Some of the best and brightest players in the Capital Futsal League came together at Queanbeyan PCYC to celebrate the end of the Futsal season and raise funds for Sock it to Sarcoma in the traditional annual Charity Shield contest.
In two thrilling matches the watching crowd were treated to thirty-five goals, twists and turns, memorable moments and the introduction of the Uno reverse card which allowed coaches to swap an opposition player for a referee for two-minute stretches at a time.
This led to the likes of Gareth Biggs, Jordan King, Thomas Gellatly, Benjamin Cracknell, and Karla Martin forgoing their usual activities for a spell amongst the action, both Biggs and Martin forced to undertake goalkeeping duties on occasion, whilst some were more successful on the court than others!
It was a double-edged sword though that allowed the players to go card happy and disallow whatever goals they liked for spurious reasons, this leading to red cards for Ryan Straub and Luca Macor for looking at their peers wrongly, Alessandro Pena a particular pest when it came to dishing out the cards!
It was, of course, all done in great spirits as the attendees raised funds for Sock it to Sarcoma, the chosen charity and one that remains special to the hearts of the Futsal community in memory of the late Cameron Shelton who was fondly remembered on the evening.
In terms of the results, the Men’s Shield was won by CFL Gold wit Braulio Melo enjoying the evening, helping himself to a four-goal haul, Zac Peelgrane taking a double, and Jeremy Saleh crashing in the sealing goal in the lats minute.
In reply, both Ryan Straub and James Jayde-Ward scored doubles for CFL Blue, in a see-sawing contest that ended with Gold taking the honours of the twenty-goals scored, winning by 11-9.
The Women’s Shield was settled with fourteen seconds remaining as CFL Blue won 8-7 thanks to a last gasp winning goal from Isabella Barac. It was one of two goals that Barac scored for Blue and was the first time in the entirety of the contest that they had led the match.
Michaela Thornton also scored twice for Blue, with Zoe Williams doing likewise for Gold in what was a highly entertaining fixture.
RESULTS
MEN’S CHARITY SHIELD
Capital Football Blue 9 (Mermingis 7’, Hawker 9’, Straub 13’, 38’, Blount 27’, James-Ward 30’, 31’, Guo 35’, Rinaudo 38’) Capital Football Gold 11 (Pena 3’, 28’, Woodiwiss 9’, Braulio Melo 18’, 20’, 33’, 34’, Peelgrane 22’, 37’, Bruno Melo 29’, Saleh 40’)
CFL Blue: Ashley BLOUNT, Jamie-LEE GUO, Sherab GUO-YUTHOK, Brandon HAWKER, Jayde JAMES-WARD, Luca MACOR, Joesph MERMINGIS, Ryan STRAUB, Michael RINAUDO, Nick MIDDLETON
CFL Gold: Kieran ALLEN, Josh GASPARI, Zac PEELGRANE, Braulio MELO, Bruno MELO, Jeremy SALEH, Alessandro PENA, Jackson WHITE-BRETTELL, Doug WOODIWISS
WOMEN’S CHARITY SHIELD
Capital Football Blue 8 (Berkeley 12’, 16’, Barac 12’, 40’, Thornton 13’, 33’, Chaverra 32’, Robertson 36’) Capital Football Gold 7 (Birnie 4’, Wiliams 7’, 8’, Goldstein 12’, Wilson 16’, Palombi 17’, S. De Marco 19’ (og))
CFL Blue: Isabella BARAC, Jamie BERKELEY, Maja DODT, Sofia CHAVERRA, Stella DE MARCO, Ayla ROBERTSON, Casey SMITH, Megan SNELL, Michaela THORNTON
CFL Gold: Sienna BIRNIE, Natalie DE MARCO, Rhianna GOLDSTEIN, Eliza-Jane NORRIS, Gabrielle O’BRIEN, Brittany PALOMBI, Maddie STEINACKER< Ellie SUMMERS, Zoe WILLIAMS, Zoe WILSON
