Posted: 15/06/18
World Cup fever comes to West Notts
World Cup fever came to West Nottinghamshire College this week, as it staged its very own version of Russia 2018.
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Winning teams in the West Notts World Cup, 'Denmark' and 'Spain'.
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‘Denmark’ celebrates being crowned college champions.
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‘Spain’ – made up of players from Sherwood Colliery Ability Counts FC – won the ability counts tournament.
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'Denmark' and 'Serbia' in action during the final.
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'Spain' and 'Brazil' in the ability counts final.
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'Brazil' were runners-up in the ability counts final.
Students and staff swapped the classroom for the beautiful game to compete for glory in its traditional end-of-year five-a-side tournament.
The ‘West Notts World Cup’ saw 16 teams – each named after one of the qualifying nations in the real-life FIFA version – battle it out on the sports field at the Derby Road campus, Mansfield, on Wednesday 13 June, for the chance to claim a replica of the famous trophy.
Male and mix-gender teams from squads of up to eight players, plus ‘ability counts’ teams of players with physical or learning disabilities, competed in a series of group games, with the winners and runners-up progressing to the knock-out stages.
‘Denmark’, consisting of foundation degree sport coaching and development students Cory Lightly, Liam Harrison, Patrick Marshall, Jordan Annable and guest player Richard Walker, were crowned college champions after beating ‘Serbia’ – business tutors Drew Chambers and Alex Norbury, and level 3 business students Owen Wakefield, Nikodem Slotwinski, Adam Brooke, Mackenzie Buckland and Jack Dring – 4-1 in the final.
Two teams from Sherwood Colliery Ability Counts FC went head-to-head in the ability counts final, with ‘Spain’ emerging the victors after beating ‘Brazil’ 3-1.
Medals were presented to the winners and runners-up.
The tournament was organised by the sport development team aided by students on the NVQ Level 3 Diploma in Supporting the Delivery of Physical Education and School Sport.
Before it got under way, players and spectators took part in a moving tribute to the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, giving a heartfelt applause while the charity single Bridge over Troubled Waters was played on loud-speakers.
Rob Shaw, sport development and academy team-leader, said: “There was a real buzz to the tournament and even though the teams were naturally highly-competitive, it was all played out in the right spirit, which created a wonderful atmosphere for the teams and spectators.
“A lot of planning and preparation goes into our end-of-year football tournament, so it was great to see the enjoyment it gave everybody after another extremely busy term.
“Congratulations to all the competing ‘nations’ for making it such a success, and in particular to Denmark and Spain for triumphing as worthy winners.
“I’m also extremely grateful to the students that helped organise and manage the event, which has given them further experience of staging sporting activities involving large groups of people.”
The following day (Thursday 14 June), the college played host to the Mansfield Primary School World Cup, involving boys’ and girls’ teams from Mansfield Primary Academy, Abbey Primary School, Church Vale Primary School and King Edward Primary School.
This saw ‘Spain’ beat ‘Croatia’ 3-0 in the girls’ final – with both nations represented by King Edward Primary School – while Church Vale Primary School’s ‘Belgium’ beat Abbey Primary School’s ‘Egypt’ 2-1 on penalties to win the boys’ competition.
The tournament was jointly organised by the college’s sport development team, level 3 sports students and Mansfield school games organiser Nicki Biggs.
