Bumper crowds flock VSP as National Youth Championships kicks off in style
A bumper public holiday crowd of over 2,500 spectators were treated to plenty of action as the National Youth Championships 2023 Boys’ tournament got underway at Valentine Sports Park, Glenwood in Sydney.
Perfect conditions awaited teams as they gathered bright and early for the official opening ceremony. Blacktown City Council Deputy Mayor and Councillor, Julie Griffiths AM welcomed the participants before vice-captains, captains and head coaches of each team were presented with their armbands ahead of the opening games.
As the sun shined down, the goals rained down, with teams wasting no time announcing themselves to the competition, signaling an exciting week of football ahead.
Extreme heat causes changes to the draw
Due to the extreme heat forecast for Western Sydney on Tuesday, 3 October, Football Australia has made changes to the match schedule for both Day 2 and Day 3 for the National Youth Championships 2023 Boys’ Age Groups.
With temperatures expected to reach 36 degrees and with some matches contested on synthetic, the decision was made to switch around the current Day 2 and Day 3 match schedule, so the Day 3 (Wednesday) match schedule will now be contested on Day 2 (Tuesday) and vice versa.
Kick-off times for Tuesday, 3 October, are also slightly different to ensure no play occurs between 12.00pm AEDT and 6.00pm AEDT to avoid the sweltering conditions, with five kick-off times 8:30am, 9:35am, 10:40am, 6:45pm and 7:50pm and four pitches to be utilised.
You can view the full changes to the draw HERE.
More on the National Youth Championships:
Full day one results and tables are available HERE
See the 2023 National Youth Championships Program HERE
Watch the 2023 National Youth Championships HERE
