 Thursday, 25th Sep 2014 17:05 There’s no mistaking teacher Barry Williams’s footballing allegiance when you walk into the engineering room at St Paul's Community College in Waterford, Ireland. The room has recently undergone a refurbishment with Barry and his students adding a few additional touches. “We took all the equipment out, we painted it, put in new benches, did a whole revamp on it and, of course, we put Town memorabilia on the wall,” he told TWTD. “It creates a bit of an atmosphere. It all started because an awful lot of the kids here are fans of Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and all the big teams. “They’d all come in here and chat about football and ask me who I followed, so I started putting up the flags and the posters and it just created an atmosphere in the class groups with plenty of banter and good humour, which ultimately developed a relaxed homely environment that the pupils enjoyed. Following on from this the learning setting was greatly enhanced.
“The school is a mid-sized post-primary school of about 500 students. We are a disadvantaged second level school working with students who face many social and educational challenges in life. “One of the lads has done a hand-painted Town badge, three foot by two foot in the corridor outside the room. It’s lovely! Everybody’s got involved.” Barry, 41, has been following the Blues for some years: “Since the days of Paul Cooper, Mick Mills and Paul Mariner to name but a few I have enjoyed following Town. “About 10 or 12 years ago I started putting the stuff up in the room and it just developed from there.
“It’s a bit of fun with the lads, they’ll be waiting on the matches and come in and talk about who’s played, who scored, especially if Murph has scored. “Daryl Murphy went to this school, and his brothers as well. He’s given us some shirts. Stephen Hunt is from Waterford as well. There’s a big connection between Waterford and Town.”
In addition to Murphy and Hunt being from Waterford, boss Mick McCarthy’s father hailed from the area, while local radio station WLR FM's sports presenter Matt Keane is another staunch Town fan of many years standing. Matt, whose support of the Blues is well-known to listeners, was given the honour of officially opening the refurbished engineering room. “We had him do an opening ceremony, cutting the ribbon just to mark the occasion,” Barry added.
Barry will be over for the Huddersfield game towards the end of October and hopes to bring a party of his students to Portman Road at some point in the future, some having been recruited to the Blue Army: “At the moment Town’s progress is certainly tracked by many of the students and a number now support the Blues!”
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