XI ANNUAL 7 A SIDE TOURNAMENT - June 2007

Following last years tenth anniversary event which had 25 schools participating we reverted to our usual 20 schools in 2007. This meant that around 240 children took part and competed for three trophies as usual. The main competition being that for the Walcot Cup in recognition of the involvement of the Walcot Educational Foundation from our first tournament in 1997. This year we were pleased to have additional financial assistance from the Newcomen Collett Foundation and Chris Autos Limited. In recognition of their support schools also competed for the Newcomen Collett Shield and the Chris Autos Plate.

In the middle of the day the Mayor of Lambeth Councillor Andrew Gibson presented the "Fair Play Awards" to four schools which received the most votes from all schools in the league for their sporting behaviour. These awards are highly regarded and are given to the schools which demonstrate over the course of the whole season the ability to compete and play fairly. The awards encompass the behaviour of the players, their coaches and their supporters, friends and family who come along to encourage the teams. The four schools voted for by their peers were Macauley Church of England Primary of Clapham, Victory Primary of Elephant and Castle, Oliver Goldsmith Primary of Camberwell and Holy Trinity Church of England Primary of Tulse Hill.

All games were refereed by qualified officials who contributed greatly to the occasion by their skilful handling of the highly competitive matches in which not a single caution or dismissal was needed.

Thanks and congratulations to Colin Roberts, Derek Horner, Luke Howard, Terry Fenning, Del Fontaine, Dean Lundy, Terry Brimson, John Howard, Mischa Van Duuren and Colin Ferris.

RESULTS
The competitions on the day took place in very hot conditions and resulted in success for the following schools:

The tournament's primary trophy the Walcot Cup went to Glenbrook Primary of Clapham Park who beat St Bernadette's Roman Catholic Junior School also of Clapham Park 2-1 in the final. Nico Thongivay scored first for Glenbrook, Requaan Russell equalised for St Bernadette's before Shane Francis clinched the cup with a fine strike in the second half. The game was a credit to the schools and the League and came at the end of a long tiring day on which the finalists played seven games to get to the final.

The Newcomen Collett Shield competition was won by Allen Edwards Primary of Stockwell beating the 2006 Shield winners Victory Primary of Elephant and Castle 3-0 in the final with goals from Arzan Kamara, Justus Beyode and Denzel Gaisie.

The Chris Autos Plate was won by Oliver Goldsmith Primary of Camberwell who proved too strong for Walnut Tree Walk Primary of Vauxhall in their final. Star of the game was Joseph Rojas who scored four of Oliver Goldsmith's six goals.

Councillor John Whelan a local ward councillor on Lambeth Council presented the trophies to the winning schools and individual medals to all the finalists.

Players from all twenty participating schools received their commemorative T shirts as always which we hope will help them to remember the day fondly. As usual all players and supporters had a great day and behaved in an exemplary manner as ambassadors for their schools and communities.

FINALLY
The tournament was the result of months of hard work from the volunteer organisers and special thanks must go to (in no particular order); Sybella Walter, Val Martin, Arthur Williams, Heather Baskerville, Paul Thomas, Duncan Green, Graham Lane, Garry Turnbull, Marilyn Rogers, Debbie Postgate, Sally Cornforth, David Bedingfield, Matthew Griffin and Chris Van Duuren, without whose efforts there would be no tournament.

The organisers would also like to express their gratitude to the London South Bank University and the ground staff for the hire and use of the wonderful facilities at their sports ground in Dulwich. In particular Andy, Steve and John for their cooperation over the use of the playing area and Sharon for the catering on the day.