Futsal Footage

Photographer Kris Talikowski was on hand last month to take a set of superb shots at our Futsal tournament, so naturally we wanted to share some of them with you!

Everyone enjoyed Dan Magness showing off his world-class freestyle football skills!



Then it was onto the tournament itself. Let's sit back and enjoy the action...

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And you can't beat a good buffet to round things off nicely!

Futsal News: The Day Was a Huge Success!

[caption id="attachment_6895" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The Final match! Now read on to find out more...[/caption]

At last we have the news you've been waiting for, how everyone fared in the Futsal tournament! Laura Morris - our very own "Match of the Day" reporter and Futsal team player - gives us the insider's view of the day's events...

Last Sunday 26 teams from across the Group took part in our first ever Community Link-Up Futsal Tournament.

The day was a huge success, with teams getting very competitive to get through their Group stages!

The semi-finals were really exciting, with Team JB drawing 3-3 against The Conslaughter ‘Em and narrowly missing out on a penalty shoot-out. Borehamwood’s BG1 were the victors of their semi, meaning it was a Smiths News vs The Consortium final. After a close match, The Consortium proved themselves the better team and took the Group Futsal Tournament 2013 title.

[caption id="attachment_6896" align="alignright" width="300"] The Bend It Like Beckham Girls![/caption]

The all-girls team from Rowan House – ‘Bend It Like Beckham Girls’ – weren’t quite as fortunate, but they had lots of support from the other teams. Desperate to get off the mark, Laura Morris managed to put one in the back of the net for the girls in their last game!

Jon Bunting hosted the event and said:

‘It was a really competitive but fun day, and brilliant to see so many colleagues Linking–Up from across the Group.’

There were several trophies awarded at the end of the tournament:

[caption id="attachment_6897" align="alignright" width="300"] The runners up - BG1[/caption]

Winning team: The Conslaughter 'Em (The Consortium)
Runners Up: BG1 (SN, Borehamwood)

Best Dressed Team: Bend It Like Beckham Girls (Rowan House) for their pink t-shirts
Most Competitive Team: The Misfits (Rowan House) – some very competitive play was reported by the referees!
Best Team Name: Twilightfully Good (SN, Birmingham)
Fair Play Award: The Smiths Destroyers (SN, Peterborough) – for their positive attitude and perseverance, they conceded 33 goals and scored 1 in Group stages!
Golden Boot: Team JB (Rowan House) – this was for most goals scored in Group stages.

[caption id="attachment_6898" align="aligncenter" width="640"] We won the cup![/caption]

Congratulations to The Conslaughter 'Em! Now, who's going to take them on next year? Start training now!

Futsal Countdown: Latest Team News

With just a few days to go, there are some last-minute team changes for the Futsal tournament!

Out... goes Bertrams and Brian Munich*. Sadly both teams have had to withdraw from Sunday's fun and games.

In... comes Team JB, the latest crew from Rowan House set to take on all comers. The team comprises Mike Makinson (captain), Lloyd Purchase, Jon Bunting, Ronan Lynam, Tim Concannon, Alex Harding, and Dan Giles.

So, we now have 26 teams from 15 locations lined up to play for team pride and the top spot in the ultimate Link-Up Fortnight event!

Select the team you'd like to support by viewing the full line-up on the Futsal Team News Page.

Good luck everyone and here's to a great day!

* = a team name that will be sorely missed when reporting on the actual event ;)

Futsal Update: Loadsa Teams!

Well, with just a few days left to get all your team registrations in last week, you certainly didn't disappoint! Our inbox was red-hot with sign ups coming in thick and fast, so today we can reveal that we didn't just get the two teams we asked you for, we...

... received details of another 13! That makes the total number of teams registered for September 29th standing at a fantastic 27 :)

So without further ado, let's meet the latest teams:

1. Robinson's Crusaders - Stockport -  Umar Suleman, Pete Cumston, Kevin Mcdermot, Rihan Khan, Eric Drayson, Matt Alexander, Ste Todd


2. NAC Novices - NAC, Bradford - Daniel Noble, Mohammed Mazer, Elias Vilegas, Vicky Holdsworth, Natasha Thrams, Ryan Metcalfe, Mohammed Uddin


3. Bertrams - Bertrams, Norwich - Matt Racher, Aaron Kay, Luke Tuttle, Louis Robinson, Brad Vincent, Mark Tuttle, Graham Carr


4. Disney Land Standards - Newport - Nathan Heron, Leighton Hansford, Paul Cruden, Andrew Seldon, Croug Lewis, Robert Edwards, Robert Sullivan


5. Smiths Destroyers - Peterborough - Ashley Brown, Donald Cliff, Charlie Austin, Peter Lindsay, Dean Raymill, Andy Johnson, Lee Fountain


6. Mission Impossible - The Consortium, Trowbridge - Dan Blake, Andy Mayell, Charlie Trevman, Paul Cottle, Billy Austin, Pete Jackson, Shawn Bryne


7. Newport Allstars - Newport - Craig Bourne, Nicky Church, Martin Stickler, Cayleb Needham, Miles Griffin, Phil Barnard, Richard Morgan


8. Newport Beacons - Newport - Shaun Probert, Mike Green, Brian Baston,. Tom Tsambanakis, Ian Jones, Milo Kirkpatrick


9. Twilightfully Good - Birmingham - Mohammed Khalil, Imran Khan, Umar Saeed, Gurdeep Singh Toor, Asif Ali, Amjid Javed, Faroux Ali


10. Villains or Not - Birmingham - Kieran Sheridan, Paul Adams, Karl Adams, Daniel Bull, Tom Church, Dwight Tulloch, Keven Davies


11. Birmingham Twilight Lads - Birmingham - Zahid Faroux, Mohammed Mahmud, Javed Iqbal, Mussie, Leo Thompson, Naveed Sadeeq, Mohammed Fasir


12. Newmarket Plus 1 - Newmarket - Jason Hien, Steve Lynch, Hugo Da Silva, David Middleton, Mo Manif, Darren Bates


13. Frontliners Slough - Slough - Suran Amin, Vikas Verma, Junior Samuel, Devron Samuel, Michah Barnes, Lee Shah, Sukhpal Bhatti

NB If you've sent off your registration and your team isn't on today's list, or the one we revealed last week, please contact Claire Phillips-High in the Group Communications team ASAP via email or phone 01793 563530.

We've also set up a Futsal Team News page which shows the full list of teams, plus their captains and players as it stands currently. Do stay tuned here on Community Link-up as we'll be updating the blog with more news about the day and any further team developments along the "Road to Wembley Swindon" on the 29th!

Last Call for Futsal Teams

With just two days to go until Thursday's closing date for Futsal team registration, it's time to reveal the tremendous response we've received so far. Teams from far and wide will descend on Swindon's Futsal Arena for a packed day of friendly rivalry, goals and no offside rule!

14 teams from 8 locations are signed up and ready to go on September 29th. We need just 2 more teams so we can run a full European style Championship format: 4 groups of 4 teams, with the top 2 teams qualifying from each group to play in the knock out stages.

Right, so who's signed up for all the fun?

Ladies and Gentlemen, please show your support for...

1. Smithy and the Swindon Smiths - Rowan House - Paul Smith, Brett Hanley, Simon Sargent, Alex Harding, Dan Giles, Justin Yates, Fred Pavone


2. BG1 - Borehamwood - Jason Biggs, Marek Vanda, Peter Janak, Ben Boateng, David Canwell, Kofi Konadu, Carlos Burris


3. Plymouth Pilgrims - Plymouth - Chris Hulme, George Tucker, Neil Priter, Scot Luscombe, Aaron Churnery, Jason Adamson, Paul Latham


4. Brian Munich - Worcester  - Darren Clarke, Alex Williams, James Lamb, Steve Goode, Andy Wheeldon, Matt Cooke


5. Goal Goal Power Rangers - Worcester - James Webster, Gavin Spares, Mark Falcon, Ross Jones, Tim Williams, Tim Concannon


6. BG2 - Borehamwood - Marc Curtis, Ackestar Baloyi, Tony Pitcock, Lee Darkins, Barry Ings, Mark Woods


7. The Conslaughter-Em - The Consortium - Matt James, Andy Pickernell, Tim Furniss, Andy Wilcox, Dan Perels, Chris Hubbard, Lee Davey


8. The Shrewsbury Strollers - The Consortium,  Shrewsbury - Paul Murray, Paul Sambrook, Russell Mellings, Hugh Haimes, Ed Knott, Simon Kunne, Richard Tonks, Jim Green


9. Bend it Like Beckham Girls! - Rowan House - Nic Black, Claire Phillips-High, Laura Morris, Lucy Manfield, Anya Perry, Sam Marlow, Joni Watkins


10. Dogs of War - The Consortium - Ashley Warner, Pete Spong, Paul Ford, Reuben Spong, Wayne Heath, Ryan Baggs, Shane Spong


11. The Misfits - Rowan House - Tom Wright, Jonathan Williams; full team to be announced later


12. Spartan Blues - Reading - Mark Durrant , Martin Balon, Jason Goddard, Adam Skibinski, Robert Taupmans, Aleksander Adamiec, Marius Pardela 


13. Borussia Instore - Instore - Ross Hall-Galley, Sean Comasky, Chris Townrow, Mike Frost, Sam Page, Stu Birch, James Bullen


14. Strikers Notts - Nottingham - Dean Martin, Gavin Howard, Steve Bateman, Steve Fox, James Cairney, Andy Jaques, Rob Drummond

You'll find full details about the day here.

So about those 2 extra teams... Do we have an Exec team ready to take on all comers? Or perhaps Bertrams are bursting to show everyone their skills? Who will be the pride of the north? Grab your team and submit your registration form now!

Remember, all futsal teams and any updates to the team lists will be revealed exclusively via the Community Link-Up blog. Why not register for your email update via the right hand sidebar so you don't miss a thing?