24 March 2008
VIDEO: Stuart Pearce press conference

Stuart Pearce, Scott Dann and Ishmael Miller joined The FA's Brendon Batson at a coaching session at the Wolves Dome 

England

v

Poland

 

 

International Under-21 Friendly
7pm, Tuesday 25 March 2008
Molineux, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
Tickets, priced £10 adults and £5 concessions, will be available from the Wolves Ticket Office on 0871 880 8433 or via www.wolves.co.uk  

The Wolves Dome, the indoor complex for the Wolverhampton Wanderers academy, was the venue as Stuart Pearce and his Under-21 players visited the community in the build-up for their friendly against Poland at Molineux.

Along with players Ishmael Miller and Scott Dann, who both play their club football in the West Midlands at West Brom and Coventry respectively, the trio joined The FA's Brendon Batson to meet some of the players and coaches of two local youth clubs, Punjab United and Finchfield FC.

Visits to local community projects around their matches is becoming somewhat of a ritual in Pearce's Under-21s set-up and this time, with Miller and Dann, they all took time out to answer some questions and also had a training session of passing drills with the Punjab United coaches.

Batson, a former player with West Brom, explained more about the day's activities: "It's a great opportunity to be down in the heart of Wolverhampton with the Under-21s game here, with two local teams, and for Stuart and the two players to mingle the youth teams and join in with the coaching session.

"It builds up for the game, they are expecting a good crowd, so this is a good promotional thing for the young lads to see a top coach and top players.

One of Batson's roles with The FA is to encourage participation in football from teams and players within Asian communities and he has been working closely with Punjab United.

"I linked them with the Wolves academy and they use this facility. It gave those players at Punjab United an opportunity see a professional set-up, see what the standard is like and feel what it's like to be involved with a professional club.

"They thoroughly enjoyed it, they had six weeks here and Wolves were fantastic incorporating them and giving them training sessions, so hopefully the links will carry on for the future."

Pearce added: "It's nice for us at this level to be able to put a bit back into the community. The players have been good, we try to have a rotation system where the players take turns in coming into the community.

"They've been very forthcoming in giving up their time and it's a credit to them for doing so."

To see a video from the afternoon at the Wolves Dome, click on the link above.