PIPS CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH  | News Archive

The PIPS All-stars line up with Glentoran Ladies ahead of their charity match.

BY MARK McINTOSH

GLENTORAN were brushed aside 3-1, then Linfield were sent crashing 9-5.

That's the impressive recent record for a new charity football team in Belfast

PIPS All-stars are a team cre­ated to raise money for the PIPS Project - an initiative for the prevention of suicide and self-harm in Northern Ireland.Hugh Hand decided to raise money for the charity after his daughter, Katrina, took her own life in 2005.His friend Gerard McCartan, who also lost his son Danny to suicide, decided to help set up the team and they have gone from strength to strength since the turn of the year.

"We played a few charity matches just for a bit of craic before my daughter died and after that we thought it would be a good idea to raise some money for PIPS.

  "Our idea was to use sport as a way of helping my family and others cope with their loss and make a difference," Hugh ex­plained."My daughter went to Bloom­field Methodist Church and our first couple of games was against them. But since then we have tried to arrange matches with other groups.

"So far I think we have man­aged to raise £950 and we look forward to raising more in the future."All our players range from the ages of 15-50 and everyone tries to take the games as seriously as possible but it is more important to have a bit of craic."In recent times, the PIPS All-stars have pitted their wits against Glentoran and Linfield's ladies' teams - and with fan­tastic results.

Added Hugh: "We are unbeat­en at the moment but every game is getting more and more difficult."We didn't think we'd have a chance against Glentoran Ladies as they hadn't been beaten all season but we won 3-1."And then on Sunday, we beat Linfield's ladies' team 9-5.

"All our matches are played in a great spirit and everyone knows why we are there and that's why there is a good at­mosphere whenever we play."But the players are on the look­out for a new challenge.Despite their players being ea­ger to play as much as possible, finding a venue for games has proved to be difficult."We have had a few obstacles blocking our way when we've tried to organise a few matches, such as insurance for the players, but hopefully we'll play again soon."If there are any teams out their who are playing to too high a standard we'd love to hear from you,

If you're interested in chal­lenging them to a match, you can contact Hugh Hand via the PIPS Project, tel: 02890 755 070.