Youngsters’ charitable goal

TALENTED young footballers turned out to lend a hand to charity last weekend at the Palm Association’s fundraiser at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club, supported by GulfWeekly.

In perfect climatic conditions on a surface to match, more than 300 local and expatriate children demonstrated that supporting those less fortunate can come to the fore in a competitive yet friendly tournament.

The management from Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain ensured the whole tournament was played in a spirit conducive to charity children’s football with coaches and parents entering into the ethos of the day. The event, coordinated by coach Andy Collins and his colleagues, was well organised, running to time with not an over-age player in sight.

Even in the midst of battle the Arsenal coaches ensured that the players knew exactly why they were there with constant reminders about the charity theme. Representatives from the Palm Association were even asked to talk about their projects while presenting the trophies.

On the pitch, in the oldest category, 16 teams entered with the children able to select their own teams unhindered by affiliations to schools or particular clubs or associations, although several local league teams were also invited to participate. 

The theme of friends playing together was reflected in the choice of some of the team names! Some adopted an imaginative Christmas theme including the Prancers, who contested a semi-final against the Dancers, and Santi’s Little Helpers.

Despite the age bands being narrow, the size of some of the players meant the younger players were slightly disadvantaged. However, the young team from Busaiteen rocked that trend with an assured display of neat football comprising numerous twists and flicks that left opposing defences floundering.

Another young team that stood out – and not just for the vibrancy of their shirts – was the team representing Harmony Jewels. While many could have played in the younger category tournament they unilaterally agreed to play in the older group as one of their contingent had celebrated his birthday days before, thereby rendering him ineligible. 

Standing together they took on all-comers, qualifying from the group stages only to fall against the losing finalists, Lady Fisher’s, despite a string of excellent saves from Colby Altman. They did have the consolation of a dogged goal from Stan Szecowka in the quarter-final stage.

In the group stages two teams statistically stood out. The Lady Fisher’s dominated their group. Built on the foundations of a firm defence led by Raef Tanner he was able to release Maxi Koeck and the fleet-footed Adam Shamma who seemed able to skip past opposition challenges at will, netting several times after completing mazy runs.

After a slow start and a nervy win against the younger team from Busaiteen, Hi found their feet, hitting eight in one match of only 10 minutes. Marshalled by the excellent Brad Lenard and Hasan Raza, their Joe Hart look-a-like ‘keeper George Axtell conceded only one goal and had little to do, except tip a pile-driver from the Bahrain captain around the post.
 
Bader Jalal and Mitchell Haseid were energetic and imaginative on and off the ball although it was the goals of Ahmed Al Khalifa that set the team apart, most notably striking three into the top corner from different angles while deciding their first match with a goal from inside his own half.

The final was a tense affair with the larger, older and wiser Lady Fisher’s against the younger upstarts of Hi. It was the diminutive Hi centre-forward, Aiden Shretta, who handed his team a welcome early lead with a cheeky lob over the stranded Lady Fisher’s ‘keeper.

However the Lady Fisher’s battled back with Maxi Koeck powering his way through several challenges before blasting a shot from distance that sent the Hi ‘keeper the wrong way.

Koeck, playing in his last tournament on the island before departing for Nigeria with his family, shortly afterwards had an opportunity to strike a psychological blow. Another robust run led to a similar chance although this time George Axtell read the swerve, diving full length to block the drive before pouncing on the loose ball.

A quick release to Hasan Raza saw the ball swept up to Shretta who had drifted to the right, creating the space to collect the ball before unleashing an unstoppable drive across the ‘keeper.

Despite an end-to-end finale with chances thwarted or squandered at both ends it was left to the effervescent Ahmed to finish the match with another fine finish to allow Hi to celebrate and captain Axtell to raise the GulfWeekly trophy aloft. Representatives from the Palm Association were present to hand out GulfWeekly medals to all players from the most successful teams.

In the junior category the Golden Eagles soared above the Mighty Minis in the final. Goals from Hashim Khalaifat and Ali Alnusuf secured a 2-0 victory.

The ladies competition saw the Prancers and Dancers of Bahrain succumb to the might of the UAE in the semi-finals. Also lifting a GulfWeekly Trophy were the ladies of Players FC from Dubai. In the tightest contest of the day they overcame the UAE Bandits 5-4 in an enthralling penalty shootout witnessed by hundreds of fans after a scoreless full-time.

Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain director, Paul Shipwright, expressed his delight at being able to support such a worthwhile cause as the Palm Association and hoped to be able to donate a figure approaching BD1,500 resulting from this event and other charitable activities. The Bahrain Rugby Club donated the use of their facilities free of charge to support the charity.