BBS VI Football League - League Tournament 3
Telford - Saturday 12 January 2008
The BBS VI Football League reconvened after the Christmas break for the first of two visits to the excellent ‘Telford Dome’ Futsal facility. After the traditional exchange of New Year pleasantries the real business of the day got underway at 12 o’clock and what a ‘battle’ - in every sense of the word – was in store!
Division One
West Bromwich Albion ‘A’ began the new year with a healthy 7 point lead at the top of our 1st division with Inter Cosmos and Loughborough Lions ‘A’ sharing second place with RNC ‘A’ and Loughborough Lions ‘B’ by no means out of contention. A lot has been made of how well matched the teams in the top division of VI football are this year, but if ever a day were to prove it!
Of the 10 fixtures played 8 were decided by a single goal with the lead often changing several times during the course of a game. The Inter Cosmos, West Brom, Loughborough and RNC coaches spent a frantic day tearing their hair out (those who still have any) as they watched their teams take the lead, ‘throw it away’, fight back – before doing it all again in their next match!
West Brom had a difficult day as league leaders, losing their two games against their closest rivals in Inter Cosmos and Loughborough Lions ‘A’. Inter Cosmos struggled to capitalize fully on their result against the league leaders with points dropped against Loughborough Lions ‘A’ and a dramatic 4 all result against the impressive RNC ‘A’ side on the day. Inter Cosmos and RNC would both finish the day with a respectable 7 points after RNC also managed to ‘do the double’ over the two Loughborough sides. Indeed, it was RNC’s result late in the day against Loughborough ‘A’ that really grabbed the headlines. Loughborough ‘A’ had battled hard all day and earned close but well deserved victories against their two closest rivals and their own ‘B’ team. Their final game was against RNC ‘A’ who had been playing well all day, but all expected Loughborough to ease to victory and take a maximum 12 points from the day. As they took a 2 goal lead early on all seemed to be going to plan. Then came half time. Both teams gathered their thoughts – Loughborough determined to see the game out and RNC, after some ‘words of encouragement’ from their mild mannered coach, equally determined to get back in the game. The second half kicked off with an early goal for RNC and as they continued to throw caution to the wind they grabbed an equalizer. With still a few minutes to go the game wasn’t over yet, but it was still probably Loughborough who looked the more likely winners as they renewed their efforts to pinch the winning goal. However, as RNC played the ball out to their left wing in the closing seconds the shot came in destined for the bottom corner of the Loughborough goal but probably lacking enough pace to trouble the keeper. Only the Loughborough keeper knows how it slipped through his grasp, but RNC didn’t care! A dramatic end to an excellent game!
The day ended with West Bromwich Albion ‘A’ still leading the table, but now just 4 points ahead of Loughborough ‘A’ and 6 clear of Inter Cosmos. Probably one of the most competitive days in the history of the VI league....roll on February!!
Division Two
Given the exploits in the first division how could division two match their illustrious colleagues for entertainment? Well, as we all know, there’s more than one way to skin a cat! The majority of division two games proceeded to early season form with South Shields, QAC and Tottenham proving to be the dominant forces in this division and West Bromwich Albion ‘B’ struggling to accumulate points. The teams from Swansea and RNC ‘B’ then fall in the middle taking points off one another (and West Brom ‘B’) but struggling to make an impression on the sides above them aside from an impressive 4-1 victory against Tottenham in the final game of the day.
The day will however be remembered, unfortunately, for the somewhat unsavoury goings on in the game between South Shields and the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. After an initial ‘physical’ but 50/50 challenge between two players the player from Tottenham then decided to take revenge for what he clearly felt was a foul by the South Shields player. As he clattered the SS player from behind he left the referee with no option than to produce the first red card of the VI season. However, it took some minutes for the referee to get the opportunity to brandish his card as players from both sides, and most disturbingly the coach from South Shields, then became embroiled in something of an altercation. When the red mist cleared the Tottenham player received his card of similar colour.
Although unsavoury this incident certainly proves, if there were any doubts, the passion and commitment at all levels of VI football, but we certainly hope there will be no repeat performances at any future events!