Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Premier 2 Division

Semi Final

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 16.45 Actual 16.57

G.N.G. Leicester 2 G.S.A. Reserves 3, attendance 125

6’ 0-1

64’ 0-2

68’ 1-2

74’ 1-3 (pen)

90’+ 1, 2-3 (pen)

@ Riverside Football Ground (F.C. G.N.G.)

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2FW

No Admission

Tournament Brochure, free, 68 pages.

I had decided earlier in the day that if the host club G.N.G. Leicester were playing in the Premier 2 Division Semi Final, then I would stay on for one last match. It should never have been in doubt, and it wasn’t, as they had won all their matches in the Walsall and Birmingham tournaments and comfortably won their opening match this morning as well, judging by their winning margin. My decision was also swayed by the fact that the match was being played on the Riverside Football Ground main pitch, which is home to F.C. G.N.G. who play in the Leicestershire Senior League, Premier Division. It was also the only ground in that league that I hadn’t visited as the 2018/19 season came to a close. Despite being floodlit, it made more sense to do a match whilst I was here, rather than make a special journey, and anyway, they don’t tend to play many midweek matches due to the small size of the league, so perfect.

G.S.A. took an early lead, but decided to ‘shut up shop’ and just sit back and see if G.N.G. could break them down. They relied on the blistering pace of their Number 9, who had opened the scoring, as a real weapon. Ten minutes into the second half G.N.G. had a man red carded for a foul and shortly afterwards G.S.A. broke away to make it 0-2. It looked to be all over, but the ten men replied with a 20 yarder that the ‘keeper really should have saved, to make it 1-2, but the two goal margin was quickly restored as G.S.A. scored a penalty, completing a hattrick for their Number 9. G.N.G. did reduce it to 2-3, when they scored a penalty of their own in stoppage time, but it was too late to alter the outcome.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Premier Division

Quarter Final

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 13.18

Smethwick F.C. 1 Singh Brothers Derby 1, (1-4 pens), attendance 45

11’ 0-1

47’ 1-1

@ Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, Pitch 4

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2 FW

No Admission

Tournament Programme, free, 68 pages.

Despite this being the highest level match so far, it was easily the least entertaining. Derby took an early lead and Smethwick levelled it up just two minutes into the second half. Both teams cancelled each other out and there were very few chances for either side to win it, so we headed to penalties to decide the winners. Smethwick only scored one of their three taken, but Derby scored all four of theirs to go through.

Having watched three matches back to back, with no time in between for food or drink, I decided to take a break and have a sit down, before doing match number four of the day, scheduled for 16.45, which would be a match involving the host club G.N.G. Leicester.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Premier 2 Division

Quarter Final

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 11.15 Actual 11.48

A.F.C. Coventry Lions 1 G.S.A. Reserves 3, attendance 50

8’ 0-1

17’ 0-2 (pen)

19’ 1-2

35’ 1-3

@ Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, Pitch 3

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2FW

No Admission

Tournament Programme, free, 68 pages.

As we waited for our scheduled 11.15 match to start, the trouble brewing following the Panjab Sandwell versus G.S.A. Youth match now turned into a mass brawl, which involved between 50 and 100 people, including one of the teams from our match, G.S.A. Reserves, who went to add numbers to members of their club involved in the fighting. For a good five minutes or so the fighting moved from one side of the pitch to the other and just as it looked like it had quietened down, another fight broke out on the fringes, and off it went again. The Police arrived just as it was calming down and some sort of order was restored.

There seemed to be a dispute going on between various sections of the G.S.A. committee and players as to whether they would actually play on, or withdraw from the tournament as some sort of protest, but eventually it was decided that they would carry on. Having kicked off 33 minutes late, it meant the match was reduced to 2 x 40 minute halves to try and get back some of the lost time and keep the rest of the day on schedule.

It didn’t appear to affect G.S.A. too much, as they came out and attacked from the off, going two goals up early on, but a superb free kick pulled Coventry Lions a goal back, but G.S.A. soon restored their two goal lead. The second half was a non event. This match didn’t finish until 13.17, which could have been a problem, as our next match was due to start at 13.00. Thankfully, the game beforehand went to penalties, so our next match was going to start late and it meant we had a minute gap between our match finishing and the next one starting. It was a good job it was only about 25 yards between the two pitches.

Khalsa Football Federation

Leicester Tournament

Division 2

1st Round

Saturday 22nd June 2019

Kick Off 09.30 Actual 09.31

F.C. Panjab Sandwell 2 G.S.A. Youth 4, attendance 30

18’ 0-1

33’ 1-1

49’ 1-2

51’ 2-2

74’ 2-3

80’+ 6, 2-4

@ Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, Pitch 2

Braunstone Lane East

Leicester

LE3 2FW

No Admission

Tournament Programme, free, 68 pages.

Having attended this tournament last year, I arrived with a list of 4 pitches that I hadn’t seen matches on previously. Although the fixtures are on the tournament website, the actual pitches are not known until you arrive on the morning of the opening round of matches. It turned out to be a real bonus today though, as they were using the three pitches at the Leicester City Council Employees Sports Ground, which hadn’t been used last year, so I decided to do a match on each of these, then see if I had the stamina to do any more matches after this.

From the two tournaments played so far, in Walsall and Birmingham,(they use the same venues for both competitions) these were the top two teams in the overall league table. There used to be three divisions, but this year there has been a ‘Premier 2’ added, although it means a number of teams receive a bye in the first round of this division, which is the lowest level, due to it having fewer entrants. It is also the only one of the four divisions that are played as 80 minute games, rather than the traditional 90.

This was a really good game, although it turned into a very niggly affair, especially after G.S.A. went ahead late in the match through a controversial goal. Panjab thought a free kick should have been awarded to them, but having stood and watched G.S.A. score, they then argued with the Referee and each other for around 6 or 7 minutes before the game finally restarted. To make matters worse, G.S.A. then added a fourth goal well into added time to seal a 2-4 win.

As we headed to Pitch 3, for the scheduled 11.15 kick off, the arguments continued on the other pitch and as well as the two teams that had just played, it now seemed to have Sikh Hunters involved as well, as they were trying to warm up for their match, but were being hampered by the arguments that were beginning to become much more heated………it was about to ignite, big style!