YOUTH TOURNAMENT 20/21 JUNE 2015

The 15th annual Rossgarth tournament was held on 20th & 21st June 2015 and proved to be as successful as ever.
A lot of hard work went into achieving success this year, this being my first tournament as tournament director I had some big shoes to fill after taking over from Martin Johnson.

The number of teams entered this year was up on the previous year by nearly 40 teams! In total we saw 160 teams from several counties, playing the pitches of Potterne Park, which is an extremely healthy number by anyone’s standards.

Most age groups sold out well in advance and a huge number of teams requested entry after the cut-off date. If we had more time and space we could have increased the size of some of the leagues. The only disappointing part was having to reschedule some leagues due to teams dropping out the day before, which was a shame considering we could have filled the spaces if we had known before.

The tournament was this year attended by AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust with their Powerstrike machine, giving players the opportunity to measure the speed of their shot for just £1 for 3 shots. This was a popular addition to the tournament and we thank AFC Bournemouth for agreeing to come along. We also had PhsyioFitness in attendance offering advice and treatment for sporting injuries, which also proved popular.

The weather over both days was near perfect, sun shining but not too hot, with the exception for Saturday afternoon where we saw a bit of rain and the brollies came out. On Sunday the weather turned around lunch time and we had glorious sunshine which resulted in most of the referees and volunteers ending the weekend with slightly red faces!

Saturday morning was the busiest session of the weekend with 50 teams enjoying the Festival of Football, meaning over 400 players attending the morning session. The car park was full and the burgers were flying from the stalls! I hope all the teams enjoyed their football and continue to come back to the tournament well into their competitive years!

I had the absolute pleasure of being able to walk around the pitches on both days talking the managers, spectators and some players. I have to say some of the football was a pleasure to watch and all the teams played in the spirit of the tournament, with the refs rarely needing to break into a sweat to keep things flowing nicely. Thanks again to all the lads who volunteered for ref duty especially the younger lads that were refereeing for the first time. Great job everyone and special thanks to Richard Buckley for co-ordinating all the referees.

The finals of the competitive leagues were once again superb and exciting throughout the age groups, and a special mention has to go to Kempton Park FC who travelled from Middlesex and ended up having an all Kempton Park FC final. What a great achievement to have both your teams in the final!!

Congratulations to Geoff Parnell who was the lucky winner of the signed Chelsea shirt that we raffled over the tournament weekend!

As Tournament Director I would like to thank all the volunteers that made it possible for us to stage such a busy and successful event. I’d also like to say a big thank you to all our sponsors, particularly our main sponsors Dorset Windows. Without our sponsors and volunteers the event just simply couldn’t be held and wouldn’t be the huge success that it was.

Thanks again for coming along and making the weekend a great success. We look forward to seeing you in June 2016 for next year’s event.

Glenn Gosden Rossgarth YFC

Winners & Runners up

U9 Winners – Bournemouth Electric R/U – Whiteley Wanderers Result 0-0 (Bournemouth Electric win on pens)
U10 Winners – Redhill Rangers R/U – Rossagrth Blues Result 5-1
U11 Winners – Longfleet Lions Yellow R/U – Weymouth Youth Result 2-0
U12 Winners – Weymouth Youth R/U – Moordown Athletic Black Result 2-0
U13 Winners – Kempton Park R/U – Kempton Park Falcons Result 3-1
U14 Winners – Poole Town Youth R/U – Poole Town Whites Result 2-1