The Comets Summer Tournament

Information

The Comets Sports Club 6-a-side Tournament has taken place over the weekend of 21st & 22nd June at Longdean School, Rumballs Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP3 8JB.

Saturday's weather was patchy drizzle on and off all day making the atmosphere feel humid. Sunday was dry and bright but was blustery. Overnight Saturday the wind really got up and we lost most of our gazebos, leaving us to erect makeshift units on Sunday morning, cobbled together from the pieces of gazebos that had not been totally destroyed.

Despite the weather we were entertained throughout the weekend by some very good quality football. On display were almost 1400 players from 183 teams. Eighty five clubs represented nine counties.

Results

The players within each of the teams above received mementos of the day and, in addition, each winning team took away a winner's trophy. All players that took part in the U7 and U8 events received medals to mark their participation.

The Special Needs group played an exhibition match against Comets Managers, and won. They too received trophies for their victory. For more detail see Special needs hammers Comets managers news article.

An estimated 3500 guests visited the tournament this year, making this the largest event of its type in the area. None of this would be possible without the help of a great number of people and organisations. We'd like to thank them all, but please excuse us if we miss anyone out.

Our thanks go, in no particular order, to:

• Dave Cox and Brian Wiseman for their massive help on the BBQ, as well as setting up and putting away tables, gazebos etc. Worthy of particular mention are their entertainment skills, noted by many burger buyers over the weekend
• Lynda Lee for rescuing our beleaguered registration personnel on Sunday
• Steve Jay of Longdean School for all his enormous help in planning for the weekend
• Simon & Tracie Pattie for the supply of 900 Burger Buns, courtesy of Keystone Distribution of Hemel Hempstead
• Paul Gasper for rescuing the tournament by finding more footballs
• Bob for his resilience at the gate, selling programs
• Paul & Bob for running the U18 Red teams to allow Steve to deal with other matters
• Miles and two Pauls, parents of players in U14s, for setting up and car park duties
• Tony, parent of one of the U7 players, for setting up and manning the drinks stall on Saturday morning and for bringing his parents to help him
• Tina, Tish, Rebecca, Chris, Hannah, Rachael and John for manning the drinks stall throughout Saturday and Sunday
• Tom, Alfie, Jermaine and Alex for ably running the four senior teams, leaving Dan and Steve free to work elsewhere
• Abbots Youth FC, Neil Morgan, Tornadoes FC, Hemel Athletic and Lime Walk School for providing goals
• The Head of Chambersbury School for allowing us to use the school's grounds for additional parking
• Pelada for its sponsorship and for sending the lovely Anita and Tony
• S1 Sport for the great display of shin pads
• Henry Tilly Sports for the donation of footballs
• Premier Soccer for battling the elements to provide the speed gun set-up
• St John's Ambulance personnel for their patience when we ran a little late
• All the referees, too numerous to name, who made the tournament possible
• Houghton Wanderers U8 team, with whose entry we made a mistake and they ended up playing in the U10 section
• All the senior teams for their patience when we had to announce that we had a delayed start
• Whitlocks for providing ice cream
• Photography by Adam for taking superb photos
• Players from a variety of Comets teams for litter picking at the end
• And, of course, any helpers we haven't already mentioned

We reserve our biggest thank you for all those players, managers, parents, relatives and friends of all the teams that took part. We hope you enjoyed our tournament and we look forward to seeing you again next year.