20 March 2010. 1000hrs Ardwick, Manchester, England.

Cometh the hour, cometh the SN Cup. As promised, liquid football, in the name of a great cause, AuKids Magazine.

Ronaldo, Messi and Rooney take a backseat. Step forward Buckley, Butterworth and Lowe. This is your time. Use it wisely.

Manchizzle was the only weather on the menu, setting the atmosphere up nicely and getting the adrenaline going. As the crowds gathering at Powerleague Ardwick reached fever pitch, approaching half past the hour, it was evident what a tremendous turnout we had on our hands. Every single player had turned up. Not one cry off, not one dodgy excuse.  Unheard of in my football organising lifetime. I was then faced with the almighty task of keeping a huge squad of ‘insurance’ players happy. Tricky this rotation management style lark. Thanks to Mick Greer for agreeing to his last minute transfer!

The action was quickly underway and without a chapter and verse description of events, Studio North were bloody awful. And I mean rubbish. Overweight, undertrained, no obvious pattern to our play. Simply dreadful. Apart from one stellar performance in trouncing And Partners 6-1, there were a couple of bruising defeats as well as a 1-0 defeat by the eventual winners and a slightly unlucky 3-2 ‘derby’ loss to True North.

In the semi finals, Paramount Print beat True North on penalties while the Boulting Group comprehensively outplayed Wrights Printers in the other penultimate fixture. The final ended 2-2 with Boulting winning a dramatic penalty shoot out 1-0, deservedly hoisting the carefully crafted ceramic trophy.

The day has managed to raise £450 for charity so far and judging by the number of lads scavenging the buffet and propping up the bar afterwards a good day was had by all. A huge thank you to Steve Buckley for his massive contribution and also to the companies mentioned above for helping out. Especially and individually, Kev at True North, Adrian at And Partners, Damien at Paramount, Daniel at Wrights and the lads representing Boulting for putting up with our constant mithering this past fortnight.

It was a pleasure to lose to you all but we’ll be back.

STOP PRESS: Due to recent feedback it is worth pointing out that And Partners experienced the giddy sensation of convincingly defeating the eventual winners 3-1 in the group stages. And ‘trouncing’ is probably a touch harsh.

Tags: Aukids, Charity, football, SN Cup

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