Over 120 players took part in this year’s festival in the three divisions - under 12’s, under 14’s and under 16’s, all of which operated a two year age banding. All the teams were given a country to represent and were presented with T-shirts of their respective country by Maidstone United Raiders who kindly agreed to support the event.
The teams all played a series of group games, watched by very vocal parents and spectators, to determine who went through to the finals. The three finals all kicked off at the same time and saw some excellent displays of team play and individual skill. All three finals were tense affairs with every team eager to go home with the silverware.
The results of the finals were as follows:
Under 12’s
Charlton Athletic 3 v 1 Swanscombe Tigers
Under 14’s
Charlton Athletic 3 v 1 Invicta Valiants
Under 16’s
Charlton Athletic 0 v 3 Maidstone United Raiders
The winners and runners up all received trophies to mark their success and all the players were given a goody bag and t-shirt to mark their efforts during the day. There were also four other special awards to recognise other achievements on the day which were voted for by the referees from Goals. Matthew Spain from St Margaret All Stars picked up the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award, while BJ Applegate was rewarded with the Goal of the Tournament award for a superb individual effort in the under 12’s final. Goal machine Paighton Gibson picked up the Player of the Tournament award and Maidstone United under 14’s was given the Sportsmanship award. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and to everyone who made it a memorable day.
Development Officer Stephanie Gadd said ‘we have been blessed with good weather for this year’s event and it is great to see just how far disability football has developed in Kent in the past three years. We have a thriving league and this cup competition is a fun end to an action packed season. It was also great to see aspects of the FA Respect programme being used with players shaking hands after all the games’.
Thank you to Chris Walton and his team at Goals Soccer Centre for hosting the event and providing the referees for the day. We now look forward to the new season of the Kent Disability League which kicks off in September.
The next Champions Cup event is on Sunday 25th April 2010 at Goals Soccer Centre in Dartford.
For more information about the Champions Cup or about disability football initiatives please contact Stephanie.gadd@kentfa.com or telephone 01634 812032.