Two days of football end with Bristol City and Bels celebrating

Friday 19 July 2024

Bristol City and Begrave Wanderers came away with the silverware after a football festival that catered for more than 175 players.

Ten local teams, including the GFA Aztech Academy, four teams from Jersey and two from Bristol City competed for the BWCI Shield and Plate trophies over two days.

City won the Shield and Bels the Plate.

“Once again the BWCI Festival has delivered another fantastic experience for all of those children that have enjoyed participating throughout the weekend,” said Festival Chairman, Martyn Banton.

“We have witnessed some really impressive performances from individual and teams but perhaps more importantly, the Festival has been played in a great spirit.” 

Pictured: The Bristol City team who won the Shield competition. 

The festival began with two groups of eight teams completing a round robin.

The top four teams from each group then came together the following day to take part in the BWCI Shield and the remaining teams for the BWCI Plate.  

The Shield group comprised of Bristol City, Bristol Robins, GFA Aztech Academy, Jersey Scottish, Rihoy North, St Martins AC, St Pauls Yellow and Sylvans Pirates.

The Plate group of Belgrave Wanderers, Bodyline St Martins, Grouville, Guernsey Rangers Red, Northerners, Rovers, St Pauls White and Vale Rec Yellow. 

After a short delay while organisers prepared the pitches that got a soaking from overnight rain, both groups completed three rounds of fixtures before the semi finals on Footes Lane.  

St Pauls Yellow faced GFA Aztech Academy in the one Shield semi while Bristol City took on Rihoy North.

GFA Aztech Academy and Bristol City both won 1-0.

In the Plate semis, Vale Rec Yellow took on Grouville while Belgrave Wanderers played St Pauls White.

Wanderers won with the only goal in their match,  but Vale Rec Yellow and Grouville had to go to penalties after a goalless draw which Grouville clinched.

In the two finals, Bristol City and Belgrave Wanderers both won 2-0.

“As always we are indebted to the Festival’s headline sponsor, BWCI, who have now sponsored this event for eighteen years because without this support, and that of the companies in the sponsorship consortium, an event of this stature simply could not be delivered,” said Banton.

Jonathan Kemp from BWCI said:  “It was great to see so many young people competing and having fun. Congratulations to both Bristol City and Belgrave Wanderers, for their winning performances. This year we’d like to add extra thanks to all those involved in making the tournament happen, despite the challenging weather conditions.” 

Pictured top: Belgrave Wanderers won the Shield competition for the first time.