Bray Wanderers and St. Joseph Boys open new academy

The long standing partnership between Bray Wanderers and St Joseph’s Boys has reached new heights today with the SJB Academy being jointly launched by the two clubs.

This academy is the first dedicated elite facility for underage football in Ireland and it comes as a direct response to the FAI’s new National Underage League with both under 15 and under 13 leagues commencing in the next year.

CEO of the FAI, John Delaney, who was the guest of honour at the launch of the SJB Academy, is pleased by this development.

“I want to congratulate both St Joseph’s Boys and Bray Wanderers. It is a credit to their commitment to underage football that they have established the first dedicated underage football academy following FAI guidelines,” he said.

“This dedicated academy is something that both St Joseph’s and Bray Wanderers can be proud of, and is something that we in turn at the FAI can point to when it comes to developing similar facilities around the country, as an example of what can be achieved.”

The academy is located in Carrickmines and has one full size floodlit pitch and training areas. The clubhouse has home and away dressing rooms, a medical room, meeting room and gym. Both the Bray Wanderers first team and under 19 squads will be able to avail of the facility.

The plan is for this new academy to create a clear pathway for elite young players and Niall O’Driscoll, secretary of St. Joseph’s Boys, outlines their vision further.

“‘The vision of SJB Academy is firstly identifying, recruiting, developing & retaining well rounded players with the ability to play professional football with Bray Wanderers under the guidance of highly motivated, highly qualified coaches. Also, ensuring that participation in the Academy will ‘Create Value for Our Players Futures’ beyond the duration of their time in the Academy in terms of Education and Employment,” he said.

“Through the Elite Development Programme we want to attract the best young players and support them in all aspects of a player’s technical, tactical, athletic, educational and social development. Our ultimate objective is to develop well rounded, highly educated, talented young footballers that progress up the development ladder.”