This year’s summer national get-together was held in a rainy Leeds over Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Leeds is a special city for the GFSN with a yearly tournament in March and Yorkshire Terriers FC contested the first ever GFSN league game.
Opening Night Party
Our opening night party was held at the Bar Fibre VIP Lounge in the heart of Leed’s scene where the draw for the tournament was revealed and we took a few photos to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. We then moved across the road to the Viaduct to party into the small hours.
GFSN Members at the opening night party
Leicester Wildecats at the opening night party
Tournament
This year’s tournament venue was the John Charles Centre For Sport at South Leeds stadium, a very familiar venue due to Yorkshire Terrier’s annual March tournament. 22 5-a-side teams from across the UK played 20 minute games in a knockout format (see full results at the bottom of this page). It was also great to see some of our non-playing members here for the weekend and watching the tournament.
This was the worst weather at a get-together over the last ten years and we were drenched by torrential rain for most of the tournament on Saturday daytime. We usually seem to get the hottest day of the year but unfortunately this just wasn’t to be in 2014. Due to the terrible conditions we made the decision to cancel the secondary ‘Vase’ competition and just finish off the main tournament.
Village Manchester v Mersey Marauders in the final
The final featured Village Manchester v Mersey Marauders and was 0-0 when at 11 1/2 minutes a VMFC player fell to the ground with a knee injury. He couldn’t continue and they had know substitutes! In a great show of sportsmanship, Mersey Marauders offered to pause the game while a member of VMFC’s second team rushed off to get changed back into a kit and the game continued after a 10 minute break. To add to the excitement VMFC then got the first goal, with an ex-Mersey player scoring. After some intense pressure each end Mersey soon created an equaliser and the stage was set for yet another penalty shoot-out. The tournament rules stated three penalties then sudden death and each team saved one penalty. VMFC took their sudden death shot and it went wide – victory to Marauders!
After some rest and refuelling we reconvened in The Bridge LGBT Bar to watch the Champions League final. The atmosphere was fantastic with over a hundred GFSN members packing out the bar and plenty of locals joining in with the excitement. Real’s last-minute equaliser wowed the crowd and set up an intense 30 minutes of extra time where we saw another Brit score the winner.
Watching the Champions League Final
On Sunday our 2014 AGM was held back at The Bridge bar and our committee was re-elected. Chris Basiurski retired as Chair but has decided to remain on the committee in a different role – the AGM thanked him for his excellent service over the last five years.
GFSN Trophies & 25th Anniversary Cake
Issues discussed at the AGM included membership fees, which will stay the same, and the idea to hold next year’s get-together in a venue we have not been to before. Norwich was suggested and gained a lot of support from the floor as we have never held an event in East Anglia and we now have a very strong fan group at Norwich City FC, the Proud Canaries. All will be decided at the vote before the Christmas party!
Minutes of the meeting are sent out to all GFSN members via email.
Mersey Marauders FC Presented With League 2 Trophy & Get-together Tournament Shield
Sunday Afternoon – League 1 Playoff
After the AGM many of us went to a nearby pub to watch Rotherham beat Leyton Orient in the League One playoff. GFSN loyalties were divided as we remembered that The O’s strongly supported the ‘Rainbow Laces’ anti-homophobia campaign last year, but it was nice to see a local team win as we were in Yorkshire!
Summer Get-together Tournament – Full Results
Group 1
Leicester Wildecats (Team 2)
London Titans (Team 1)
Mersey Marauders (Team 2)
Newcastle Panthers
Nottingham Ball Bois (Team 1)
Yorkshire: Carl’s Lescots
Yorkshire 1-0 Titans
Leicester 0-1 Nottingham
Mersey 2-0 Newcastle
Yorkshire 2-3 Leicester
Titans 0-7 Newcastle
Mersey 2-5 Nottingham
Titans 1-0 Leicester
Yorkshire 4-2 Mersey
Nottingham 1-0 Newcastle
Titans 1-2 Mersey
Yorkshire 0-2 Nottingham
Leicester 0-2 Newcastle
Titans 0-3 Nottingham
Yorkshire 0-2 Newcastle
Mersey 3-0 Leicester
(Nottingham win the group, Newcastle qualify above Mersey on goal difference as runners-up)
Group 2:
Mersey Marauders (Team 1)
Nottingham Ball Bois (Team 3)
Village Manchester (Team 2)
Wolves Warriors (Team 2)
Jim’s Yorkshire Rippers
Nottingham 0-1 Mersey
Yorkshire 3-0 VMFC
Nottingham 3-1 Yorkshire
Wolves 4-2 VMFC
Nottingham 0-3 Wolves
Mersey 6-0 Yorkshire
Nottingham 1-1 VMFC
Mersey 7-0 Wolves
Mersey 7-1 VMFC
Yorkshire 4-4 Wolves
(Mersey win the group, Wolves qualify as runners-up)
Group 3:
Leicester Wildecats (Team 3)
Mersey Marauders (Team 3)
Nottingham Ball Bois (Team 2)
Village Manchester (Team 1)
Wolves Warriors (Team 1)
Matt’s Despicable OAPs [Yorkshire]
Mersey 5-2 Leicester
Nottingham 0-4 Wolves
Yorkshire 1-1 VMFC
Nottingham 3-0 Mersey
Leicester 1-6 VMFC
Mersey 3-0 Yorkshire
Leicester 1-1 Nottingham
Yorkshire 1-0 Wolves
Wolves 1-0 VMFC
Mersey 2-4 Wolves
Leicester 0-3 Yorkshire
Nottingham 0-5 VMFC
Wolves 4-1 Leicester
Nottingham 2-3 Yorkshire
VMFC 3-0 Mersey
(Wolves win the group, VMFC qualify as runners-up above Yorkshire on goal difference)
Group 4: Bexley Invicta
Hotscots
Leicester Wildecats
London Titans (Team 2)
Yorkshire Dinosaurs
Leicester 1-1 Hotscots
Yorkshire 4-4 Bexley
Titans 2-3 Leicester
Yorkshire 2-4 Hotscots
Titans 4-1 Yorkshire
Bexley 1-0 Hotscots
Titans 1-2 Hotscots
Leicester 1-3 Bexley
Leicester 4-2 Yorkshire
Titans 1-0 Bexley
(Bexley and Hotscots qualify above Leicester on goal difference, Bexley top the group on goals scored)
Quarter Finals
Nottingham (Team 1) 6-0 Wolves (Team 2)
Mersey (Team 1) 2-1 Newcastle Panthers
Wolves (Team 1) 3-2 Hotscots
Bexley Invicta 0-4 VMFC (Team 1)
Semi Finals
Nottingham (Team 1) 3-4 VMFC (Team 1)
Mersey (Team 1) 2-1 Wolves (Team 1)
Final
VMFC (Team 1) 1-1 Mersey (Team 1), Mersey win 3-2 on penalties
