Chilton Juniors FC rounded off their very successful season by hosting a football tournament at Chilton Academy. Two teams from Chilton, made up of the soon to be U12’s and U13’s, competed with six other teams from the region. The tournament was kindly sponsored by Bellwood’s Windows.
The tournament began with league-based group stages followed by a knockout stage, with teams divided into the ‘Champions League’ or ‘Europa League’ by final group positions. After a hard fought tournament, the winners of the Champions League were North East Skills FC from Sunderland who won on penalties against a good Westerhope team from Newcastle – the first Tyne-Wear derby in a while.
In the battle for the Europa League trophy the two Chilton teams were drawn to meet at the semi-final knockout stage, which guaranteed one Chilton team in the final. It was a close game, ending 1-1, and had to be settled on penalties. The victorious U13’s team went on to play Witton Park in the Europa League final, but unfortunately were beaten in a close game.
A great day was had by all the young footballers and their families and friends. The weather played its part with conditions that would have graced a Brazil home game. Hosting this tournament was a first for Chilton Juniors FC, although they have been highly successful in tournaments hosted by other organisations. It proved a fantastic success, made possible by the hard work of the Chilton coaches and management in setting everything up and the support of Chilton Academy.
Chilton Juniors would like to thank all the coaches that brought their teams, the players, the referees, the Chilton Mayor, Pearl Malpas for handing out the medals, Anne Tait, David Bellwood for sponsoring the whole event and all the people that came and made it a success, plus, an extra special thank you to the lovely ladies who worked hard all day in a very hot kitchen keeping the players and spectators well fed and watered.
Chilton is already looking forward to the next one, which they hope will be an even bigger event.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
