135 teams enjoyed a fantastic day of football at Mountbatten School on Saturday 4th September, once again proving that Braishfield Bees FC Tournament is the “go to” event in the area.
Nearly 3000 people attended the all-day event the 1st major junior football event of its’ kind in the area in the post covid lockdown era.
Having had to delay the event twice due to COVID, the Club ensured that social distancing measures were in place where queuing was a necessity and hand sanitation stations were prevalent around the facility to deliver a safe environment for all the attendees.
It was fantastic to see the “reach” the event has gained with Clubs from South Wales, Horsham, Lewes, South East London and Wimbledon taking part along with a nucleus of teams from across, Hampshire, Berkshire, W.Sussex and Dorset and it is hoped that next years’ event will spread even further to provide teams a variety of opposition.
The event is truly becoming the “go to event” in the football calendar and next year will hopefully prove to be even bigger and better with 250 teams spread over 2 days on the 3rd and 4th September 2022.
Scouts from Chelsea and Portsmouth were in attendance and no doubt ran the rule over a feast of football with a handful of players being invited to attend training sessions with the clubs.
Representatives from Chelsea FC Foundation, an Associated grassroots partner of Braishfield Bees FC (who were also the first club in the Country to enter into such an agreement with Chelsea), were on hand throughout the day and along with Roger Smith – long-standing Secretary of TestWay Youth Football League – presented the medals and trophies.
The Club also unveiled its ground-breaking Bees Live app at the event, enabling coaches, parents/guardians and the like to access live fixtures, scores and tables event-wide from their phone or tablet. Scores from the event are available at 2021.beeslive.co.uk – if you’d like to find out about using the software at your own event, contact the Club direct (braishfieldbeesfc@gmail.com) for more information.
This year was particularly special as the club held its first all-girls event with a thoroughly entertaining u13s girls event and, next year it is hoped that this can be extended to a girls event at every age group to recognise the rising popularity of girls football.
Roll of honour
| Age Group | Cup Winners | Plate Winners |
|---|---|---|
| Under 8s AM | non competitive | |
| Under 8s PM | non competitive | |
| Under 9s AM | Littleton Vipers | Totton and Eling |
| Under 10s AM | Horndean Hawks Eagles | Salisbury United |
| Under 10s PM | Perrywood FC | Fairwarp Utd |
| Under 11s AM | BSS Portsmouth | Pace Pumas |
| Under 11s PM | Eldon Celtic Lions | Clarendon Juniors |
| Under 12s AM (1) | Europath Allstars | Lee Rangers |
| Under 12s AM (2) | Global Futsal Academy | Pickwick Lions A |
| Under 13s PM | South Hams FC Yellow | Overton |
| Under 13s Girls PM | AFC Wimbledon | Widbrook Reds |
| Under 14s PM | Salisbury FC | Braishfield Bees Gold |
| Under 15s AM | Woolton Hill Casuals | Romsey Town Cougars Blues |
| Under 16s PM | Gosport Borough Reds | South Wonston |
The event couldn’t have been made possible without all the fabulous hard work of local NHS in the area and in recognition of their efforts the Club made the decision that 5% of all entry fees would be donated to local NHS or associated Charities, and a unanimous decision of the Club Committee was that the Club would Match fund the monies raised up to a total of £500 and this will be presented in the near future to the chosen charity – more on this to follow
The club would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the sponsors and volunteers who gave up their time willingly and without whom the event wouldn’t have been the great success that it was.