It was Welsh delight for the third year in a row at this year’s National Tournament, as MAN v FAT Swansea retained their title at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.
The Swans made it back to back tournament wins with a penalty shoot-out victory over fellow Welsh side Newport on a competitive and busy day in the Midlands.
72 teams and nearly 800 MAN v FAT players descended on the former training base of the England national team on the day before Gareth Southgate’s men took to the pitch in Berlin in the European Championships final.
For the MAN v FAT teams in the tournament, there was the guarantee of five group games to pit their wits against other clubs from around the country and, for the finalists, there would be 2.5 hours of football to contend with in the quest for silverware.
With MAN v FAT having launched a number of new clubs in the last couple of years, there were a host of MAN v FAT locations making their tournament debut, with the likes of Ashford, Abingdon and Stevenage making their first appearances at a national level.
Given the scale of this year’s tournament, there were 12 group games going on at any given time and the Lilleshall pitches rang out with sounds of encouragement and celebration as the group stages unfolded.
There was a break for lunch and refreshments as the qualifiers for the knockout stages were confirmed and the path to the final became clearer for the 32 teams that progressed to the afternoon.
The level of competition stepped up accordingly and the matches became tighter, with a number of the knockout games being decided by either a single goal or a penalty shootout.
Some big teams fell by the wayside, with the national XIs champions Preston and the highly polished Millwall sides being knocked out as the tournament reached its latter stages.
The semi-finals saw Newport take on West Brom and Swansea face Bishops Stortford, another side impressing on their tournament debut.
The Welsh sides prevailed and, in a closely fought final, the two teams couldn’t be separated as penalties were required to decide this year’s winners.
And, after an elongated shoot-out, watched by a vocal Stortford side, it was eventually Swansea who ensured the trophy would travel that bit further into Wales on Sunday evening.
Thanks to everyone who came along and made it a remarkable day.
SIGNED ENGLAND SHIRT & LOST PROPERTY
Congratulations to Desmond, who won the shirt signed by Terry Butcher and Paul Parker – we’ll be in touch! We raised nearly £200 for charity for that raffle.
We also have collected a range of lost property through the course of the day. If you think we may have something of yours, please drop us a line on events@manvfat.com.
