18th June, 2012

5 A Side Football Tournament 2012

The second ABFA 5-a-side Football Tournament, held at Bisham Abbey on the 31st May 2012, and sponsored by Hilton Baird, proved to be another great success. 17 teams made up from ABFA members and affiliates took part on what was a dry mild day: ideal footballing conditions.

With packed lunches and a barbeque as well deserved refreshments, medical staff on standby, and the addition of a massage team, laid on by Hilton Baird, everything was in place to help players get through what would be a tough but enjoyable day.

With last year’s winners, RSM Tenon, unable to attend the competition was thrown wide open. The morning session was run on a league basis, with teams split into 3 groups. The best 8 teams would qualify for the main ABFA Cup, with the next 8 teams entering the Plate Competition. One unlucky team would have to leave at this stage.

Group A, consisting of Hitachi, SME, Barclays A Team, GE, UHY and Bibby, was a close run group. In the latter stages, GE lost their final game to UHY, costing them a place in the Main Cup. Barclays and SME drew their final game, which meant an impressive Bibby won the group, with Barclays and SME also qualifying for the Main Cup. UHT, Hitachi and GE all qualified for the Plate.

Group B, consisting of HSBC, Lloyds, Fortis, Barclays B Team, PDT, and Hitachi’s 2nd team, was dominated by HSBC, winning all 5 of their games, without conceding a goal. Lloyds won their last game against Fortis, leaving them 2nd, leaving Fortis destined for the Plate. Barclays and PDT played a crucial final game to decide which team qualified for the Main Cup. Barclays scraped through with a 1-0 win. Unfortunately Hitachi made an early exit, mainly due to a poor result against the early favourites HSBC.

Group C, consisting of ABN Amro, Centric, State Securities, Squire Sanders and Ultimate proved to be the closest group of all, with 6 out of 10 games being drawn. Centric were the only unbeaten side in group C, but this left them 2nd, with one win and 3 draws, against State Securities’ 2 wins and a draw. Despite ABN Amro, Ultimate and Squire Sanders only losing one game each, the teams failed to qualify for the Main Cup, but all made it through to the Plate.

The Plate Competition

The Plate Competition proved to be a very competitive knockout, with all games being decided by only one goal, or penalty shootout. In the quarter finals, Ultimate and Squire Sanders both got through on penalties knocking out Hitachi and UHY respectively. While GE and PDT both reached the semis with 1-0 wins over ABN Amro and Fortis.

In the semis, an Ultimate and Squire Sanders tie had to be decided on penalties, with Ultimate again successful in reaching the final. GE reached the final with another close 1-0 win over PDT.

The final proved to be just as exciting, with Ultimate clinching a 1-0 victory. Congratulations to Ultimate.

ABFA Cup

The main Cup saw some very interesting games. Group A winners Bibby beat Centric 2-0 in the quarter finals, and Group B winners HSBC knocked out SME with a hard fought 3-0 victory. Barclays B Team knocked out State Securities with a 1-0 win, which left Lloyds and Barclays A Team to fight for the last semi final spot. This was decided after 10 penalties each, Lloyds scraped through to set up a semi final against another Barclays team.

Barclays B Team went on to win this semi final, knocking out Lloyds 2-1 in another tense thriller. The other semi was a clash of two very strong teams, with HSBC knocking out Bibby in the last minute with a 2-1 win. The final, which proved to be a fighting finish, with both teams giving their all, was won by Barclays with a great goal in the 2nd half deciding the competition. Congratulations to Barclays B Team.

A big thank you to the sponsors Hilton Baird for their kind and continuing support; to Alex and Gloria for organising the event and to the massage team who aided the recovery of aching limbs while at the same time raising hundreds of pounds for Hilton Baird’s chosen charity Macmillan Cancer Support.

And a particular thank you to all the players who turned up and put a lot of effort into making the day thoroughly enjoyable. With the referees commenting on what a nice bunch of players you were for the second year running it was a sporting triumph!

To view photos of this event, please click here.