Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wing held its annual five–a-side tournament at Aldershot military garrison on Sunday 6th April.  Fifteen male teams and seven female cadet teams battled to lift their respective trophies.  The start was delayed for about an hour due to heavy snow in the area.  Unfortunately this meant that last year’s winners of both the male and female trophies 1927 (Petersfield) Squadron were unable to attend as cadets were snowed in.  Two other units were also unable to make it through the conditions.

Despite this the tournament got underway with the seven female teams competing in a single league.  There were some excellent individual displays and some very entertaining matches.  An early meeting saw 424 (City of Southampton) Squadron meeting 2495 (Hythe) Squadron.  It was a good early win for   424 Squadron 6-2 and this game proved decisive in the overall scheme of things.  These were the two teams of the tournament and this loss meant that 2495 had to score a lot of goals and gain as many bonus points as they could to catch up the three points lost to their Solent rivals.  With three points for a win and one for a draw the one point gained for every four goals scored in a match could have proved important.  Cadet Gale of 2495 did her best rattling in nine in one match.  Over the day Hythe came up four points short and 424 (City of Southampton) Squadron were crowned champions, with Cadet Watson lifting the trophy for the winners.

The male tournament was split into three hastily arranged mini leagues.  Flight Lieutenant Noble,  the event organiser,  had spent many hours putting the running programme together but with the drop out of three teams his work had been in vain.  Ably assisted by Flight Lieutenant Gallop they put the programme back together and it was decided that the three group winners and the best overall second place would compete in the semi-finals.  Like the girls matches the standard was good and rivalries continued.  Some good performances showed and all could look forward to the last three games.

Before the semi-finalists were announced all the cadets and staff held a minute silence followed by some rousing applause for cadet Kieran Richards of 1350 (Porchester) Detatched Flight who lost his battle with cancer on Thursday of last week.  The cadets of 1350 Squadron had worn black arm bands in his memory for the event.

At the end of the qualifying matches the four teams that showed through were 1391 (Romsey) Sqn, 2327 (Havant) Sqn, 1216 (Eastleigh) Sqn and last years beaten finalists 1098 (Gosport) Squadron.  The first match brought Romsey and Gosport together.  This proved to be an exciting match with first Gosport taking the lead and then Romsey coming back to equalise.  At the end of the regulation 10 minutes the score stood at 2-2.  Moving into two minutes of extra time Romsey took the lead for the first time in the match.  But with the last kick of the game Gosport scored passed a diving Flight Sergeant Pidgeon in goal for Romsey and took the match to penalties.  With the scores still tied at the end of the regulation five penalties it went to sudden death and on the second round Gosport missed theirs and Romsey went through to the final.  In the second semi-final Havant came up against Eastleigh and in pulsating match Havant the pretournament favourites won 6-1.

1098 vs 1391 in the male semi-final (Right)
		Cdt Gale of 2495 Sqn in action (left)

The final showed what competitive sport is all about with a great deal of passion being shown on both sides.  The match did not lack skill either with both teams shooting on site and both goalkeepers kept busy.   The ten minutes went quickly and in the end 2327 (Havant) Squadron scored the decisive goal and won the match 4-3 later Corporal Callum Palmer lifting the trophy for 2327 Squadron.

Medals, certificates and trophies were presented by Squadron Leader Joss Whalvin the Wing Sports Officer who thanked all for attendance and a good level of competition. 

		Cdt Watson of 424 Sqn collects Winners Trophy from Sqn Ldr Whalvin (left)
Cdt Palmer of 2327 Sqn collects Winner's Trophy from Sqn Ldr Whalvin (right)

A list of results is available below.