Festivals

We regularly attend football festivals throughout the East Midlands competing against teams from Lincoln City, Notts County, Leicester City and Northampton Town.

All the participants in our disability programme have the opportunity to represent Derby County in these festivals. The festival programme allows our young players the opportunity to develop their skills, teamwork and confidence through competiting against teams of similar abilities. It is vital that we continue to create competitive fixtures for the players.

Derby County FC have had the pleasure of competing in the East Midlands PAN Disability Festivals for the past 5 years. The festivals run across the East Midlands and play host to representative sides from Notts County FC, Leicester City FC, Lincoln City FC and Northampton Town FC. The festivals take place throughout the football season, with each county hosting one event. All players that are within Derby County in the Community disability initiatives have the opportunity to represent within these festivals, which form an integral part of the disability player pathway and can lead to players moving forward into regional impairment specific teams and potentially into national squads.

The Festivals are broken down into different ability categories and Derby County represent in the Premiership, Championship and League for Adult males, Under 16’s Boys and have a number of females who represent in the Girls and Womens events.

The festivals provide the opportunity for players with disabilities to compete against other players of a similar ability to ensure a level playing field at all times. The opportunity to compete also allows the players to improve their confidence and self esteem, as well as developing their team work and leaderships skills in a practical way. Wearing the Derby County shirt also gives the players a real sense of being a professional and playing like one of their idols.

To the right are some of the players in action in the East Midlands Festivals, showing their skills and playing the Derby County way.