Years 5 & 6 Football Tournament
Years 5 & 6 Boys and Girls Primary Schools Football Tournament
Tuesday 24th June 2008
Maccabi GB, in partnership with UJIA, held their football tournament for Primary School Years 5 & 6 on Tuesday at Rowley Lane Maccabi Sports Association in Arkley. The tournament involved eight schools bringing a total of twenty teams including twelve boy’s teams and eight girl’s teams. It was pleasing to see that the girls had such a strong turnout this year, showing just how popular girl’s football is becoming. Over 200 young Jewish players were involved in the tournament, and they were supported by the many family and friends who turned out to watch on the day.
Both the boys and girls tournaments started with a group stage in which each team played one another. Making use of the fabulous facilities at Rowley Lane, we had five different matches running simultaneously throughout the afternoon. The group stages saw some really exciting football played, and there were lots of goals to be enjoyed. For some of the year six boys and girls, it was the last chance to represent their primary school before they move to secondary school at the end of the year.
In the boy’s tournament, Sinai B and Wolfson Hillel B met in the first semi final, whilst Independent A and Sinai A played each other in the second semi final. In the girl’s tournament, Sinai played Independent B in the first semi final, whilst the second semi final was an all Wolfson Hillel affair, with the A team playing the B team. The girl’s semi finals were very open games with lots of scoring chances. In the first game Sinai ran out 2-0 winners against Independent. Wolfson Hillel’s A team proved too strong for their B team as they won 4 -0. The boy’s semi finals were much closer games, with neither side giving an inch in their pursuit to reach the final. In the first game, Sinai B managed to score an early goal, and then despite some late pressure from the Wolfson Hillel boys, managed to hold on and reach the final. In the other game, Sinai A started well taking a two goal lead. Independent got a goal back, but just as quickly as they got back into the match, a third Sinai goal seemed to kill of the threat. Not to be deterred, Independent rallied and a second goal reduced the deficit to just one goal. However Sinai A held strong to win and set up an all Sinai encounter in the final.
The two finals could not have been more contrasting. In the girl’s final, Wolfson Hillel continued their domination of the competition by smashing five goals past Sinai. The girls played great football throughout the day, and did not concede a single goal in their five matches. The boy’s final saw both Sinai teams lock horns and ultimately cancel each other out for most of the match. With just a few chances throughout, the game always looked destined to be decided by penalties. Even the best of three shootout was not enough to separate the two well organised and competitive teams. Eventually it was the B team who held their nerve to win the sudden death shootout, and the tournament itself.
The afternoon finished with the medal presentations to all the finalists and the presentation of the trophies to the two winning teams. Maccabi GB’s School Sports Coordinator, Matt Travers was extremely pleased with the afternoon saying, “It is great to see over 200 children engaged in one of our events. This event provides the perfect opportunity for these young sportsmen and women to showcase their skills in a competitive environment. This tournament has seen our highest ever girls attendance at a Summer tournament.”
Attention now turns to the final Maccabi GB Primary Schools Event, which is the Primary Track and Field Day on Tuesday 8th July
To view photos of the day click here