Sinn Fein Cllr Colly Kelly presenting Brendy McDonald, captain of last year’s winning team Creggan.
The annual Derry Volunteers Soccer Competition will take place at Bishop’s Field in Creggan this Friday and Saturday, 18 and 19 July.
Last year saw a record number of spectators turn out to watch the competition with over 200 at the final.
The event is an amalgamation of several football competitions held over the summer period in the Creggan area.
The 11-a-side competition will see eams representing Creggan, Bogside and Brandywell, Shantallow and Waterside.
Republican activist Peggy McCourt said: “The competition is in recognition of the local IRA Volunteers who died over the past forty years., many of whom where young men who played football.
“This event is one of the ways in which we can pay tribute to those young men and women from the local community who paid the ultimate price in the struggle for Irish freedom.
“When Bobby Sands said ‘Our revenge will be the laughter of our children’ he was envisaging days like this as many of the players taking part in this competition will not have experienced the recent conflict.”
She concluded: “I would like to invite people to come along next week and participate in a weekend of fun and craic as well as paying tribute to the local patriot dead.”
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