2fawcett Charity Football Tournament 2023 Report

On Friday 25th August, 12 companies from across the UK took part in our annual 2fawcett Charity 7-a-side Football Tournament, all hoping to be crowned 2023 champions – whilst raising money for our incredible charity partners, Support Dogs.

 

Team’s from across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and The West Midlands travelled to Derby Rugby Club, on what was to be a great day for everyone involved. Making their tournament debut’s were; Nottingham based IT company, XMA. International construction materials manufacturer, Unilin Group. The UK’s No1 Mega-shed construction company, Winvic Construction, and Automotive industry supplier, SMP Europe. Returning for their second year; Derby based architects, AJS Structural Design. International logistics firm, Yusen Logistics, and two teams from eco-friendly hybrid construction company, B&K Hybrid Solutions. Last but not least, returning for their 3rd tournament is Lincolnshire construction company, Rawdon Construction. Award winning insurance firm, NFU Mutual. Civil engineering company specializing in building new homes for Britain, M Lambe Construction. And the reigning and defending champions, the hosts – 2fawcett Recruitment.

 

The Group Stages

All 12 team’s were split into to 2 groups of 6, with the top 4 in each group progressing the the quarter finals. Group A was dominated by Rawdon Construction and 2fawcett Recruitment, who had won all of their games and drew 0-0 against each other respectfully, with Rawdon Construction going top on goal difference. With 2 places left to qualify for the quarter finals, B&K Charcoal and AJS Structural Design just pipped Unilin Group and Winvic Construction in what was a tight scrap at the bottom of Group A.

 

In Group B, 2021 runners up M Lambe Construction topped the group after some dominant displays earlier in the day. Yusen Logistics were not far behind either as their young side also got some great results in the group stage games. The other 4 teams kept changing positions in the table throughout the day, in what was a very tough group to progress from. However SMP Europe and last year’s runners up NFU Mutual manged to qualify for the quarter finals stage ahead of XMA and B&K Green Team who narrowly missed out on a place.

 

After all of the group stage games were played this is how the tables looked:

 

Group A

1.  Rawdon Construction
2.  2fawcett Recruitment
3.  B&K Charcoal Team
4.  AJS Structural Design
5.  Unilin Group
6.  Winvic Construction

 

Group B

1.  M Lambe Construction
2.  Yusen Logistics
3.  SMP Europe
4.  NFU Mutual
5.  XMA
6.  B&K Green Team

 

The Quarter-finals

Group A winners Rawdon Construction take on Group B 4th place NFU Mutual – Rawdon Construction going on to win 5-4 on penalties.

Group B winners M Lambe Construction take on Group A 4th place AJS Structural Design – M Lambe going through after a 3-0 win.

Group A runners up 2fawcett Recruitment take on Group B 3rd place SMP Europe – 2fawcett going on to win 4-2 on penalties.

Group B runners up Yusen Logistics take on Group B 3rd place B&K Charcoal team – B&K Charcoal going on to win 5-4 on penalties.

 

The Semi-finals 

The semi finals would be an entertaining one, with 2021 & 2022 semi-finalists, Rawdon Construction, and 2022 semi-finalists, B&K Charcoal team, both looking to go one step further by reaching their first 2fawcett Charity 7-a-side Football Tournament final. Whist on the other pitch saw 2021 runners up, M Lambe Construction, take on last year’s 2022 champions, 2fawcett Recruitment, also looking to reach the 2023 final.

 

On Pitch 1, Rawdon Construction went into the game as favourites having already beaten B&K Charcoal Team 2-0 earlier in the day. The boys in mint blue shirts had most of the possession from start to finish, but couldn’t get past the B&K Charcoal defence. The game would be decided on penalties and it was Rawdon Construction who progressed to their first final in 3 attempts, after winning 5-4 on penalties.

 

On Pitch 2, a very entertaining end-to-end game full of high quality football (and high visibility shirt colours!), just couldn’t settle the sides after 10 minutes of football, resulting in another penalty shootout.  Both keepers made some great saves to keep their sides in it but it was 2fawcett who would prevail, winning 4-3 to progress to the final once again.

 

The Final

Could the 2fawcett Recruitment team defend their crown to become back-to-back champions? Or would there be a new name on the trophy for 2023? Both team’s had already faced each other in the group stages, in a hard-fought battle which ended 0-0, but this time there had to be a winner. Over 400 people gathered pitch side to watch this year’s final as the referee blew to get the game started. Both team’s legs were feeling tired by this point having played over 70 minutes worth of football. But it was 2fawcett who started off the better side after 2 minutes thanks to a fantastic strike by Jeorge Healer to make it 1-0. It wasn’t looking to be Rawdon Construction’s day as 2fawcett doubled their lead after 3 minutes later as Healer scored his second goal to make it 2-0. The hosts maintained possession and as Rawdon Construction battled to get back into contention. the final whistle blew, 2fawcett had defended their title!

 

However, the real winners on the day were Support Dogs, with everyone’s support we had raised just under £4,000 – An incredible amount of money raised to support those living with with Autism, Epilepsy and Disability.