One of our biggest events of the year took place last Friday at Tooting and Mitcham FC. 33 teams from 30 schools gathered for the Best Team Borough Football Borough Championships. It was great to see such an amazing atmosphere with over 300 children excited to show off their Football skills and compete for the Borough Trophy.
All teams were split into 8 groups, with the top 2 teams in each group progressing to the knockout rounds. Despite some high level play and some groups being decided by goal difference unfortunately, All Saints, Cranmer, Lonesome, Harris Primary, William Morris, Wimbledon Chase B, St. Thomas OC, Liberty, Abbotsbury, SSPP, Holy Trinity B, West Wimbledon, The Sherwood, Morden, Malmesbury and St. Teresa’s B and Garfield were eliminated at the group stages. Despite not qualifying, they showed great resilience in the afternoon to bounce back and play some excellent football in their 4 friendly matches.
The children had to raise their level again for the last 16 and quarter-finals. After some tight games and unfortunately several penalty shootouts, Dundonald, Hollymount, St. John Fisher, Poplar, Hatfeild, St. Teresa’s, Pelham, Wimbledon Park, Holy Trinity, Bond, Bishop Gilpin and Merton Park were knocked out.
This left Hillcross, Wimbledon Chase, St. Mary’s and Aragon as our semi-finalists. Hillcross and Aragon were eliminated in 2 close semi-finals. Hillcross would go on to win the Bronze Medal match so congratulations to them.
The final between Wimbledon Chase and St. Mary’s was an exciting match. St. Mary’s took and early lead and were looking good until the last few moments. A close range header gave Wimbledon Chase their equaliser, before a fantastic long range strike that flew into the top corner gave them a 2-1 lead which they held onto until the final whistle. St. Mary’s should be praised for their quality throughout the day.
Well done to Wimbledon Chase, our Borough champions and Hollymount Primary who were voted our refspect winners!