Schools out for football! West Sussex has winners all around

The West Sussex West School Sport Partnership have held a number of football tournaments, many of which filter through to the English Schools' Football Association Danone Cup.
Thorney Island - Chichester and area tournament winnersThorney Island - Chichester and area tournament winners
Thorney Island - Chichester and area tournament winners

Bognor and Chichester had two separate area A team tournaments.

The Bognor tournament involved eight teams and was hosted at The Regis School and Arena Sports Centre. The high-quality 3G pitches saw some intense matches.

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The referees were sports leaders from The Regis School who did a fantastic job. The three teams that reached the final were Bishop Tufnell, Southway and Yapton. It was extremely tight but Bishop Tufnell finished on top.

The Chichester tournament took place a few days later at the University of Chichester, again refereed by The Regis School sports leaders. This tournament attracted 12 teams.

There was a clear winner with Thorney Island, who did not lose a game – followed by Parklands. Third went narrowly to Southbourne.

The West Sussex West final involved all six of those finalists - Bishop Tufnell, Southway, Yapton, Thorney Island, Parklands and Southbourne.

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The tournament was fantastic and Thorney Island and Bishop Tufnell won all their games but drew with each other. On goal difference, Thorney Island wwere crowned the winners.

To increase the number of children accessing school football, the WSW SSP hosted a small schools tournament.

There was a dominant display from Funtington Primary, who have been working exceptionally hard to raise their standards of PE and school sport – and this success was demonstrated with the team not losing a game. They dropped points only in a tight draw with West Dean.

There was a B team tournament with no child who had played in the A team able to participate. Around 100 children took part, many representing their school for the first time. Southway were clear winners, winning eight of their nine games, losing only to Bishop Tufnell.

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Last but not least was a high-quality girls’ tournament which had the highest attendance ever seen for a girls’ competition with 12 different teams in attendance.

Bishop Tufnell took the glory, beating Southway into second place.

All four tournaments showed great professional sportsmanship. The area, girls’ winners and small-school winners will now represent the West Sussex West at the county final in Lancing in January.

The winners of the three competitions in Lancing will move on to regionals with the chance to progress even further and play at a big stadium if qualifying for nationals.

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SSP manager Sean O’Connor said: “Good luck to all three in the next round, Bishop Tufnell for the girls, Funtington for the small schools and Thorney Island for the area competition.

“It is great to see so many children representing us at county level – as well as the large number of children that have competed in these tournaments – close to 500 competitors.”

Schools can access all kind of sports via the WSW SSP throughout the academic year via www.westsussexwestssp.co.uk

Results: Girls - 1 Bishop Tufnell, 2 Southway team one, 3 Downview, 4 Barnham & Soutbourne, 5 North Mundham, 6 Westbourne, 7 Walberton & Binsted, 8 St Mary’s, 9 Nyewood Jrs & Southway team 2, 10 Edward Bryant. Small schools - 1 Funtington, 2 West Dean, 3 Medmerry, 4 Slindon, 5 Boxgrove, 6 West Wittering. B teams - 1 Southway, 2 Bishop Tufnell, 3 Southbourne, 4 Aldingbourne, 5 Barnham, 6 Parklands, 7 South Bersted, 8 Edward Bryant, 9 North Mundham, 10 St Mary’s. Bognor area: 1 Bishop Tufnell, 2 Southway, 3 Yapton, 4 Rose Green, 5 Aldingbourne, 6 Edward Bryant, 7 South Bersted, 8 St Mary’s. Chichester area: 1 Thorney Island, 2 Parklands, 3 Southbourne, 4 Barnham & St Richard’s, 5 March, 6 Westbourne, 7 Portfield, 8 Kingsham, 9 Jessie Younghusband, 10 North Mundham, 11 Walberton & Binsted. Area final - 1 Thorney Island, 2 Bishop Tufnell, 3 Southway, 4 Parklands, 5 Southbourne, 6 Yapton.

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