National Football 5-a-side Championships 2016

Junior A winners Glasgow AbercornScottish Disability Sport (SDS) and the Scottish Football Association (SFA) were delighted to join forces once again with support from the Sports Council for Glasgow and the Scottish Football Partnership (SFP) to deliver the National 5-a-side football Championships at Glasgow Green. Scottish Disability Sport is grateful for the support the Sports Council for Glasgow and the SFP has provided for our National Football Championships.

A large entry of 50 teams from around Scotland descended on Glasgow Green to participate in the SDS/ SFA National Championships on a gloriously sunny day, making it two years in a row on the sunshine front which is a first for this event!

David McArdle of the SFA organised an excellent day’s football with teams representing 12 member branches and three non-member areas competing across eleven groups in five sections. The combining of A Class and B Class players in the Premier Division has allowed teams a much more competitive environment and accommodates teams that would otherwise not play many matches.

It proved to be a very successful tournament for teams from the West of Scotland, with all 5 competitions being won by teams from this region, demonstrating the strength of the clubs and players in this area. Firhill emerged victorious in the Premiership division defeating Highland in the final in a repeat of last year’s result, Blantyre claimed the Championship title with victory over Glasgow and St Mirren Monday Marvels won the League 1 division with Stirling City All Stars finishing runners up with South Lanarkshire’s Blantyre finishing third.

Lothian schools team once again found themselves in the Junior A section and following their defeat by North Lanarkshire’s Buchanan HS last year hoped for a different outcome this time. Unfortunately their opponents this time – Glasgow’s Abercorn – once again proved slightly too strong for the team from the East again and the silver medal went back east along the M8 again. Glasgow proved too strong for Highland in the Junior B section to complete the clean sweep for the West of Scotland.

What was extremely positive to see was the increase in number of teams from nine of the branches and areas competing.

Scottish Disability Sport and the Scottish Football Association are grateful for the input of Brian Martin for providing officials, who supplemented their referees with students from City of Glasgow College.