A windy, but thankfully dry Saturday morning, brought with it the annual Hagley Sports College Football and Netball Tournaments.

A tournament that Churchfield has previously had success in, winning the football in its first two years and reaching the final on three other occasions.The netball team similarly winning the first three years the competition was run.

Football

Having won all their games in the Rugeley league so far, and scoring a considerable number of goals, the football team had reason to be optimistic for a good result. 

Despite being drawn in the stronger of the two leagues, confidence was still high as the first game kicked off against Colwich.  A bit of a scrappy game still brought about a 3 nil victory and so we were off to a good start. Chase View presnted us with a challenging performance but we were dominant, attacking the goal repeatedly. However, the normal trusty goal scorers were not on song. Nil, nil! Still, another point gained. The next match against the Croft. A similar story. Shot after shot! Just wide or saved by the keeper and yet agaiin no goals. Another nil nil! Five points! Our last group game was to be against Hayes Meadow, accepted by most as being our main rivals in the tournament. Good play! Fluent passing! Near miss after near miss! The crowd was shouting the teams on. So close to scoring, but not to be. Hayes Meadow had a couple of break away attempts, but as with the previous games, our goal was hardly challenged. So yet again nil, nil. Would it be enough? It depended on other results. Waiting for the result of another game to decide our fate. Not much fun. Nor was it in our favour. We were out!

It's easy to see how football cliches came about. We had the majority of the possession in all our games with hardly a shot on our goal, and yet unusually we were unable to score. Arguably the best team there, we couldn't do it on the day. Very frustrating and disappointing for all concerned, but as they say;

Football-it's a funny old game!

The Squad

Samuel Lovell ( Captain ),Mark Sage ( Vice and keeper ), Bradley Hodgson, George Lindsay, Aaron Evans, Tommy Tiernan, Connor Parr, Jack Brown, Josh Yates, Adam Shaw.

Well played lads!

Netball

As with the football team, the netballers had confidence coming into the tournament, with good results in matches, and also playing well in training during the week.

The format was Hi 5 and the team were ready. First up were Hayes Meadow. A very tall team! Nevertheless, undaunted, the game started. End to end stuff! Good play by both teams. Only two halves and no quarters as is the norm in Hi 5, Churchfield were the winners. 3 nil! John Bamford were  next up. A closer affair with the score being 3 all at the end.

The next stage! A round robin to decide the places. The Croft were a formidable team, and although the marking got tighter as the game went on, we still lost my 6 goals to 1. Chase View was our last game! A better performance and a hatrick of goals by Emily saw us win the match 3-1. It was decided. We were second! The team proudly accepted their medals and posed, smiling for their photos.

The Squad

Abbie Gilbert ( Captain ), Sammie Mitchell, Emily Winfindale, Mel Crossley, Alex Whitehurst, Billy Horobin, Kyle Prince, Celina Smith.

Well played team!

A big thanks goes to all the supporters of both teams, who gave up their time to come and cheer them on. Especially Mrs Winifindale for managing the netball team, ably assisted by the quiet Mrs. Crossley.