Aston Villa Leisure Centre, Birmingham 2006
Football is alive and kicking too
By ALAN WHETHERLY
In the last issue of Target I wrote about athletics being alive and kicking: well, I’m pleased to report that junior football is also in a very healthy state.
The annual BBS national junior five-a-side competition attracted 26 teams in the various competitions. For the first time the competition was split into year groups so we created a New Year group competition.
I enlisted one of my London parents to help with running the day, and Paul Toplis came up trumps with score sheets and a running score list on PowerPoint and flip chart.
The atmosphere was fantastic and the football is always very competitive. A big thank you goes to Dixie, Dave and George, who refereed all the matches.
The winners were:
Years 3 to 6 : London All Stars and Yorkshire finished top of the table and qualified for the final in which the All Stars retained the trophy by beating Yorkshire 2–0.
Years 7 to 9 : The biggest cheer of the day went to the Swansea team who defeated London United 2–1 in a tense final. London led with seconds to go, but Swansea scored twice to win the trophy for the first time.
Years 10 and 11 : The two London teams, who finished first and second in the group stages, dominated this competition. London City scored a thumping 5–0 victory over their London neighbours in the final.
Years 12 and 13 : Arguably the most competitive section, with six teams battling it out for the title. RNC A edged out New College Worcester 1-0 in their semi-final while London beat West of England 3–0. In the final game of the event RNC and London put on a thrilling display, with London just hanging on to win 3-2.
Girls’ competition : I was going to say that this was won by the All Stars North team, but as the girls told me on the day they were representing Yorkshire, who beat the All Stars South team 3–1 in the final.
Totally Blind competition : A big thank you to Dixie from RNC for co-ordinating this. West of England and All Stars played three times during the day, with the All Stars prevailing in the final.
For me the day seemed to go like a flash: you don’t get to see many of the matches but you can certainly hear the noise and feel the fantastic atmosphere. Everyone who took part was a real credit to their team. Let’s hope for another fantastic day in 2007.
