School Leagues and Tournaments

Middlesbrough Football Club in the Community welcomed 64 local primary schools to its Community Centre base at Eston to participate in the Wilf Mannion Cup 2007 on Tuesday 12th and Wednesday 13th June.

All the schools who participated originated for the local Teesside area, they competed in 8 leagues of 8 on the first day with all the teams finishing top of their group competing for the Wilf Mannion Cup on the second day.

All the schools participating were made up of boys and girls aged 10 and 11.The competition began with some adverse weather but this wasn't enough to put a dampener on the occasion,  with most teams braving the conditions to produce some excellent football.

As always the tournament was played in a good spirit with all teams showing excellent attitude and commitment but always remembering to play in the right way.

At the end of Day 1 the eight schools competing for the Wilf Mannion Cup were decided:
(below are the schools with their points totals out of a maximum 21pts):
 
Captain Cook 'A'     
17pts             
Chandlers Ridge 'B'  
21pts
Ings Farm                
21pts
Ormesby 'B'             
21pts
Pallister Park 'A'       
17pts
St Edwards 'A'         
21pts
St Patricks  'A'         
21pts
Wheatlands 'A'         
21pts 

On the final day of the tournament the competition was split into 8 leagues and these split into a further 2 mini leagues. All 64 teams still had the opportunity to play in their leagues final, which meant on the start of the second day every team had everything to play for.
 
By Wednesday afternoon the tournament was ready to reach its climax with the Semi Finals kicking off at around 12pm. The semi finals were tense affairs with a number of them going to the dreaded penalty shoot-outs. Once decided the finals were played over two seven minute halves.
 
Below are results of the finals with Winners and Runners up.

Wilf Mannion Cup League 8 Winners:              St Bernadettes. Won 2-1 on penalties (0-0)
Wilf Mannion Cup League 8 Runners Up:           Bewley B 

Wilf Mannion Cup League 7 Winners:              PallisterPark F. Won 3-0
Wilf Mannion Cup League 7 Runners Up:           Wheatlands C 

Wilf Mannion Cup League 6 Winners:              St John the Baptist. Won 1-0
Wilf Mannion Cup League 6 Runners Up:           Bewley A       

Wilf Mannion Cup League 5 Winners:              St Margarets of Clithero A. Won 3-0
Wilf Mannion Cup League 5 Runners Up:           Lingfield 

Wilf Mannion Cup League 4 Winners:              St Edwards C. Won 2-0
Wilf Mannion Cup League 4 Runners Up:           John Batty. 

Wilf Mannion Cup League 3 Winners:              Normanby A. Won 3-0
Wilf Mannion Cup League 3 Runners Up:           Pennyman 

Wilf Mannion Cup League 2 Winners:              St Bernadettes. Won 3-2 on penalties   
Wilf Mannion Cup League 2 Runners Up:           Rosewood. 

The final of the Wilf Mannion Cup 2007 was contested by two teams that had performed very well over the 2 days. Ings Farm the 2006 winners of this Cup were playing in their second final running and hoping to take the trophy back to Redcar. St Edwards had narrowly beaten a very strong Wheatlands team in their Semi Final on penalties and seemed to gain confidence from this triumph.

The game was very close and at half time it’s was 0-0 but the first half was not without incident. Both teams had some excellent chances to score, Kieran Clarke hit the St Edward's cross bar with a swirling dipping shot which was unlucky not to break the deadlock. At the other end St Edward's were denied twice by two excellent saves by the Ings Farm Goal-Keeper.

Straight from kick off St Edward's Ben Askins broke the deadlock with a fierce strike from the half way line with nestled in the top corner of the goal.

As Ings Farm continued to press for an equaliser playing their neat intricate football, St Edwards broke away and Ben Askins doubled his ans St Edward’s tally and St Edward's lead to make it 2-0 and secure the 2007 Wilf Mannion Cup.

Wilf Mannion's daughter Anthea Walker was guest of honour and handed  out the trophies and medals to the teams and players who were successful in reaching the finals of their respective leagues.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank every school who attended making this competition a huge success. We hope to see you all again next year and hopefully the weather will shine upon the cup in 2008.

A special thanks goes out to Pallister Park for their continued support in this competition and providing us with two extra teams at the very last minute.

We look forward to seeing you all in the Wilf Mannion Cup 2008. 

Check out the photo gallery for team pics and action shots.

This runs from September until February and has two leagues of 8 which run on alternate weeks.

The target age group is Year 5 and 6.

The competition is 5-a-side and played indoors.

If you would like to join the league please contact us on 0871 2821280.

This is open to all schools who take part in our Primary league

It is free of charge and the winning team gets a chance to represent Middlesbrough at a regional and then national level.

The finals are played at a Premiership ground.