There was a tense, nail-biting finish to the girls' Mayor's Cup on the all-weather pitches at Ravenscourt Park. The final match went to a penalty shoot-out before All Saints of Fulham lifted the trophy!
H&F Mayor, Cllr Sharon Holder, watched the action before presenting the cup and praising the sportsmanship shown by all the competing teams.
Cllr Holder said:
There's no denying that everyone on that pitch gave it their all. The competition was fierce and the players' dedication to their teammates was incredibly impressive. Well done to everyone and congratulations to our winners."
See all the pictures on our Flickr photo gallery.
Semi-finals
In scorching sunshine, the semi-finals saw Brackenbury School in Hammersmith – past winners of the longest-running primary schools' football tournament in the capital – take on All Saints.
Despite the red football matching Brackenbury's shirts, it was the all-in-green All Saints who triumphed 1-0.
In the other semi – which followed 98 matches over nine months of early rounds in the 42-year-old competition at Ravenscourt and Hurlingham parks – St Stephen's defeated Larmenier & Sacred Heart.
The girls from Larmenier & Sacred Heart had the chance to do a Mayor's Cup double as their boys won their final in the Mayor's Cup in May at QPR's Loftus Road stadium – by an identical 1-0 margin.
Confusingly, it had seen the light blue of Larmenier take on the dark blue of St Stephen's, who were cheered on by a big contingent of fans and followers.
Final
The nervy final between St Stephen's of Shepherds Bush and All Saints finished 1-1 after 20 minutes of frantic eight-a-side action, so it all came down to spot kicks, with All Saints shading it on the day.
Gary Bird, the All Saints sports coach, had given his team an important pep talk just before the penalties began. "Don't pay any attention to all the background noise," he told them. "You can do this!"
The third place play-off match also went to penalties after finishing 1-1, showing just how competitive primary football is in the borough. Brackenbury won on spot kicks.
Interestingly, despite several of the goals in this year's Mayor's Cup coming from headers, moves are afoot to outlaw the heading of the ball in next year's competition, following concerns expressed by the Football Association about safety.
H&F school sports organiser Calum Fairley thanked QPR trainers Eddie and Alistair for refereeing the matches on finals day.
"It's been another hard-fought competition," Calum said. "And I'd like to pay tribute to all the players for their sporting attitude; all the teams accepted the results in a polite, respectful manner."
