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This year's
annual Champions Cup tournament will be held at Goals Soccer Centre in Dartford
on Sunday 16 May.
The tournament is a regional football tournament run in collaboration with
Maidstone Rangers FC who form part of Maidstone United FC and the Kent County
FA.
The Champions Cup is open to players with disabilities from across the South East region and is the climax event of the football season in Kent. Last year’s event was themed on Euro 2008 and each team received T-shirts of the country they had been chosen to represent. Last year’s tournament proved to be a great success with over 150 players from Kent, London, Sussex, Essex and Hertfordshire participating.
The teams competing in last year's tournament were as follows:
Under 11’s
Gillingham FC – Kent
Maidstone Raiders FC (Blue) – Kent
Maidstone Raiders FC (Yellow) – Kent
Invicta Valiants FC – Kent
Swanscombe Tigers FC – Kent
Hambro Colts FC - Essex
Charlton Athletic FC -London
Under 16’s Group A
Maidstone Raiders FC (Gold)–
Kent
Harvesters Inclusive FC – Hertfordshire
St Margaret All Stars FC – Kent
Charlton Athletic FC (A) – London
Swanscombe Tigers FC(Yellow) – Kent
Invicta Valiants FC -Kent
Under 16's Group B
Maidstone Raiders FC (Green) –
Kent
Swanscombe Tigers FC (Black)- Kent
Hambro Colts FC - Essex
Charlton Athletic FC (B)– London
1066 Specials (Sussex)
With the gazebos erected and all the teams having made thier camps for the day, the group stages got off to a great start with everyone eager to make an impression. There was some healthy competition displayed but the primary focus was on everyone taking part and enjoying their football.
With the group stages completed on time, the players had a break from the heat of the day to regroup before the finals stage. There were three finals played; one for the under 11's Cup, one for the title of the U16's Plate and one for the under 16's Cup competition.
All the teams in the finals were evenly matched and everyone battled hard to seek the elusive winning goal. Alas as the temperature rose though so did the tension with all three finals going to a nail biting penalty shoot out.
The teams involved in the Under 11's and Under 16's Plate competition were unable to break the deadlock during the first set of penalites so the winners were decided by sudden death penalties. Credit must go to all the players who bravely stepped up to take the penalties.
The Under 16's Cup competition
saw Maidstone United win 4 - 0 against Charlton Athletic FC (B).
Below is a list of this year’s winners:
U11’s Winners
Gillingham FC beat Maidstone Raiders FC Yellow
U16’s Plate Winners
Charlton Athletic FC (A) beat Swansombe Tigers FC-Yellow
U16’s Cup Winners
Maidstone Raiders FC (Gold) beat Charlton Athletic FC (B)
Congratulations to all the winners and runner ups who received trophies and and to everyone else who received goody bags for being part of a fantastic day.
It was also great to see so many parents and supporters enjoying the sunshine and cheering on their teams. Football Development Officer, Stephanie Gadd said ‘It was great to see so many people enjoying the day and playing some great football. Disability football has really taken off in Kent in recent years and we at the KCFA are working hard to create more opportunities like this so the game can be enjoyed by everyone’.
Local photography company, DE Photo were on hand to capture the day’s action and all the pictures can be viewed by clicking here.
A final thank you to all the volunteers and referees for helping make the event so successful, and for Goals Soccer Centre for kindly hosting the event.
For further details on Disability Football please contact Stephanie.gadd@kentfa.com.