There’s clearly one thing within the water on that facet of the Severn Bridge, with Wales now having taken the final 4 MAN v FAT Nationwide Event titles (Newport the earlier winners) and Swansea and Newport once more went face to face within the ultimate two on the weekend.
However this yr’s match was additionally a celebration of how MAN v FAT has advanced lately.
Not solely had been there a number of MAN v FAT golf equipment making their match debut on the weekend, we additionally had our first worldwide illustration, with a MAN v FAT Soccer group from Florida making the lengthy journey over to take part.
The Individuals had been welcomed to the Lilleshall Nationwide Sports activities Centre on Friday with a recreation towards a MAN v FAT HQ facet to get the journey out of their legs, and so they went on to make many new associates throughout the course of the afternoon.
It was a narrative that unfurled throughout the entire 16 teams, with golf equipment developing towards different MAN v FAT set-ups from completely different components of the nation, permitting them to share their experiences and successes on the programme to date.
Regardless of wet climate circumstances, the group levels had been performed in a optimistic temper because the 5 rounds of video games noticed the tables take form.
Throughout the 16 teams, there have been solely three groups with an ideal qualifying document as Swansea, Margate and Bromley received all 5 of their matches. In the meantime, there have been an additional 9 unbeaten information forward of the knock-out levels, with Salford unfortunate to not emerge from Group C regardless of avoiding defeat.
Because the day wore on, the climate picked up and so did the extent of competitiveness as the prospect for glory moved nearer.
The group video games noticed the title holders Swansea knock out their membership mates to make it to the final sixteen and the drama continued to unfold elsewhere with a lot of penalty shoot-outs being required to separate the groups.
Regardless of sides now having performed quite a lot of soccer because the match progressed, the standard remained excessive – each when it comes to the ending to attain targets and the usual of goalkeeping to maintain them out.
Swansea had either side of the sport sorted and had been proving to be a tough nut to crack, however they had been run shut within the semi-finals by a powerful Margate group who had been finally edged out by a slender 2-1 scoreline.
On the opposite facet of the draw, Newport had wanted penalties to edge out Harlow on the Quarter Finals stage however discovered their rhythm once more within the semis to see off Peterborough.
And so one other Welsh ultimate awaited and in a extremely aggressive fixture, Swansea edged out their neighbours to carry the silverware as soon as once more.
A memorable afternoon’s work by all involved and the query for most of the groups there on the weekend was “How can we overcome the Welsh subsequent yr?”
