The first ever ABFA 5-a-side Football Tournament, held at Bisham Abbey on the 8th July 2011, proved to be a great success. Despite the day starting out very wet, 30 teams made up from ABFA members and affiliates braved the conditions and donned their kits ready to show off their footballing abilities!
The tournament started with 6 groups of 5 teams, competing on a league basis to decide which of the two knockout competitions they would compete in. The top 15 teams would play for the ABFA Cup, sponsored by RSM Tenon, with the remaining 15 teams competing for the ABFA Plate Competition.
Luckily the rain stopped just in time for the start of play. The group stages saw some promising performances from a number of teams. RBSIF 2 and RSM Tenon were undefeated through Group A, scoring 10 points each. BDO and Ultimate topped group B with 8 points each. Group C was the toughest group, with 3 teams tied at the top on points and goal difference. Smith & Williamson and PwC had to take a penalty shoot out to decide who went through to which cup. PwC won and progressed onto the ABFA Cup.
Group D was won by Santander in impressive fashion, while Squire Sanders Hammonds were the only team through with a 100% record in Group E. Barclays Sky Blues finished in second place having won all their other games. DLA Piper and Aldermore topped group F with 9 points each.
ABFA Plate Competition
The afternoon knock out stages started with some interesting draws. Having failed to gain a point in the league stages, both SME FC and LTSBCF 1 were obviously saving themselves for the knockout stages, knocking out HSBC Caledonian and Bibby Braves respectively. Centric Comical Footballers, who had lost their first two games also started to show their class, finally ending Fortis's hopes.
The quarter finals saw MCR, Centric, SME and Smith & Williamson progress to the semis. The tournament ended with MCR beating Smith & Williamson in the final. Congratulations to MCR, who were awarded the trophy by Alex Hilton Baird.
ABFA Cup Competition
The knock stages again proved very interesting, with some great games. RBSIF 1 lost out to Barclays Sky Blues in a penalty shoot out, and BDO Stoya Bucharest beat DLA Piper 5-4 on penalties. GE knocked out LTSBCF 2 and Aldermore beat Ultim8 both to progress to the quarter finals.
The quarter finals saw GE beat PwC, BDO ended RBSIF 2's hopes, while Squire Sanders Hammonds and RSM Tenon, two of the most promising teams from the group stages, were on a collision course to meet in the semis, having ended Barclays Sky Blues and Aldermores' hopes respectively.
In the semi finals, RSM managed to see off SSH's threat, while GE ended BDO's hopes. This left the final, and unsurprisingly the trophy went to RSM Tenon despite a hearty effort from GE. Congratulations to both teams, especially RSM Tenon, who collected the (RSM Tenon sponsored) trophy from their very own Carl Jackson.
The ABFA would like to thank the sponsors Hilton Baird and RSM Tenon for their generous support, and all of the players who turned up and put a lot of effort into making the day thoroughly enjoyable. The day was played in a very sporting manner, even the referees commented on what a nice bunch of players (I believe there was only one yellow card!!!) you were. A credit to the industry.
To view photos of this event, please click here.