Uxbridge Amblers Walking Football Tournament 2016
The inaugural Uxbridge Amblers Walking Football Festival took place at the end of May and we welcomed eight clubs to join the Amblers Blue, Yellow and White teams. We were extremely pleased to welcome WF Estria to the Amblerdome all the way from Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
The format of the day would see two groups playing in a round robin league with the top two in each group playing off for the Graham Barnes Trophy. Third and fourth places would play off for the Vase, with the remaining three teams playing off for the Plate.
The Uxbridge Amblers were split into three teams:
Blues: Dave Gentry, Wayne Little, Mick Harvey, Ray Crook, Dave Walsh, Dave Ball, Jimmy Hook, Colin Dennison, Neil Robson, Maurice O’Connell.
Yellows: Harry Day, Steve Johnson, Dave Richardson, Barry Warner, Barry Morris, Mel Craig, Alan Mathieson, Ken Wood, Roy Shields, Barry Wynn, Pete Dean.
Whites: Colin Beckhurst, Alan Pines, George White, John Pender, Alan Godleman, Jim Prior, Lakhi Nijjar, Chris Tiretis, Frank Nicholson, Paul Vinton, Doug Douglas.
Special mention also for Peter Troth and Pat Moorhouse who guested for other teams who were short of players.
The first round of matches included Amblers Blue against Wealdstone Wanderers in Group A and Amblers White against RIP wfc and Amblers Yellow versus Kent United in Group B.
Eight a side meant space would be at a premium and goals would be hard to come by.
This was proved correct as no goals were scored in the whole first round of 6 matches across both groups. In the remaining Group A matches, Amblers Blues played Feltham, WF Estria and Bexley Boys. In Group B, Whites and Yellows competed against European Just Play and Cherwell Strollers before playing each other in their final game.
Following the group games and subsequent semi-finals, Wealdstone Wanderers beat Bexley Boys after penalties in the main final to become the first winners of the Graham Barnes Trophy, which was presented by his brother Martin.
Amblers Blues were beaten on penalties in their main trophy semi-final.
And so, up to the clubhouse for the after tournament festivities. These included music (thanks to Colin for upping the tempo), singing, dancing (led by the Dutch), food and drinks with our friends from England and the Netherlands.
A special presentation was made by Mel, on behalf of the Amblers, to Bunker on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
The first Uxbridge Amblers tournament was a great success and comments from the others teams after the event endorse that. Thanks to the committee along with Andy Perrin from Middlesex FA for their hard work in organising it. We hope to see all the teams back again next year. Let’s win our trophy back!
Amblers Yellows beat Amblers Whites and WF Estria to win the Plate ahead of the Whites who were runners up after beating the Dutch on penalties to get the silver medals.
Amblers Blue won the Plate by beating both Euro Fair Play and Barnet RIP on penalties.
Ken Wood - Ambler since August 2015. Life long Watford fan
