'People haven't a clue we exist in their village' - Derry man on futsal's lack of recognition

A Derry man has highlighted how people "haven't a clue" that a Claudy Futsal club exists, despite it being there for roughly two years.

Jonny Kavanagh set up the club in 2023 after playing with the one in Omagh.

Futsal was set up by PE Teacher Juan Carlos Ceriani in Uruguay in 1930 as he wanted a version of football that could be played inside and on a smaller court. 

It involves two teams of five and is a lot more fast-paced and skills-driven than football. 

Jonny has a passion for futsal that has continued to grow over his time playing and coaching the game. 

"All the world's top players have all started their careers with futsal and they attribute futsal with helping them become the players they are. It's a really fast game; you're playing in a tighter area so you have to think fast, move fast, make a lot of quick decisions," he said. 

"Ronaldinho who played for Barcelona and Brazil is a really skillful player and he came from a Futsal background so even in football he was doing rainbow flips and all sorts of skills," Jonny added.

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He started the Claudy Futsal club in 2023 with a taster session that he wasn't sure would take off.

"It was worth giving it a shot and we've gone strength to strength," he said.

Jonny is the manager of the club on top of his full time job as an emergency medical technician.

Volunteers help out with the training which takes place four days a week and his wife is the Club Welfare Officer.

The club has about 30 players who attend training at the moment and Jonny says it's very rewarding to watch them improve and grow.

"It's just seeing the joy that Futsal brings to some of our kids. They just love coming in and having that freedom and creativity," he said. 

The "freedom and creativity" he refers to relates to the children being encouraged to try out new skills and trick shots, something that makes the sport stand out from standard football. 

"Sometimes the flair is maybe not encouraged as much but in futsal it is. In our sessions, it's like 'go out and just try and do what you can.' If it means you try a rainbow flick up over the top of somebody, there's never going to be any fear from a coaching point of view," Jonny added. 

He says that a number of players who previously didn't have the confidence to join a local football club have actually left the Futsal club to play football. 

Training with Jonny allowed their confidence to grow and their skills to improve.

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As there are only five players per team, they all have to rotate between positions and this allows them to try out different tactics and skills.

"Now they've left and they've quit Futsal all together which is a bit of a shame," Jonny said. 

Despite those children leaving, Claudy Futsal has two players who have come from abroad to play the game. 

There is one boy from Nicaragua in South America who comes on holiday to Ireland every year and for the past two years has attended the club's summer camp.

Another member of the club has a cousin from Jersey who took part in the camp this year while over on his holidays.

As Jonny mentioned, the club has gone from strength to strength and he now runs a voluntary after-schools programme in a number of schools in Claudy. 

This led to him setting up a primary school Futsal tournament, which he described as "fantastic." 

The Claudy Futsal Club also won the IFA Grassroots Futsal Award recently. 

"It was amazing, sort of emotional as well. I was getting choked up a bit sort of thinking about it. It's a lot of hard work. I'm a one-man show running it here and to get the recognition isn't just for me, it's for all the kids that have made the club what it is, for the parent volunteers that we have helping to run sessions as well. It's fantastic to be recognised," Jonny said. 

Since then, a sponsorship has been on the cards for the club, and a meeting with the owner of the local McDonald's will be taking place this week.

"If he can give us any support, we'll be the first Futsal team in Northern Ireland to have that partnership, which would be another great achievement," Jonny said. 

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Along with the children's team, there are also weekly sessions available for men and women, both of which have been doing particularly well. 

There are three internationally recognised players from the Claudy club, two of which play for the U16 Northern Ireland female team.

Although there are positives happening for Claudy Futsal, the sport itself is "diminishing rather than progressing." 

In the past 10 years, two clubs have had to close due to a lack of participation. 

"People just don't see the sort of work that we're doing or they just don't know about us. Some people in their own village don't know about us. It's just trying to break down barriers," Jonny said. 

His female team played against TOTH Celtic on Friday night.

They won 12-10, which Jonny said was "a tight game" but "great to see."