The 2009 Uk sevens football championships in Newquay was once again a great success, with 36 mens teams and 20 womens teams descending upon Newquay in order  to battle it out over two days of football to see who would be crowned overall champions.

The weekend brought teams from all over the UK with teams from, London, Doncaster, Southampton, Wales, and the furthest coming all the way from Scotland.

The weekend was kicked off with a meet and greet on Friday evening at the welcome party held at Sailors night club, one of our official sponsors for the weekend. Here the teams were given there group stage fixtures, wristbands and also had the chance to see the trophies on offer for the weekend, the biggest being nearly 4ft tall!

Saturday morning saw the teams rock up to the football festival, and the signs of a good but perhaps a little heavy evening was obviously seen in most teams. Once all the teams had checked in at our admin tent on the Saturday morning the football got underway with 16 teams playing at any one time.
Teams got to enjoy the bbq and refreshments on sale throughout the day, while some teams got some valuable sunbathing time in, in between games!

Last year’s men’s champions, The Rowdies were back again to defend there title, as were  J army Ladies from London who won the ladies cup last year. Both teams went into the competition as favourites to retain their titles, although J-Army ladies were missing key player Jade Dempster due to injury.
However it was obvious after witnessing some of the footballing action that there were several teams who had the skill and potential to walk away with the titles. To name a few Academy Boys from London, I.C.C.F men’s from Leicester and in the Ladies competition, local side Newquay Ladies and Stoke Lane Ladies all looked strong sides.

As the first day wrapped up teams headed back to there accommodation having played most of their group games, so some tired legs and sunburnt faces were a plenty at the evening BBQ.  Several teams had dressed up in fancy dress costumes and like many of the other teams headed off into the sunset to enjoy the offers they wristbands offered them in pubs and nightclubs in Newquay.

Sunday brought more good weather, and as the latter games of the group stages were played.Teams were battleing it out to gain the best seedings in their groups, with the top half of each group qualifying for the Champions Cup and the others being drawn into the Supplementary Cup.

Teams then entered the knock out phases of the competition, as teams were whittled down to the quater finals.

Gollywonaldo beat off Northern opposition to move through to the semi-finals were they would take on 2008 champions The Rowdies. Despite a brave effort from the Golly's the Rowdies prooved to powerful as they progressed through to the final were they would meet either 8-mile or FUBAR (Loughborough University). FUBAR were last years semi-finalists and had made it to the semi-final stage unbeaten in 9 matches, and were hotlyyy tipped as favourites to cause an upset to currrent champions. They proved too good for 8-Mile as they won 3-0 to book a place in the final. The final was played out in front of a large crowd. The Rowdies were fortunate not to fall behind twice early on as FUBAR fired a couple of efforts wide or against the woodwork. Then after 8-minutes FUBAR took the lead much to the shock of the local favourites. The Rowdies then showed true championship form as they struck back twice before the break to go into the interval 2-1 up. FUBAR never recovered and a late strike from the tournaments top scorer Aaron Dilley sealed the victory to mean that the Rowdies are now unbeaten at UKSevens 2 years running

The Ladies Championship event was an all London affair after the Dolly Mixtures defeated Newquay Ladies on penalties in the semi-final to set up a clash against tournament favourites Acad Ledges (who showed their true flare when theu defeated last year's winners J-Army Ladies in the semi-finals) who are all Chelsea FC academy players. The final proved to be a one sided affair as Acad Ledges closed the game out comfortably with a 2-0 victory.

This years Supplementary Cup finals were again all Northern affairs with Portslade Athletic defeating Stoke Lane 5-1 in the mens final and Villa Pool Sharks defeating Exmouth Town in the final of the Ladies event. The UKsevens sporting trophy went to crowd favourites the Stables who were all from an organization for people with learning difficulties. The Stables bravely challenged making it to the last 16 of the Supplementary Cup, and despite one players twisting their ankle last in their last game, they kept cheering on the other teams to the very end.

As well as prizes for top goal scorers, there was also the Everyman cancer charity sponsored fairplay award which went to the The stables trust men’s team from Hampshire who had played every game in great spirit as the percentage of there team had learning difficulties.

The trophies were handed out and the champagne popped, most teams continued their celebrations into the evening as part of their last night in Newquay.

We would also like to say a big thank you to all of the teams who competed in this years event, all of whom played with a great sporting prowess for the entire weekend, and we hope to see you next year in Newquay again.

Our thanks also goes to the events sponsors for 2009 Sailors pub and Club, Skinners and St Austell Brewery who all supported the event, and helped to ensure a great weekend was had by all.

The Rowdies and The Acad Ledges both secured their place in the 2010 tournament, as part of their winning package they get to come back to try and maintain their title, whilst we at UK7s pick up the bill for their accommodation. Do you have what it takes to to beat them?

Cheers
The UK sevens team.