Burngreave Saints under 8s – Unbeaten all season.
Story by Steve Pool
Burngreave Saints under 8s football team have had a spectacular season, coming top of their league. They remained unbeaten for all 20 games played against 10 teams from across Sheffield.
Walking into the Companion Club at the bottom of Barnsley Road on the night of Friday 21st we could feel the excitement in the air. The smell of popping crisp packets and popping pop coupled with wild under eights dancing let us know something important had happened. As any parent who has ever watched their children play league football knows, pride, honour and voice boxes are lost on the touch line. Imagine an unbeaten run of 20 games, imagine your team at the top of the league table.
Some of the players were proudly talking about their season. They only drew one fixture 2–2 with Hoyland. All the other games were straight wins. The kids have trained hard on Monday nights with their two coaches Phil and “Blue eyes” named because of the colour of his eyes and the fact the players find this easier to remember. When asked what they liked about football the kids said “Scoring goals and winning” the plan for next year – if too many star players don’t get picked by city teams – is to progress into the under nines and “Win everything”.
This night, in a warm club in Burngreave the under eights team can look back on a magnificent season of, 19 victories, 166 spectacular goals, broken noses, and above all winning. Oh, taking part was also important, but not as important as winning.