Saturday 19th December 2015 @ Birmingham Futsal Centre

BPSFA Futsal Championship: Winners

 

Team A: Rob, Sam, Kane, Rio, Cameron P and Kye

Team B: Gerard, Taylor, Cameron E, Tion, Samim and Diago

 

Scorers:

Kane – 10 goals

Samim – 9 goals

Rio – 7 goals

Taylor – 3 goals

Cameron P – 4 goals

Sam – 2 goals

 

Scores:

Group Stage

Team A 7 – 1 East Birmingham

Team A 6 – 1 Harborne B

Team A 3 -4  Sutton Coldfield B

Team B 2 – 3 Aston

Team B 6 – 1 Harborne A

Team B 1 – 0 Sutton Coldfield A

Semi-finals

Team A 4 – 1 Aston

Team B 4 – 1 Sutton Coldfield A

Final

Erdington and Saltley A 4 – 1 Erdington and Saltley B

 

The first half of this season has been full of many highs, but also a few lows too. Prior to Saturday we had competed in five competitions, winning two of them and losing out narrowly in the finals of the other three. In fact our last three fixtures were all for silverware and all against Sutton Coldfield. Unfortunately we lost all three of them. However the words of the greatest basketball player in the history of the world spring to mind when I think about this group of boys:

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. –Michael Jordan

As well as this ancient Japanese proverb:

“Fall seven times and stand up eight.”

 

Perseverance is so important in sport and this set of incredibly talented boys showed it in abundance on the weekend by dominating the BPSFA Futsal Championship and monopolising the final.

The B Team started off their campaign slowly, losing 3-2 to Aston after fighting back from two goals down to level the game at 2-2, before conceding a third goal. However in their next game they bounced back in style, putting six goals past Harborne. In their final game they knew only a win would get them out of the group stage. Working their socks off against arguably the favourites of the tournament Sutton Coldfield, the lads kept their first clean sheet of the tournament and capitalised thanks to a Samim goal.

The A Team started off the day like a steam train, putting seven past East Birmingham and another six past Harborne, conceding only two in the process. Already safely through the group, the lads squared up against Sutton Coldfield determined to break the Sutton hoodoo. Nevertheless a game packed full of goals went against us and we lost 4-3.

In the semi-finals both teams were up against opponents who has beat the other Ton team during the group stages. The A Team took on Aston, who had beat the B Team, whilst the B Team took on conquerors of the A Team, Sutton Coldfield.

With three of the starting five under 10s, the B Team started off their semi-final as the underdogs. However after taking an early lead they never looked back and stormed into a 4-0 lead before conceding with the final kick of the game. A truly stunning performance. One that I’ll never forget.

Meanwhile the A Team were putting on a great show of their own, putting four foals past Aston and controlling the game throughout.

That meant it was an all Ton final. It was a strange affair as we didn’t really know who to support, so chose to stay out of it and leave the lads to it! The A Team ended the game as 4-1 winners and with it came the title. However the most pleasing thing about the final was the fact the the A Team lads shared the victory with the B Team players and the sense of unity was something special.

A great way to end 2015!

 

Man of the Match:

A Team: Kane – ten goals and a herculean performance from start to finish.

B Team: Samim – nine goals and a phenomenal performance from the Birches Green wizard.

 

Up The Ton!