Shropshire County Football Association hosted the regional event for this small sided version of the beautiful game at the Shrewsbury Sports Village. This was the first tournament of its kind in the country and its excellent organisation and delivery has resulted in the Vice Chairman of the FA Small Sided game committee (Brian Adshead) announcing the Sports Village as hosts for the 2009 Midlands Regional Futsal League.
Organised by the Shropshire FA Football Development Team, the all day event saw teams from all five counties of the West Midlands, including Shropshire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham and Worcestershire competing at both Adult and Junior level.
The day kicked off with the U12 Boys Tournament followed by the U12 Girls. This gave the teams a taste of competition within the sport at regional level. Worcestershire was represented by Kidderminster Lions U12 Boys and Droitwich Spa U12 Girls.
In their first taste of competitive futsal, Kidderminster Lions Boys played exceptionally well remaining undefeated throughout the competition to become West Midlands Champions with Bartestree FC from Hereford coming runners-up.
In the U12 Girls Tournament, Wolstanton High School from Staffordshire beat off the competition to come in first place with Madeley Sports just pipping Droitwich Spa Girls to the runners-up position. Again, in their first experience of competitive futsal, Droitwich Girls performed brilliantly losing only one game throughout the tournament.
Worcestershire’s representatives in the Men’s Competition were Kidderminster Lions. Following their semi-final defeat in the Worcestershire FA Men’s Futsal League 2008, Kidderminster Lions drafted in a few extra players for this competition, including Worcestershire FA’s very own Matt Jones. After a tough first game against competition winners The New Saints, Lions grew in strength drawing against National Futsal League side Team Birmingham and beating teams from Staffordshire and Herefordshire, however they just missed out on the runners-up spot on goal difference to Team Birmingham.
Mick Murphy, Shropshire FA County Football Development Manager and The New Saints of Oswestry Futsal Club Manager commented:
‘It was great that each county was fully represented and the day was a huge success, we hope that this will be the first of many Futsal festivals between the counties. The Shropshire FA Development Team would like to thank everyone for taking part in what was a fantastic event. We’re also delighted that the festival has led to Shrewsbury Sports Village being given the opportunity to host the Regional League.’
This event was also used as an opportunity for 16 newly qualified Futsal referees to gain valuable practical experience. Also part of the refereeing team was England’s only FIFA Futsal Referee, Mark Birkett.