First Footy NE: coming to Alnwick in 2025

First Footy NE, Alnwick will be based at Willowburn Leisure Centre, following their success delivering free football classes at Alnwick Expo.

This comes after the rapid growth of the business following the launch of their first site in Cramlington which opened at the start of this year, shortly followed by sites in Blaydon and Ashington in later months.

First Footy NE prides themselves on being, ‘football coaching in a fun environment with a high focus on multi-skills’, and the new site will offer specialised training split into three age groups, ranging from 18-months to 9-year-olds.

Owners, Cheryl Rutherford and Lewis Sampson have years of coaching experience after meeting at University where they both studied sports and education.

Cheryl is a qualified PE teacher who has worked in numerous schools across Northumberland – revealing her inspiration for the new site, she said: “One of our little footballer’s dad, Paul Nickson, runs his own first-aid company in the area and came to us with a proposal to offer free football sessions within the Alnwick Expo at Alnwick Gardens which we were delighted to be involved with.

“Throughout our time there we heard from a lot of the community that there was a lack of facilities and opportunities in the area for children to play football, we then looked into our own clients and we were amazed at how many people travelled to our Cramlington and Ashington venues from as far out as Amble and Alnwick.

"We thought this would be a great opportunity to grow our footballers and bring something new and accessible to Alnwick and the surrounding communities.”

Expanding on the mission of First Footy NE, Cheryl says: “Our football classes are not limited to football, we have a wide focus on multi-skills, confidence building and most of all the children leaving with a smile.”

"This is only the start for us and we are hoping to open more venues and bring our classes into schools within the next year, giving more children the opportunity to learn and play football.”

Bookings for the up-and-coming classes in Alnwick are now live on their online booking system, for more information please visit: Facebook