A short report on the U14,15,16s Xmas Tournament held on 29th December 2011.
Officials, referees and helpers all arrived promptly at the Camberley Arena at or before 12.00 noon. Players arriving and registering their attendance soon after. Paul gave a player brief at around 12.20pm and the lads prepared themselves for (battle) the afternoon’s football. There were to be six teams of six players, mixed from the three age groups. 34 players in all turned up, meaning that two teams had to be assisted with players from the other teams. Team captains and the two team coordinators assisted with this and made sure the teams were ready for their next match.
The afternoon seemed to go so fast, there were 15 league matches of 12 minutes, then 2 semis and a final. Someone said after the first 5 minutes of the first game “that there wont be many goals this afternoon”. It took all the teams a few moments to get into the swing of things, with the age differences and abilities of the different players being a worry for a few. That was noted but the afternoon soon took off after some of the U14s started throwing themselves around a bit, showing the older lads how to nutmeg and the friendly banter between the U16s.
There were goals, 78 in total. Players were coming up to the computer screen to see if they could calculate what they had to do to win their next match. How they were going to get their next three points and which teams they had to beat. After the teams had played each other, every team won at least one game. The top four teams played their respected semi-finals. The first semi went to extra time after a 1-1 score with Cedar (league winners) scoring in extra time (2-1 final score) against Ash who were 3rd in the league. The second semi saw Oak (4th in the league) going through 2-1 in normal time against Fir who were second in the league.
The final was set with Cedar v Oak. They played against each other in the 5th match of the day, where Cedar won 3-0. Were the league winners going to run away with it in the final? Oak were wearing their PINK Travis Perkins charity t-shirts (as they had all afternoon). At 4.45pm Chris started the final and after twelve minutes of some great football the match was won, Cedar scoring 2 and Oak collecting their trophies with their 3 goals.
So Oak won the day, but Cedar went away with their chocolate football boot as runners up and saying “I wanted the chocolate really”.
The afternoon was a success, the standard of football from all players was a credit to them and their managers and the club. If you ever wanted an example of Respect this was the time and place. My thanks again to all the helpers, referees and the players for making it a great afternoon of MAFC football fun.
Ian Brock.
Mytchett Athletic Football Club.