That Was The Weekend That Was

Well, Fans’ Parliament has been and gone, and for those of you who came along to any or all of our events, we hope that you had a good time. Our livers were pickled on the pub-crawl, our brains were stretched in our breakout sessions and debates, our sides were split in the FSF talk-in, and our limbs are still aching from the five-a-side footie. In the FSF office we’re just about recovering from three days of non-stop action, and we’re busy pulling together all the information from across the weekend behind the scenes.

When we have the full details on all the discussions from our breakout sessions from Fans’ Parliament itself you’ll be the first to know, but in the meantime, we’ve got a report on Sunday’s FSF Fans’ Fives, in association with Show Racism the Red Card.

"Teams from FC Business and Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) joined local teams, including an FSF Northeast Division side, and the Supporters’ Trust at Reading (STAR) in an enjoyable day’s football at Powerleague in Gateshead on Sunday 21st June to contest the FSF Fans’ Fives. The tournament represented the climax to our Fans’ Parliament weekend activities, and special thanks go to all the lads who turned out, particularly those from STAR who travelled the length of the country to compete.

With a couple of ex-pros on display the standard was generally very high, and the morning session saw some keenly contested matches, all played in a fair and friendly atmosphere.

FC Business took the honours in Group 1 ahead of local side South Street, and SRtRC topped Group 2 ahead of Azure Design. The top two pairs were to face off in the main competition, while the 3rd and 4th place sides battled it out in the Plate competition.

In the Plate, Seahorse FC and Redhouse despatched STAR and FSF Northeast respectively to set up their own final, with Seahorse FC running out 6-4 winners to come fifth overall on the day. Sadly for the FSF NE and the long-travelling STAR boys, they were left to battle it out for the dreaded ‘wooden-spoon’. With probably the biggest crowd of the day, an end-to-end match ended with a final score of 6-6, and so it went to penalties. FSF Northeast eventually held their nerve in the shoot-out.

In the main competition there was something of a turn-up for the books, with the group winners (who had both won all three of their matches in the morning session) suffering defeat – Azure toppled FC Business 6-1, and South St dumped out SRtRC 7-3. Legs were starting to get increasingly tired by the end of the afternoon, and the remaining games wouldn’t live up to the higher standards set earlier in the day. SRtRC triumphed in the third-place playoff 3-0, and so the stage was set for the final.

Azure made the benefit of their fresher legs count, using their substitutes wisely against a South St side who had all played every minute of every game on the day, and came out on top with a 4-2 win.

We’d like to say a huge well done to all the teams, and a big thank you everyone who came along and supported the event, to the referees, and to the organisers from Show Racism the Red Card."

Winners: Azure Design
Runners-up: South St
3rd place: Show Racism the Red Card
4th place: FC Business
5th place: Seahorse FC
6th place: Redhouse
7th place: FSF Northeast
8th place: Supporters’ Trust at Reading