Father Christmas Cup

Twas the Night Before

wpx_admin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 22:57:53 +0000

Twas the Night before the Christmas Cup, when all through Atlanta
Not a player was stirring (and no pub crawls with Santa)
The t-shirts were ready, the pitch set to go
Awaiting the teams that would make a big show
The managers were nestled all snug in their beds
With visions of victory dreaming in their heads.
Liverpool’s rank, at the top of the league,
Had bred SLOTs of confidence, of which they would need
With prayers for good weather, with little or no rain
And to score the winner, in off the frame
After tossing and turning all the night long
They soon stood together, singing the song
Familiar notes filled the air, from one trumpet lone,
Our memorial song, You’ll Never Walk Alone
A city united at Christmas, for good cause,
To celebrate good tidings, to reflect and to pause.
We thank all of our sponsors whose grace is essential
To ensure this day, each year, is eventful.
With thanks to players who endow such largesse
So generous each year to make the Cup a success
To help others in need during this season of festivity,

And to remember those from our soccer community.
“Santa sprang to his sleigh and gave the ref a whistle
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night”

A FXC Story

wpx_admin — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 19:18:23 +0000

Earlier last year, Denzel Clark, a former student at Greater Atlanta Christian School and a talented soccer player, unfortunately, lost his mother and father in what can only be described as tragic circumstances. At the time, Denzel was playing Division 1 soccer at Gardner-Webb University (https://www.gardner-webb.edu/) in NC and The Father Christmas Cup was able to make a small contribution (https://fxcup.org/legacy/) towards some of the funeral costs. Despite all the difficulties, Denzel himself still graduated from Gardner-Webb and continued to excel on the soccer field.

Denzel’s high school friend and fellow soccer teammate, Stewart Abrahart, invited him to play in The Father Christmas Cup as part of the Global Image Sports (GIS) (https://www.globalimagesports.com/) team, one of the main sponsors of the event. This turned out to be a serendipitous event for Denzel but also became a heartwarming Christmas story about the hope of a brighter future for the family.

As luck would have it, The GIS team was drawn in the same section of the competition as the shirt sponsor, Atlanta United FC (https://atlutd.com/), (part of the new Atlanta MLS franchise), who entered a strong team featuring some pro players as well as AUFC President Darren Eales and Technical Director and former US Men’s National Team Captain Carlos Bocanegra.

It was Denzel’s overhead bicycle kick that caught the eye of recently appointed AUFC Youth Soccer Director Tony Annan. As a result, Tony helped arrange a trial with San Antonio FC (https://sanantoniofc.com/), a professional soccer team based in San Antonio, Texas that will make their debut in the United Soccer League ahead of the 2016 season. GIS helped Denzel with his travel expenses and he reports that so far, everything has gone well.

Everyone from the Father Christmas Cup and the extensive soccer community across the region is pulling for Denzel in the hope that his Christmas wish comes true. Whatever the outcome of his two-week trial, howe
ver – this story serves to show that there will always be positive opportunities ready to come along and provide some hope where it is needed.

Father Christmas Cup Origins

wpx_admin — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 07:57:11 +0000

The Father Christmas Cup came to be as a result of a discussion one night in September 2003 between a group of friends in a local pub, what was then the old Fado Fado, in the Buckhead bar district of Atlanta Georgia. The discussion centered on the casualties from the war in Iraq and how that Christmas a family would be in mourning for a father missing for the first time during the Holiday season.

One of the groups recalled how soccer and war had been intertwined throughout the ages and we all remembered how during World War I, it was often cited that on Christmas Eve in 1915 a truce was struck between the Germans and the English to celebrate Christmas. The truce lasted Christmas Day and part of the following day- Boxing Day- and how an impromptu soccer game ensued in no-man’s land between the trenches.The idea came about to hold a soccer match as a fundraiser to help a family that was missing their father for the first time. The first Father Christmas Cup has played in December 2003 and funds raised were donated anonymously to a soldier’s family.