FUTSAL is proving a hit with young footballers keen to defy the winter weather and get stuck into the action.

Barrow AFC Community Sports have organised tournaments for under-eights, under-nines and under-10s sides at Chetwynde School.

The under-nines and under-10s events on a competitive basis, with the younger of those age groups enjoying four weeks of action, playing each other twice.

Teams from Walney Island, Hawcoat Park, Barrow Celtic, Furness Cavaliers and Holker Old Boys took part, with the standings from the groups going into the final week determining who fought it out for the title, with all the clubs eager to succeed.

Barrow AFC Community’s Marc McAloone has been impressed with what he has seen from some evenly-matched sides, and said: “In every age group, you have the stronger teams, but one thing we have seen from the under-nines is that they have rotated players quite a lot, rather than just playing the strongest team all the time.

“The improvement between all the teams has been really good and some of the results we have seen have been quite surprising.

“As the weeks have gone on, teams have been able to get used to the rules of futsal, get the ball moving and try out different tactics that can catch other teams out. The improvement has been fantastic.”

Walney were heading the table before last week, but it was Cavaliers who moved to the top of the standings ahead of the Island side going into the final matches this weekend.

Cavaliers had a record of four wins and two draws from their six matches, with Walney having four wins, a draw and a single defeat to their names.

Hawcoat Park sat third, Barrow Celtic fourth and Holker Old Boys fifth.

Futsal sees the sides playing a version of football adapted to an indoor venue and designed to improve the skill-set of those involved via the use of a heavier ball which encourages close control and cuts down on long, high balls.

McAloone said of the game: “There is not as much heading involved because the ball stays mainly on the floor.

“It can be quite direct. All free-kicks are direct and we have kick-ins instead of throw-ins, although you’re not allowed to score straight from a kick-in, it has got to touch somebody else.

“The goalkeeper can come and play outfield if he wants, but then he is open to the same rules as any outfield player.

“It’s really just a smaller version of football on a pitch which is the same size as five-a-side games.

“The goals are a little bit taller, but not as wide as standard five-a-side goals, which adds an extra challenge in terms of scoring.”