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17
- 20 April 2009
For its seventh year the tournament travelled to
the stunning city of Valencia.
Companies
who attended: Clifford Chance,
CMS Cameron McKenna, Darwin Rhodes, Edwin Coe, Freshfields,
Linklaters, Norton Rose,
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Taylor Wessing.
Friday
Teams arrived to sunshine on Friday afternoon and
after a swift check in headed for their rooms to change for
their first night out. Teams headed to old town for drinks and
dancing, the last thing on their mind was the tournament the
next day!
Saturday
Most teams made it back from their nights out and
straight for a 7am breakfast, they then got to bed and managed
a full 2 hours kip before catching their transfers to sports
venue.
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The PwC Men's Football team
Rob Graham scores his second
against CMS
Taylor Wessing and their
stolen silverware
Linklaters take on Taylor
Wessing
The victorious girls from
Norton Rose
Freshfields take on Norton
Rose
CMS netballers enjoy a break
in the sun
Last year's winners, PwC
Netball
Edwin Coe V PwC
Linklaters and PwC
have the final match team talks
Linklaters men's and women's
football
and netball team
The silverware
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Men's
Football Tournament
The men's tournament was contested by six 7-a-side teams who
were each to play the other five in twenty-minute games before
the final which would be played between the two teams with the
highest points total.
The first teams to roll out onto to the beautiful 3G pitches
were CMS Cameron McKenna, Taylor Wessing 1, Linklaters and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
CMS's game sent out a clear statement of intent as they rolled
over the TW 1 boys 4-0, but it was much closer affair on Pitch
2 where Linklaters battled to a 3-2 victory over PwC. Taylor
Wessing 2, like CMS, started as they meant to go on but in a
different kind of way - they scored 0 goals against tournament-debutants
Darwin Rhodes (who scored 3), a pattern the boys in red set
and followed for the rest of the day.
By lunchtime it was becoming apparent that it was a three-way-fight
for the places in the final, with CMS, PwC and Linklaters only
dropping points against each other. When Taylor Wessing 1 met
Taylor Wessing 2, the confusion of fourteen matching shirts
was almost solved by forcing the first team to play skins but
sadly the bibs were found just in time for kick-off.
In one of the afternoon's tensest and most exciting matches,
PwC proved themselves worthy title-contenders as they took down
CMS in a 2-1 epic. As the teams kicked off in their final games
the would-be finalists were separated by only goal-difference.
PwC, after their 8-0 demolition of TW 2, were all but guaranteed
the go through but Linklaters, after watching CMS see off TW
2 6-0, had a mini-mountain to climb and in the end were held
back in third place by a difference of just two.
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
Pts
|
| 1
PwC |
5
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
14
|
12
|
| 2
CMS |
5
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
11
|
12
|
| 3
Linklaters |
5
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
10
|
12
|
| 4
Taylor Wessing 1 |
5
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
-2
|
6
|
| 5
Darwin Rhodes |
5
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
-6
|
3
|
| 6
Taylor Wessing 2 |
5
|
0
|
0
|
6
|
-26
|
0
|
So it was that the tireless CMS lined up against
a tiring PwC in the 2009 final. (To solve the problem of matching
white shirts, the ever-accommodating CMS boys were kitted out
in their netball team's bright blue torso hugging vest tops,
which amused our Argentinian referees no end.) This battle was
hard-fought but, it must be said, it will not go down as one
the great footballing clashes. CMS had seemed to gather momentum
all day and as the rain finally started to fall, they romped
through the match scoring four goals past the beleaguered boys
from Pricewaterhouse. Their emphatic victory was cheered by
the CMS netballers who made them a guard of honour as they came
cart-wheeling off the pitch.
Champions: CMS
Runners-Up: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Top Scorer: Rob Graham (PwC,
nine goals)
Player of the Tournament: Danny Fletcher
(CMS)
Women's
Football Tournament
With some minor disruptions to the head height
rule the ladies players took to the pitch. Linklaters and newly-formed
team Freshfields got proceedings rolling, it took a while for
the tournament debutants to find their rhythm and Linklaters
took advantage winning the first game of the competition 5-1,
with Emily Galastian scoring all five of the Links' goals. Then
the fresh legs of Norton Rose and Taylor Wessing took to the
pitch. In this tournament, the large goal areas which players
were not permitted to enter made for some audacious strikes
and Norton Rose had some terrific attempts on goal with captain
Emma Thompson scoring a beauty in this first game. The final
score was 5-0 to Norton Rose.
Everyone knew the game between Linklaters and Norton Rose was
going to be close, though no one expected it to be quite so
heated…! The reigning champions Linklaters started with
lots of shots on target but none finding the back of the net.
Then it was Norton Rose who pushed forward and scored the two
goals that won them the game. The day wore on and the suncream
was brought out. The ever-smiling Taylor Wessing girls finally
scored, courtesy of a strike from the battling Neegan Arasteh
and Angela Dhillon scored three of Freshfield's four goals.
By mid afternoon it had became clear that the final would be
a clash of pink and red as Linklaters and Norton Rose repeated
proved themselves to be from the upper realm of footballers.
.
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
Pts
|
| 1
Norton Rose |
5
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
16
|
15
|
| 2
Linklaters |
5
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
15
|
12
|
| 3
Freshfields |
6
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
-10
|
3
|
| 4
Taylor Wessing |
6
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
-21
|
0
|
When
the final eventually kicked off, super-skilled Norton Rose were
yet to concede a goal but after a debious in-the-area goal in
their first meeting, Linklaters had a score to settle!
"This is much better than the men's games", one Linklaters lad
was heard to comment from the crowd as the battle commenced,
and indeed it was! The final twenty minutes of football in the
ladies' tournament was top-class and when Linklaters pulled
one back after falling two behind, the atmosphere was electric.
It was the Roses' day though and their third goal sealed the
deal. In a reverse of the Lisbon final, Norton Rose were victorious
and Linklaters had to settle for their well-earned silver medals.
Player of the tournament, as chosen by our beautiful Colombian
referee, was SJ from Linklaters and the team also counted the
Top Scorer amongst their ranks as Emily's seven goals bagged
her the 2009 golden boot.
Champions: Norton Rose
Runners-Up: Linklaters
Top Scorer: Emily Galustian
(Linklaters, seven goals)
Player of the Tournament:
S-J Stirling (Linklaters)
Netball
Tournament
Things, as always, began smoothly
for our netballers - with their marked out courts and transported
England regulated netball posts it was almost like being in
a country that actually knew what netball was! Clifford Chance
and CMS got proceedings started. The newcomers CMS looked the
part as they took to the courts in their royal blue dresses.
They took a while to find their flow and in that time the Champions
of 2007 took advantage - Clifford Chance won 14-3. Two games
later PricewaterhouseCoopers did not make the same mistake in
a closely fought match in which levels of adrenaline were palpably
high. The reigning champions PricewaterhouseCoopers won by one,
11-10.
The highest scoring game of the day was between CMS and Edwin
Coe (in their pussycat doll hoodies). The match was very close
and even with the CMS footballers giving their vocal support
to the girls in blue, they could not help swing this match in
their counterparts' favour and the final score 18-22 to Edwin
Coe.
Halfway through the afternoon, the table was ridiculously close
and goal difference between all teams was an teeny-tiny 5 goals!
PwC and Clifford Chance topped the table with PricewaterhouseCoopers
having a goal difference of plus one over Clifford Chance. In
third place was Edwin Coe, followed by Linklaters and CMS respectively.
The break meant a well deserved rest in the sun for the ladies.
With the courts perfectly located next to the football the netballers
got to see plenty of footballing action!
After half an hour in the sun and faces already rosy, the ladies
took to the courts for the afternoon session. Clifford Chance
played Edwin Coe who put up a good fight but unfortunately their
depleted squad of only 7 players started to lag. The umpire's
final whistle secured Clifford Chance another win with a score
of 21-6. It was in the second half of the tournament that Linklaters'
ladies worked hard to secure two wins over both CMS and Clifford
Chance.
|
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GD
|
Pts
|
| 1
PwC |
4
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
49
|
12
|
| 2
Linklaters |
4
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
20
|
9
|
| 3
Clifford Chance |
4
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
22
|
6
|
| 4
Edwin Coe |
4
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
-31
|
3
|
| 5
CMS |
4
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
-73
|
0
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The table was so close but after counting up
the wins it felt like déjà vu. PwC and Linklaters
took to the courts just like they did for the 2008 final in
Lisbon. Linklaters managed to get the early lead and at half
time were 7-10 ahead. In the last five minutes of the game crowds
gathered and Linklaters men's and women's football team cheered
loud enough to cover up the final umpires whistle that proclamied
their netballers winners! Linklaters were the victors over PwC
in a close final which ended 15-13.
Player of the tournament was chosen by the umpires and I think
every player would have picked Sarah Haley from Linklaters as
the player who played to a very high standard and with great
sportsmanship! Many thanks to all the players and finally, thank
you to all the umpires and the fabulous score-keeping offspring!
Champions:
Linklaters
Runners-Up:
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Player of the
Tournament: Sarah Haley (Linklaters)
Presentation
The awards ceremony was held at the funky
Destino 56 on the beachfront, free drinks for all put a smile
on everyone's faces! The presentation was rather a raucous affair
with jeers and cheers for everyone mentioned.
From here all teams headed for food at the nearby restaurants
and then headed back for another drink! Everyone ended up at
super-club Las Animas at Dockas and memories seems to have been
lost somewhat after that...
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