"The Rebels celebrate lifting the One Love seven-a-side tournament trophy after beating Five One 3-1 in Sunday's Final" photo credit: K. Dawson

Patrick Harrigan, Ag. Director of the dept. of Youth Affairs and Sports was on hand to present the trophies. photo credit: K.Dawson

Colin Olivierre accepted the trophy for most goals scored during the tournament from Mr. Harrigan photo crdit: K.Dawson

An exciting and nerve wracking Championship game ended all square at 1-1, so the large crowd on the field at the Alexandrina Maduro Primary School field were further entertained by a Shoot Out. This entailed the players taking turns to shoot from the half way line toward the empty goal in an attempt to score. 

Danny Joseph and Noel Isaacs kept their cool amidst the heat to claim the Championship for the Rebels.

To reach the final, the Rebels had to suffer similar pressure following a deadlocked semi final against the Haitian team. Again Joseph kept his wits about him to slot home despite the bumpy surface. Progression was assured when following misses from both Isaacs and Anderson Cummings, who was playing for the Haitians as a late replacement, Atiba Creese fired home with aplomb. 

The other semi final saw Five One overcome a spirited display from the Untouchables to secure a 2-0 win with goals in both halves from Ranalie Caines.

The first half was sparked into life when Gregory James finished a 3-man move with a low drive that richoted off the post and away from danger. Down the other end, Five One inspired by Colin Green opened the scoring with a dubious goal after play was allowed to continue when it seemed the ball had gone out of play. The resulting cross was met perfectly though by Caines who fired home on the volley from close range. 

In the second half the Untouchables made a valiant attempt to get back into the game, but as their players tired under the sun, gaps were being left at the back. Five One used their substitutes wisely and then brought back on the likes of Green and Fitzroy Daley to exploit those gaps and finish the game with another deadly strike from Caines. 

Co- organizer Marc Savage explained the reason behind the fun raising event “after the league had finished the guys said they wanted to keep playing, so we decided to arrange the seven a side competition” he commented. 

Originally 8 teams had entered and the tournament had run very smoothly with a couple of minor altercations that can only be expected in the heat and passion of the game. 

Savage was happy with the Tournament and said it had been very successful. “After this we will see if there is enough interest to do another one,” added Savage ”we would certainly have no problem doing it.” 

The altercation had come after players from the Islanders decided to pull out following a few losses and as Savage explained “one team dropped [out], some players from the Islanders decided to pull out despite still having a chance to progress to the finals day.” 

Colin Olivierre was the tournament’s top scorer, which is no mean feat given the small goals and the fact that teams were allowed to have rotating “goal tenders”. 

The final was moved to Baughers Bay after most games had been staged at the Althea Scatliffe Primary School field. 

Patrick Harrigan, Acting Director at the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, was on hand to present the Trophies to the winning team.