Tees Valley Football Tournament – Business Fives March 2022

3M Lift The Tees Valley Trophy

The rain in Teesside didn’t dampen the players spirits as the teams combined for a record breaking fundraising total of £7,309 making it the highest fundraising total of the Business Fives England events.

On the pitch there was 301 goals in 65 matches as the tournament progressed through the opening groups and into the knock out stages.

Business Fives is now searching for a new National Champion after the reigning England Champions, Bulkhaul narrowly missed out on qualification.

Off the pitch, there was lots of commendable fundraising with Hewitts Solicitors raising £650 for Together 21 & Darlington Women’s Refuge.  Driver Project Services raised a fantastic £1,328 for the Teesside Hospice only to be outdone by the efforts of the Logico team who ran out top fundraisers with a total of £2,745 for Aching Arms UK.

The Logico team topped up that donation by a further £250 to take them over the £3k mark as they won the Europa League section.  Teams were bidding to qualify for the Business Fives National Final which will be held on Tuesday 5^th April in Manchester where there is over £10,000 to be distributed between the winners’ chosen charities.

After a 4-1 win against LJJ Contracts in the semi final stages, defending Tees Valley champions Bulkhaul, went on to play in the Champions League final against 3M who squeezed passed Tilbury Douglas 3-2 after a cracking match.

After going 3-0 down in the final, Bulkhaul tried to claw it back but failed to find a way past the 3M shot stopper and a very solid defensive display from Scott Brassell who went on to score in the final and produced a display worthy of being selected by Craig Hignett as the Man of the Match.  The 3M team won a £500 donation for MacMillan which they will be hoping to add to at the National Final.

In what was a very competitive top goal scorer contest it was Dan Ball from Bulkhaul who lifted the trophy by finding the net 25 times.

In other individual awards, Olivia Park from Key Training was awarded the Player of the Tournament award.

After a tough opening group, Logico found their stride in the knockout stages and went on to win the Europa League after knocking out Fedcap in the semi-finals. The team faced previous Newcastle Champions Visualsoft in the finals after their 3-1 semi-final win against Faithful + Gould.

It came down to penalties after the teams couldn’t be separated in normal time and eventually Logico lifted the trophy thanks to a fine save from their keeper, his 4^th penalty save of the afternoon before they coolly slotted home the winner.

At the drinks reception, the Riversides first ever goal scorer, Craig Hignett shared stories from his playing and some of the big characters he shared a dressing room with.

Business Fives finishes off the England qualifiers with stops in Sheffield, Nottingham and London next week before the National Final in April.