Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network- Mumbai
Mumbai, Feb 3: St Joseph Parishioners Cup is an inter community open category ring football tournament for members registered with the parish. Budding as well as experienced players participate in the tournament. This year saw 28 teams competing against each other.
The qualifying rounds were held from the January 16 to January 18, followed by the quarter finals, semi finals and finals played on Jan 22, Jan 23, Jan 24, Jan 28 and Jan 29 respectively. The tournament whittled down these 28 competing teams to just four for the winners, runners up, and the hardliner’s cup.
The games played on January 29 for the hardliner’s cup between Our Lady of Valankinni and St Andrews, and the finals played between Ave Maria and Mount Mary were interesting. The amount of precision in both teams’ passing and control made the game a joy to watch for anyone passionate about football.
However, the final game was deadlocked with no goals scored by either teams. The winners were determined by penalty shootout time, which was quite pressurizing for Ave Maria as well as Mount Mary, and Ave Maria emerged as the winners of this tournament.
A beautiful prize distribution ceremony was organized by Fr Agnello and his team. The priests and other guests were given a variety of flowering plants.
Trophies and prize money were handed over to the winners. Fr Dominic handed over the winners trophy and prize money to Ave Maria, while the best disciplined team, highest scorer, best player and the 1st scorer of the final match too bagged trophies.
The tournament and the evening ended with a vote of thanks by Carl and Natasha to the parish priest and his team, the referees and the ball boys for their dedicated service, and last but not the least to all the participants and the viewers.