Joe Rafferty and Jordan (MJ) Williams visited pupils at Greenbank Primary School on Tuesday afternoon, as part of the Dale in the Community Trust’s ‘School of the Week’ initiative.
Over a hundred youngsters from Year 5 and Year 6 gathered to meet Joe and Jordan. They put a whole host of questions to them, including the best player they’ve ever played against, what they’d be if they weren’t a footballer and who inspired them to be footballers.
Joe listed Tottenham Hotspurs' Son as the best player he’d ever come up against, while Jordan said Bradley Dack was the toughest opponent he’d faced. Joe, ambitiously, would have loved to have been an astronaut if he hadn’t have made it as footballer, while Jordan was glad to have received a professional contract as he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Family members were their biggest inspirations.
The Dale duo then took part in a signing session, signing a matchday programme that each child from the school's football teams had received as a memento of the club’s visit to the school.
The ‘School of the Week’ initiative launched last week and is aimed at getting more children than ever before involved in the matchday experience at the Crown Oil Arena.
Every week, as part of the initiative, Dale in the Community Sports Trust coaches will go into a selected school and deliver a presentation to pupils, before being joined by a first team player(s) who will take part in a Q&A session with the children.
The initiative kicked-off last week at St Andrew’s Primary School in Wardle, with Magnus Norman and Stephen Dooley visiting the kids there.
Pupils from Greenbank Primary School will attend Dale’s League One fixture against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday 13th October, along with pupils from St Andrew’s Primary School.
Read more about the initiative HERE.