Fundraising Football Tournament at Staplegrove FC
Wednesday 24th August, 2022
On Sunday 21st August, we held our very first fundraising football tournament at Staplegrove FC. Thanks so much to Mike Arscott and the team at Staplegrove FC for a fun and successful Tournament. I know Mike was very nervous before the event as it was their first, but it ran smoothly and to time.
The parents and coaches commented on the great atmosphere and how the tournament was very friendly and not too big. Many of the Teams have already said they would like to return next year, which is a massive compliment to the hard work of Staplegrove FC in setting it all up. Thanks to all the Teams who came on the day, and to those volunteers who helped to make it so successful.
The players seemed to really enjoy the day - despite the bouncy castle being cancelled last minute because of wet weather in the morning - I think the free sweets helped to soften the blow a little!
The Tournament was for the Under 11 and Under 12 age groups as of the coming 2022/23 season with both year groups running under the same format. There was a group stage with 4 teams per group and two groups per year. The top two teams progressed to the Cup Competition and the bottom two teams progressed to a Shield Competition to keep all the players involved throughout the tournament.
The Tournament was for the Under 11 and Under 12 age groups as of the coming 2022/23 season with both year groups running under the same format. There was a group stage with 4 teams per group and two groups per year. The top two teams progressed to the Cup Competition and the bottom two teams progressed to a Shield Competition to keep all the players involved throughout the tournament.
Under 11 Cup Winners were Staplegrove Sinners, who saw off their partner team Staplegrove Saints in the semi-finals, before winning after a hard-fought final that resulted in a tense and gripping penalty shoot-out. This went to a sudden death situation seeing Bishop Lydeard Pumas taking the runners up spot.
Under 11 Shield competition saw Tone Youth FC take the trophy whilst Weymouth FC finished Runners up.
Under 12 Cup Winners were Staplegrove Scorchers FC taking on a strong Nether Stowey FC with a 0-0 draw. Again, a tense and thrilling penalty shoot out followed.
Under 12 Shield Winners were Staplegrove Colts FC against Tone Youth Wasps FC, which was again a tense affair with a 0-0 draw. The penalty shootout that followed saw a resilient Staplegrove goalkeeper deploy gamesmanship above his years going nose to nose with the penalty takers on the penalty spot before retreating to his goal.
The food and the raffle were also well received. Thanks to everyone for being so generous and buying so many tickets on the day. Despite football tickets and hampers being available to win, the most sought-after prize was a Henry Hoover! There were a lot of disappointed people when their number did not come up! Surprising, maybe next time we will just ask Numatics for 20 free hoovers and forget the hampers and other stuff!
The money we raised is enough to deliver our Lloyds Story Anti-Violence Assembly to 2000 young people in schools, so really thank you so much again.
Many people we spoke to either knew Lloyd directly or those involved on that night in question, and many more remembered the event. It seems still very much in the consciousness of people in Taunton and the surrounding area. It was a great opportunity to remind people of the work we are doing at Stand Against Violence in trying to prevent this happening to other young people. During organising the event and on the day the goodwill that we have received has been so heart-warming and such motivator to keep up the hard working and to keep pushing forward . People we spoke to really believe in what we are doing and its importance.
Thanks again for Staplegrove FC for supporting us and I hope we can continue this partnership in the years to come.
And a massive thank you to all our sponsors to.
Innatus Digital Ltd
Access Performance Solutions Ltd
OD Talent Solutions
The Foot & Gait Clinic
Somerset Skills & Learning CIC
Okee Ltd
Amos Ellis Consulting
Blaise Commercial Finance Limited
Allica Bank Ltd
Character Graphics Ltd – printing all the programmes for free.
Introtweet LTD
Together we managed to raise over £2000, which is absolutely fantastic, and like I said earlier, this is enough to deliver our Lloyds Story Anti-Violence Assembly to 2000 young people in schools.
Once again, thank you to everyone involved, it was such a successful day.
Claire and the team at Stand Against Violence
