDL Champions League. 3rd and 4th place teams qualifyed for the MYDL Europa League.
Caithness United’s combination of solid defending and flair in the wide areas saw them win all three games to top the table in the MYDL Champions League. They were pushed all the way by Fort William and Inverness Clachnacuddin with Alness United also showing signs of improvement throughout.
Strathspey Thistle’s young jags denied Buckie top spot in the MYDL Europa league with a narrow 1-0 victory with Dingwall Thistle and Brora Rangers making them work hard for the top spot.
Scottish FA Regional Manager Graeme Sutherland said: “The standard of play shown throughout the two events was excellent and clubs, teams and coaches must be commended for their efforts in ensuring the youngsters were given this opportunity to attend and compete."
The MYDL now looks forward to starting its outdoor fixtures in March and building on the success of the indoor events. Full details of fixtures and scores can be found on the attached document.
The Moray Firth Youth Development League would also like to thank Springfield properties for their continued sponsorship, which allows the league to operate and provide football for over 150 players across a large geographical area. They would also like to thank Moray Firth Radio’s Cash for Kids initiative which provided some funding towards the indoor league; again their support is much appreciated!
Any teams interested in participating in the league should contact league secretary Lindsey Newlands on lindseynewlands@hotmail.com.