Blackpool FC Community Trust column: St Nicholas retain Jimmy Armfield Memorial Trophy

Last year’s winners retained their title when the tournament took place earlier this month.

The tournament is about using the power of football to bring people together and celebrate the career and life of one of Blackpool’s biggest icons and football legends.

Schools were invited to name year three and four pupils to compete in the tournament with the same qualities Jimmy applied within his own career, which was to have fun, learn how to win and lose well, and do the best you can do.

Approximately 120 pupils were in action on the day, representing 14 primary schools.

An entertaining morning of football saw more than 35 small-sided matches taking place with some brilliant individual and team performances being witnessed.

The top teams in the groups went through to the quarter-finals, which were strongly contested.

They ended with a semi-final line-up of St Nicholas v Armfield Academy and Westcliff Academy v Norbreck Primary.

St Nicholas and Westcliff went through to the final, which was played in a great spirit.

Westcliff took a 2-0 lead before St Nicholas pulled it back to make it 2-2, setting up a nailbiting penalty shootout which ended with them winning 3-2 on spot-kicks to retain the title.

The pupils from both schools played with a fantastic attitude and applied themselves well in the true spirit of the game.

The Community Trust’s Primary PE manager, Simon Smith, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to hold this tournament again and the standard on display was even stronger than last year.

“We changed the format to have quarter-finals this year to allow more teams to progress to knockouts, which worked well.

“The final was a brilliant spectacle and well done to St Nicolas for retaining the trophy, not an easy thing to achieve!”

Michael Corser, a teacher at St John’s Primary School, added: “Thanks for organising the football event today, our team really enjoyed the morning and came back to school very excited.”

For more information about Blackpool FC Community Trust, call 01253 348691, follow them on social media or visit their website at www.bfcct.co.uk