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2016 Caversham AFC Primary Schools Tournament

2016 Caversham AFC Primary Schools Tournament

Phill Ritchie8 Jun 2016 - 14:19
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https://www.cavershamafc.co.uk

8 schools, 28 games, and a final game decider

The 2016 Caversham AFC Primary Schools Football Tournament, took place at St Anne’s primary school on Thursday 26th May.

8 schools competed this year (Caversham Park, Caversham Primary, Emmer Green, Micklands, St Anne’s, St Martin’s, Thameside, & The Hill), and as with the last few years, the sun came out to join us.

It is a mixed tournament aimed at Year 6 (U11) and Year 5 (U10), and the rules state that each team must have a minimum of 2 boys and 2 girls on the pitch at all time, which means there are always a lot of Caversham AFC boys & girls playing.

As I currently coach the Year 6 boys at Caversham AFC, this was a special year for me as I knew so many of the children taking part and personally, I thought the quality of football played was excellent and that (despite the final league table) every team was competitive throughout.
Initially I put this down to my personal bias for this age group, but this sentiment was also expressed to me by two of the schools taking part – so it must be true :o)

At this age, children are naturally competitive; we know they will give their all, so we do try to emphasise that this tournament is about having fun.
Whether it was the collective cheer and camaraderie when Caversham Park scored their first goal, or the look of delight on the faces of the Thameside players, when they came back from 2-0 down to win in their final game (to name but two examples) – it was clear the players we enjoying the day.

This year’s tournament was tightly contested, and when each team had played 5 of their 7 games there was just 4 points separating the top 5 schools.
With one game left each, there were still 3 in with a shout, but St Anne’s had saved their best game till last and beat (the previously unbeaten) Emmer Green 4-2 to knock them down into 3rd place.

That meant that, despite being a round robin tournament, the final match of the day was a straight winner takes all shoot-out between one of the tournament’s top scorers (The Hill) and the tournaments meanest defence (Caversham Primary).

A cracking game ensued and in the end just a solitary goal decided it, and saw Caversham Primary as the winners of the Caversham AFC Shield 2016.

Runners up were The Hill

This year’s Fair Play Award went to St Anne’s who were polite, encouraging and sporting throughout.

Once again a big “Thank you”, goes out to St Annes for allowing us to use their wonderful facilities, the teachers of all the schools who supported their teams, but most of all congratulations to all the players who took part, as it was you that made this such a fantastic event.

FINAL POSITIONS

WDL
Points
Caversham Primary520
17
The Hill412
13
Emmer Green331
12
Thameside331
12
St Anne’s304
9
St Martins232
9
Micklands124
5
Caversham Park007
0

Caversham Primary Tournament photos - 2016

Further reading