Liam pictured with Palace for Life Foundation, supporting inclusive football (Image: Liam Conlon)
Liam pictured with Palace for Life Foundation, supporting inclusive football (Image: Liam Conlon)
I am proud to be the Member of Parliament for Crystal Palace.
We have a rich local history that should be celebrated, particularly in sport!
A huge part of our community is Crystal Palace Football Club – I know everyone shares my excitement that they are in the FA Cup final on Saturday, only their third ever!
This competition has a historic local significance – Crystal Palace Park has hosted 20 FA Cup finals, more than the new Wembley!
It’s hard to imagine, but late great stars in the early 1900s played finals in front of over 100,000 people at the site.
Fourteen teams have won the famous old trophy here, including fellow finalists Manchester City, but Crystal Palace have so far been unsuccessful in adding a cup to their solitary Zenith Data Systems Cup triumph in 1991, losing in the final in 1990 and 2016 to Manchester United.
After convincingly brushing aside Aston Villa, Palace fans are hoping for third time lucky in the final on Sunday (and my fingers are very much crossed)!
Having lived here for several years, I know what a victory would mean for many in our community who have lived through the highs and lows of several relegations, promotions at Wembley and even coming close to liquidation in 2010.
Before being elected and now as your local MP, I have also consistently engaged with Palace for Life Foundation, the club’s charitable arm.
As someone with experience of disability, I know how hard it can be to access para-sport and in our schools today 3 in 4 disabled children aren't able to take part in PE regularly.
Too often disabled children are forced to watch on from the sidelines as their peers play on without them.
I’m really glad the foundation recognise this, and carry out genuinely incredible work across south London, including at the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace, to support disabled people and others to access sport.
This includes hosting football sessions for those with Down’s syndrome and visual impairments, as well as powerchair football.
These sessions give disabled people an opportunity to participate in sport that they may have otherwise been denied.
They help to foster a true sense of belonging which is so often denied, and bring huge physical and mental health benefits to those who partake.
The foundation also engages with local schools; help support young people into employment and provide free football sessions to all across our community.
I’m really proud to have met with Palace for Life on multiple occasions and am working with them to ensure more people across Bromley can benefit from their fantastic work.
Palace for Life and Crystal Palace Football Club encapsulate what is great about our supportive community – its caring nature and a strong sense of belonging and identity!
It's time for the hard work of the club on and off the pitch to be rewarded.
That is why I am hoping that by the end of Saturday evening, we will all be able to celebrate a historic victory at Wembley, that finally brings the FA Cup back home and etches Crystal Palace into the history books!