Yorkshire dominate first ever FA National Futsal Championships

An exhilarating final between Sheffield Hallam and Thomas Rotherham College concluded the first ever FA National Futsal Championships held at the Army Physical Training Centre, Aldershot, on Sunday July 6.

Twelve teams gathered to contest these finals having qualified from six regional competitions – in Sheffield, Pendle, Wirral, London, Cheltenham and Grimsby. An invitation was also extended to an Army team, as the Army Football Association have expressed their desire to promote the game in the Armed Services, particularly as they have many indoor facilities which are suitable for Futsal.

Futsal in England has until this year been a game, played in a few ‘hot spots’ with teams having to travel to European Tournaments to experience high level competition. However the FA has over the last nine months sought to provide some support to a sport that is relatively unknown in England but is a huge game in many other parts of the world. 110 nations have registered for the next FIFA World Cup in Chinese Taipei in 2004 and there are thriving professional leagues in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Russia.

The development of new competitions in London, Sheffield and Cheltenham as well as the interest of the Army is an encouraging sign as was the participation of the first ever England Futsal team in the KL World Fives competition in Malaysia, last month.

A team of referees was assembled for the competition from the qualifying competitions in Sheffield, Grimsby and the Wirral and was led by Patrick Willemarck a FIFA official from the Belgian Football Federation.

It was clear from the outset that there were a number of teams with the ability to win the competition. Pre Tournament favourites were Tranmere Victoria, who will next month play in a qualifying round of the UEFA Futsal Cup Competition against Romanian Club, AS Odorhieu Secuiesc. The ‘Vics’ prepared for this competition by working with Nico Spreij, the former Coach of the Dutch National Team. However their status has made them the team to beat and with the prospect of qualification for the 2004/05 UEFA Cup as an incentive for the winner, matches were keenly contested.

The competition was organised into two pools of six teams, with the top two teams in each league, qualifying for the Semi Finals.

FA National Championship 2003 Group A

Team -------------------------P-W-D-L-F---A---D-Pt

Hallam (Sheffield) -----------5-4-1-0-26--9--17-13
Springfield ------------------5-3-1-1-25-16---9-10
All Stars (Grimsby) ----------5-3-0-2-19-11---8--9
Army -------------------------5-2-0-3--9-13-(-4)-6
Tranmere Victoria/B (Wirral) -5-2-0-3--6-10-(-4)-6
Cotswold Cobras --------------5-0-0-5--6-32(-26)-0


FA National Championship 2003 Group B

Team -------------------------P-W-D-L-F---A---D-Pt

Thomas Rotherham (Rotherham) -5-4-0-1-23-10--13-12
Tranmere Victoria ------------5-4-0-1-19--8--11-12
Santos (Pendle Lancs) --------5-4-0-1-20-12---8-12
Caistor Blue Crest (Grimsby)--5-1-1-3--7-19(-12)-4
Forest -----------------------5-1-0-4--6-18(-12)-3
London FC --------------------5-0-1-4--5-13-(-8)-1


Sheffield Hallam in Group ‘A’ quickly demonstrated that they had assembled a strong squad and were benefiting from the management of Jon Gray Assistant Coach to the England Team at the KL World Fives. Group ‘B’ was a much tenser affair with qualification coming down to goal difference in the final match. Thomas Rotherham College, faced with the need to score seven goals to qualify above Santos, duely scored eleven against Caistor Blue Crest of Grimsby. Eight goals were scored by the outstanding Ben Walker, which along with consistent excellence in nearly every game, earned him, ‘Player of the Tournament’ status.

The semi finals saw Tranmere Victoria take on Sheffield Hallam and Thomas Rotherham College contend with Springfield. Both semis were keenly contested with Sheffield edging out Tranmere 5-4 despite another inspired performance by Denis Mahorjan of the ‘Vics’. The students of Thomas Rotherham emerged as 2-1 victors over Springfield. Springfield however, deserve special mention as newcomers to the sport of Futsal. They played extremely well and will prove to be a significant threat to more established Futsal teams in future competitions.

The final was an all Yorkshire affair and proved to be an extraordinary match. The young legs of Thomas Rotherham quickly raced to a 5-1 lead against a tiring Sheffield team who had clearly exhausted themselves in their semi final victory over Tranmere Victoria. Half time saw Sheffield Coach, Jon Gray deliver a ‘paint stripping’ team talk and this plus a couple of early goals created the momentum which saw Sheffield finally overall Rotherham 6-5.

Sheffield captain and England International Phil Smith lifted the trophy on behalf of his ecstatic team-mates and confirmed a domestic shift in power from Liverpool to Sheffield. The task for this promising Sheffield team now is to continue to improve and prepare themselves as England’s representatives in the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup.