The
eurofootballfives Veterans Tournament was launched
in 2013 and has become a firm favourite in our
calendar ever since. In 2017, we launched a
second Veterans event for late summer in September.
This has quickly established itself in the diary
and has earned a loyal following of teams.
The
September Veterans event was launched in 2017
in Lisbon and saw Portuguese side Talhos Mariete
defeat Hungary's FC Miracle 5-2 in the Cup Final.
FC Miracle are not here in Budapest as they
will be chasing glory in our Open Age Barcelona
Fives this October. Last year we rolled on to
Mallorca where Spain's Policia Local de Palma
took the title with a 3-0 win over Bure Park
Seniors. We are delighted to land in Budapest
for the 2019 festivities and see so many familiar
faces.
First
up in Group B were two teams on debut. Budapest
Celtic were experienced in our tournaments but
making a first Veterans appearance. The Budapest
Celtic Legends were up against Old York Cosmos
who were competing in our events for the first
time – a warm welcome to them.
The
two teams were looking evenly matched and the
first period ended with the two teams locked
together at 0-0. We were to get our first Group
B goal in the second half and it was Budapest
Celtic Legends who broke the deadlock thanks
to an Adrian Courage goal. Anton Vandenko turned
1-0 until 2-0 and the points were safe for the
home team.
Elcombe
Old Boys were making the transition from our Open
Age tournaments to our Veterans tournaments. They
had played 7 times in our Open Age events with
some success. The zenith of their achievements
was victory at the 2016 Barcelona Fives. We wish
them luck for their Veterans debut.
They
were up against a Bure Park team who had also
made the transition from our Open Age tournaments
(8 appearances) to our Veterans tournaments (3
rd appearance). They had been ever-present in
the late summer Veterans event and had reached
the Cup Final last year and collected runners-up
medals.
This
represented a tough opening fixture for both teams
and this was reflected in the half-time score
that saw the two teams locked together at 0-0
at the interval.
The
deadlock was to be broken in the second half though
– Marcus Faure of Elcombe Old Boys with the goal
that secured all 3 points for his team.
The
final fixture in the opening round of Group B
was a team on debut – Hungarian Journalists NT.
They were up against an experienced team making
their third appearance in our events, Peebles
All Stars.
The
Hungarian Journalists National Team were the third
of 3 Hungarian teams in the tournament draw to
get their campaign underway. The other two local
teams had kicked off with a win and a draw so
the pressure was on not to let the host nation
down. They did fall behind though as Mike Reid
gave Peebles All Stars a 1-0 lead. It was a lead
they would retain until half-time.
The
Hungarian Journalists NT recovered in the second
half with an equaliser scored by Bertalanskei.
The match finished 1-1 and the teams earned a
point each. Only time would tell if this was 2
points dropped or 1 point gained.
