The Inter Futsal tournament was held on the 23rd of Feb as a club service project within the Rotract Club of Mid Town and organised by the Real Midtowners chaired by Adhil Hafeez.

It was organised to create a bond between the other teams in the club which included the Rising Phoenix, Goal Diggers and Gota Bae. 

The event was at the Excel World on a warm and lazy Sunday morning which carried until 2 PM. Each team had 7 players with a girl playing in the final 5 with two substitutes.

The first game of the tournament was between Goal Diggers and Gota Bae wearing their blue home jerseys to represent Chelsea captained by non-other than the Mid Town President Nipun Alwis. Gota Bae came out in their white uniform with Sajid Ali leading the way. The first half belonged to Goal Diggers as they netted the 1st goal. The second half started with Gota Bae scoring in the first two minutes but that was short lived as Goal Diggers scored their second goal to win the match.

The second game featured the home team RMT with their one off black jerseys captained by Adhil Hafeez versus the tournament favourites Rising Phoenix with Abdul Khalid taking charge, wearing the infamous red devils colour, there was a certain Chelsea fan who also had no choice but to wear the Manchester jersey. Both teams gave it their all, in an end to end battle on both half’s where the score was 2 – 2 at the end of time, as a result the game went on to extra time. RP scored in the opening minutes of extra time on the first half. RMT put in some shots in the second half of extra time but RP held on to their lead with a good defence and won the match 3 – 2.

Goal Diggers and Rising Phoenix played their second match and was an intense match from the word go as both teams had won their first match and were firing from all cylinders as both teams scored one goal each in the first half. Things got interesting in the latter part of the second half when both teams scored once again with a final score of 2 -2 which took the game to extra time. Even though RP played the previous match they didn’t show any sign of weakness and both teams were playing at strength to strength during extra time. The second half of extra time was interesting as GD gave away to a wonderful strike from RP attack to win the match 3 – 2. We also had CJ and Sajid from Gota Bae to entertain us with their commentary. 

The fourth match was RMT facing Gota Bae. Both teams had to give their all as they had lost the first match. The first few minutes started out slow but RMT scored an absolute banger to take the lead in the first half. The second half consisted of many shots by both sides but were saved by their goal keepers, in the end RMT came out winners.

Gota Bae faced RP in the fifth match, both teams gave their 100% but were tired from the previous matches and RP had the upper hand in the match and won it 1-0 which took them to the finals. But RP wasn’t over the line yet as they still had to play the finals between RMT or Goal Diggers depending on who won the final match.

The last match was between RMT and Goal Diggers. Both teams had everything to win as both had lost and won a match. The winner of this match would meet RP in the final. The match was controlled by GD from the start as they netted one goal in the first half which was enough for them to win the match and take them to the finals.

The third-place match was between RMT and Gota Bae, RMT were all over GB in the first half and scored a goal in the closing minutes of the first half. The second half started off with both teams coming with everything they had. GB scored a goal which followed up with another goal from RMT to win the match 2 – 1.

The moment everyone was waiting for finally arrived after some excruciating and intense matches and the best was yet to come. Both teams started off with the best 5. It started with some slick passing from Farhan and Abdul to score in the first half but Goal Diggers didn’t give up and scored with the inform Umar assisted by Nipun. The two-star strikers Abdul and Umar both had many shots at goal but the score was still 1 all in the first half. The second half started with Rising Phoenix scoring and Goal Diggers scoring on the other side to level things up, but that wasn’t enough as Rising Phoenix scored again to seal the victory and become the Inter Mid Town Futsal Champions.

After the final match was completed the award ceremony started and everyone deserved their award. Award winners are as follows.

Tournament Winners     : Rising Phoenix 

Runner up                           : Goal Diggers

Best male player              : Abdul Khalid

Best female player          : Sajani Yasara Mayadunne

Best goalie                          : Asfaq

Golden Boot                       : Umar Inthikab

Rotract Club of Pearl Island was invited to play an exhibition match against Mid Town and it was exciting as the tournament that concluded. Both teams started with a strong squad. The first half was end to end football where both teams netted 4 goals each in 20 minutes. The second half belonged to a formidable Mid Town team who scored 4 more goals to bring the final score to 8 – 4 in an exciting game of futsal and fellowship.

All in all, everyone had an awesome day with futsal and fellowship. It was an amazing way to end of the inaugural inter Mid Town futsal tournament. Hope to see everyone with the same spirit and excitement next time.

By: Rtr. Kaizer Majid | Email: maaskaizer@gmail.com