The Arsenal Supporters Club Tournament was held earlier today at Ashburton Grove. For the second straight year, Arsenal America fielded a side. Unfortunately, last year's tournament was rained out. This year, not only did we get to play, but we made it all the way to the final! Official photographer, "Jungle Jim", will be providing all of the action shots soon, but here's a rundown of the day's proceedings... After dispatching Norfolk with relative ease in the opening match of the tournament, America quickly became the team to beat. Draws with Drogheda, West Midlands, and West Sussex coupled with victories over Scotland and Milton Keynes found America undefeated through the entire group stage of the tournament. In the semi-final, Rick B was the victim of a vicious tackle, and while the red mist descended, he was quickly calmed down by his teammates and was able to play in the final thanks to two goals from Scott Noel, and one from Peter Walton. The final was a tough test. Herts & Beds quickly established a 2-0 lead. America pulled one back through Noel before succumbing to the youth and skill of the Herts & Beds side. Apart from the runners-up medals, America will take some comfort in the knowledge that Scott Noel won "Goal of the Tournament", while Peter Walton was named "Player of the Tournament" by the Arsenal staff on hand. Congratulations to them both, and to the entire Arsenal America team for what will surely go down as a proud day in our history as a supporters club. Our team: Scott Noel, Jay Redd, Peter Walton, Ed Vokes, Rick B, Rick L, Michael Cohen The results: Game 1: America 3 - 0 Norfolk Arsenal America Goalscorers: Walton 2 Noel 1 Game 2: Drogehda 0 - 0 America Game 3: America 2 - 0 Milton Keynes Arsenal America Goalscorers: Walton 1 Vokes 1 Game 4: Scotland 0 - 1 America Arsenal America Goalscorers: Noel 1 Game 5: America 0 - 0 West Midlands Game 6: America 1 - 1 West Sussex Arsenal America Goalscorers: Noel 1 Game 7 (Semi-final) Dover 1 - 3 America Arsenal America Goalscorers: Noel 2 Walton 1 Game 8 (Final) America 1 - 4 Herts & Beds Arsenal America Goalscorers: Noel 1
Well done on getting to the final, but I am glad the Herts massive kicked your asses as I am a Herts boy I am glad they won and I know many members and former members of their supporters club! (Which I shall be joining when I move back to St Albans in 4 weeks). Well done on ArseAm getting to the final though.
I live in Norfolk Well done lads, cannot say I am suprised you beat Norfolk. I mean I have been out with them and they are a great bunch but I don't remember many players being able to form a good side. Also as for the Herts team, I am also a boy bought up in Hertfordshire and used to live 20 mins from Herts, so I am practically a Herts boy. Awesome achievement getting to the final
No, I was from Bishop's Stortford but I moved up to Norwich a few years ago. It isn't 20 mins away, its further than that around 40 mins I suspect.
Oh no I know Bishops Stortford, is about 20 mins from Hertford, just next to Essex. Im from Hatfield and spent most of my time in St Albans. Moved to Canterbury for 3 years for Uni but moving back to St Albans next month.
Have to ask Rick B about that. I know that Rick L played keeper, and I would venture a guess that Scott was up front. Other than that, I'm not sure. All the info I got, I got from Rick and Ed over the phone while they were out celebrating.
Massive kudos to the lads for the great showing today! As a member of last year's squad, I can say that the competition must have been fierce, as there are supporters from worldwide who give it their all for this. Tremendous day in ArseAm history!!!
Sounds awesome! I just have to play in one of these eventually...hopefully I'll have the cash for an end of season CL/FA Cup final/supporters' tournament romp next season. If the squad will have me...
It was an amazing day. The circumstances and environment were obviously as good as it gets. It was tough to play at first because you were obviously in awe of what was happening. I am Scott Noel, not the most popular bigsoccer poster. Jay Redd is my mate from St. Louis. He posts under InCescWeTrust. Other than that it was just little Rick and big Rick from the board. It was a great all around effort and getting to the final was a great achievement. There was really no disappointment from our end. Rick got kicked around a minute after he passed the ball away in the semi-final and for all purposes missed the final. This hurt us pretty badly because we were limited to one substitute for the final and ultimately they were fresher than us. Ultimately it will go down as one of my fonder memories in a long time and I can't thank everyone involved enough for giving us this opportunity. That goes from the Mike to everyone else. Thanks again.
I always make a schoolboy error because I forget RickB isn't American! Lord Fabregas: Well done, and great name btw. It's so good that you managed to get that far and I am sure the ref may have been a bit biased (haha jk) and next time who knows, you might win!
Congrats to everyone on the team... is this held every year around now? I remember seeing something about it just this season and last. I'd be more than willing to volunteer my services for 25K a week, prorated.
Apparently you haven't been following the David Dein / Stan Kroenke thread too closely. Seriously, ArseAm getting to the final is VERY impressive. Everyone involved should be feeling quite proud... and hung-over I suspect.