The sun shone brightly on the first of two days of football at Harrow Way Community School. A chance for the rural schools from across the area to play each other and possibly win a medal!
Year 10 students, Adam Morledge and Matthew Teal, began the day by expertly setting up the pitches – putting goals and corner flags up was not the easiest task on a very windy day! Nathan Elsey, Grace Farrelly and Scott Jeffries joined Adam in the afternoon, and welcomed the nine teams from Shipton Bellinger, Appleshaw St Peter’s, Vernham Dean, Abbotts Ann, St Mary Bourne, Amport, Clatford, Kimpton and Amport Schools. The Harrow Way students spent the afternoon ensuring the pitches ran smoothly and were not wind affected!
Lions in the Community, along with Year 11 Harrow Way student, JJ Budden, were the officials for the afternoon. They were impressed with the respect shown by all players, as well as the skills and team work. Fantastic pool matches were completed, points calculated accurately by Grace and play off matches announced. Winning all their pool matches, Shipton Bellinger A met Kimpton in one semi-final, while unbeaten Clatford met St Mary Bourne. Against expectations, and without a penalty shoot-out in sight, Kimpton were joined by St Mary Bourne in the final.
As befitting a tournament of excellent football and sportsmanship, the final was no exception. St Mary Bourne scored two great goals and became the 2015 winners. Nicola Pearce, Deputy Headteacher at Harrow Way, presented Kimpton with their runners up medals and St Mary Bourne with the new shield and winners’ medals.
Mrs Salmon would like to thank the Harrow Way leaders for their fantastic support all day, all the young players for their enthusiasm and effort throughout the tournament, teachers and parents from the eight schools, Chelsea Football Foundation for the loan of their goals and, finally, Cathy Devereux and Lions in the Community for their continued support of football in Andover.