Primary Schools Football Back With a Bang

Twenty one year 5+6 football teams from 16 schools convened on the Tanbridge House School astroturf tonight to provide a fantastic spectacle for a large audience of parents and teachers. Coronavirus has prevented such gatherings for the past 18 months so it was a great relief to finally see the children express themselves through sporting endeavour and competition.

The proceedings involved teams being split into three equal divisions of seven – Small Schools for the seven smallest schools, Larger Schools Division 1 (mainly composed of A teams) and Larger Schools Division 2 (mainly composed of B teams). Some schools had to be turned away as the entry hit full capacity, such has been the demand for an active return to some kind of normality.

In the small schools section St Peter’s Cowfold flew out of the blocks with two 5-0 wins. St Andrew’s Nuthurst also won its first two matches before the two met in the last round to cancel each other out in a 0-0 stalemate. Castlewood lie top after a full three wins on the night, two single goal affairs against St John’s Horsham and Rusper before they really came alive with a 4-0 thrashing of mid-table finishing Northolmes.

Heron Way B and Arunside both sit pretty on maximum points from three games at the top of Division 2, the latter holding a small goal difference advantage that may be rendered academic after the two meet head on next time out. High scoring Arunside achieved their best victory over Southwater B, 5-0. Not many teams do that against the Southies. St Mary’s Horsham sit in third and their 4-2 defeat to Arunside was probably the match of the day. And talking of MOTD, Northolmes 0-0 draw versus St John’s in the final round of games would probably be the last match shown on the programme had the TV cameras been there.

In Division 1 the big beasts of Heron Way A and Southwater A are first and second respectively going into the second and final meeting in two weeks’ time, although Southwater have played a game extra. The Herons were dominant winning all their games with multiple goals and not conceding. Kingslea A look good this season and are third after gaining two wins, including a particularly impressive one over Southwater A. Steyning A are also competitive and indeed brought high-riding Kingslea A down by a 2-0 margin.

So a great start with 32 enjoyable matches, excellent behaviour allround and enthusiasm to burn. Another 31 matches in two weeks’ time will bring the league to its triple climax. In the meantime it’ll be the turn of the year 3+4s next week – 17 teams of that age group getting their chance to shine.

Finally a quick note of thanks to the four referees who did a smashing job of overseeing the matches – Maisie Jacobs, Dan Evershed, Zack Wake and Tom Sikora. 

RESULTS

KEY = Small schools division bolded                        Division 1 in italics                        Division 2 underlined

MEETING 1

PITCH 1

PITCH 2

PITCH 3

PITCH 4

4.08-4.20

Cowfold v Slinfold

5          0

 

Heron Way A v Steyning A

2                   0

Kingslea B v Heron Way B

0                 3

Rusper v Northolmes

0                 3

4.22-4.34

St John’s v Castlewood

0              1

 

Shelley v Southwater A

0                   2

Southwater B v St Mary’s

1                    3

Kingslea A v Leechpool A

4                   1

4.36-4.48

Northolmes v Cowfold

0                   5

 

Steyning A v Pulborough

2                   0

Leechpool B v Arunside

1                      3

Slinfold v Nuthurst

0                   1

4.50-5.02

Castlewood v Rusper

1                     0

 

Leechpool A v Shelley

3                     0

Heron Way B v Steyning B

1                      0

Southwater A v Kingslea A

0                     1

5.04-5.16

St John’s v Slinfold

0                    4

 

Southwater A v Heron Way A

0                     2

Arunside v Southwater B

5                      0

St Mary’s v Kingslea B

7                   0

5.18-5.30

Rusper v Nuthurst

0                   6

 

Kingslea A v Steyning A

0                  2

Leechpool B v Heron Way B

0                       2

Pulborough v Heron Way A

0                   3

5.32-5.44

Castlewood v Northolmes

4                     0

 

Leechpool A v Southwater A

0                    1

Southwater B v Steyning B

1                     1

Arunside v St Mary’s

4                    2

5.46-5.58

Nuthurst v Cowfold

0                   0

 

Shelley v Pulborough

2                   1

Steyning B v Kingslea B

1                       1

Northolmes v St John’s

0                    0

TABLES

SMALL SCHOOLS

PLAYED

WON

LOST

DRAWN

GOALS FOR

GOALS AGAINST

GOAL DIFF

POINTS

Castlewood

3

3

0

0

6

0

+6

15

Cowfold

3

2

0

1

10

0

+10

13

Nuthurst

3

2

0

1

7

0

+7

13

Northolmes

4

1

2

1

3

9

-6

10

Slinfold

3

1

2

0

4

6

-2

7

St John’s

3

0

2

1

0

5

-5

5

Rusper

3

0

3

0

0

10

-10

3

LARGER SCHOOLS DIVISION 1

PLAYED

WON

LOST

DRAWN

GOALS FOR

GOALS AGAINST

GOAL DIFF

POINTS

Heron Way A

3

3

0

0

7

0

+7

15

Southwater A

4

2

2

0

3

3

0

12

Kingslea A

3

2

1

0

5

3

+2

11

Steyning A

3

2

1

0

4

2

+2

11

Leechpool A

3

1

2

0

4

5

-1

8

Shelley

3

1

2

0

2

6

-4

7

Pulborough

3

0

3

0

1

7

-6

4

LARGER SCHOOLS DIVISION 2

PLAYED

WON

LOST

DRAWN

GOALS FOR

GOALS AGAINST

GOAL DIFF

POINTS

Arunside

3

3

0

0

12

3

+9

15

Heron Way B

3

3

0

0

6

0

+6

15

St Mary’s Horsham

3

2

1

0

12

5

+7

12

Steyning B

3

0

1

2

2

3

-1

7

Southwater B

3

0

2

1

2

9

-7

6

Kingslea B

3

0

2

1

1

11

-10

5

Leechpool B

2

0

2

0

1

5

-4

3

5 points for a win, 3 for a draw, 2 for a scoring loss, 1 for a non-scoring loss