Dozens of young footballers were able to celebrate World Milk Day when they took part in a tournament held at a dairy farm recently.

The NFU joined forces with one of their members, Andy Bevan, who has a football academy at his St Weonards farm. It is the Regional Talent Centre and is aimed at elite, young players from across the Midlands. Andy is a football coach at Westfields FC who, during the 2016–17 season, qualified for the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history.

World Milk Day which took place on Friday, June 1st was first established in 2001 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to help raise awareness of the dairy sector and to recognise the importance of milk as a global food. Last year there were an incredible 588 events in 80 countries worldwide.

There were nine teams, from a very wide area, taking part in the tournament at St Weonards, so there were about 120 young footballers on the farm competing for the NFU Milk Cup.

The NFU teamed up with County Milk, the farm’s milk buyer, for the event to promote positive, nutritional messages about dairy foods and they talked to players about why dairy products should be an important part of their training routine.

The Dairy Council is spearheading the ‘Make Milk Your Goal’ campaign, which celebrates the merits of milk and its important role in athletes’ diets.

Andy told the Ross Gazette that organising the tournament was also an ideal opportunity to assess any up and coming players, as he is always looking for the next great talent.

He also said that he was pleased that the weather had improved after the thunder and lightning of the evening prior to the event. And of course the football was a break from his farming duties, although he had been milking the cows in the fields surrounding the pitches before the tournament started.