Alan's a class act

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A is for Alex Ferguson, the most successful FA Cup manager; B is for Beasant (Dave), who made the first penalty save in a Wembley Final in Wimbledon’s 1-0 win over Liverpool... S is for Shearer (Alan), who joined over one million primary school children celebrating E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day last week.

The former England striker and E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day ambassador was back in class where he took part in a day that saw schools swap traditional lessons for a fun celebration of the world’s greatest domestic cup competition.

Children were able to decorate their classrooms in Cup flags, mini trophies and football memorabilia as they enjoyed FA Cup themed lessons, including ‘Football in the picture’ English classes, where children were asked to develop a story based on a famous moment in FA cup history.

To promote healthy eating ‘Food to make you dribble’ sessions highlighted the importance of a balanced diet and asked students to make their own menu fit for a top footballer. They also took part in mini FA Cup tournaments and football fitness games in PE.

In a bid to turn young fans, whether reds, blues or black and whites, into greens, children used E.ON’s Carbon Footyprint campaign as a topic to promote environmental awareness and explore ways in which they could reduce their impact on the environment whilst watching football.

To add his support to the initiative, Alan Shearer visited Varna Street Primary School in Manchester to take part in their celebrations. Shearer said: “I’ve been supporting E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day for two years now and it’s great to see it growing each year.

"You could see from the excitement in the classroom that football makes learning fun. I wish something like this existed when I was at school.”

E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day was established in 2007 by E.ON, to teach the next generation about the heritage and magic of the greatest domestic cup competition in the world. Within 12 months, the initiative has more than tripled in size, from 300,000 school children taking part last season to over one million this term.

43 County Football Associations planned and organised 71 E.ON National FA Cup School day festivals which saw 17,598 five to eleven year olds take part in a magical day of football.

The Showcase event took place in Manchester where Ambassador Alan Shearer delighted the players with a special appearance.

As part of the FA Respect Campaign E.ON provided three schools at each event with a Fair Play kit and one lucky boy won the chance to be a player escort at The FA Cup Final on 17 May.