The inaugural Stephen Carey Memorial Shield 5-a-side tournament has been hailed a massive success not only for the funds and awareness raised during the event but also for the turnout and the spirit in which the tournament was played.
A total of 27 teams, many featured below, entered the competition and despite a few late withdrawals over a hundred players packed into the Willowburn Sports Centre in Alnwick to kick-off the event.
The quality of the teams and individuals varied and the early rounds saw some impressive scoring as teams edged their way through to the latter stages of the competition.
Three hours into proceedings and we were down to the quarter final stages and Sir John Hall had joined the crowd enjoying good banter with all involved with the event.
The semi-finals saw the footballing level step up with two cracking games full of passion and power play. The final didn’t disappoint with the early minutes proving tense for both sides as they prodded and poked each others defenses. Unfortunately there can be only one victor and a commanding second half performance saw “Simpliciter Optimum” (translates as Simply The Best) take the plaudits in an excellent tournament.
Stephen Carey’s mother Joy Bowman led the presentations assisted by Sir John Hall to rapturous applause from all the teams and early indications are that the event has raised over £650 which pushes the fund total in excess of £3,000.
