The AJ Cup 2007

17th March 2007

My friend Anjana has run the London marathon several times now to raise money for the Association of International Cancer Research, and a couple of years ago she came up with a fab way to come up with the cash - organise a football tournament and make people pay to take part! And so the AJ Cup was born. Anjana was sports officer for the Student Union when we were at SOAS and played for our women's football team (I think she may even have been a founding member, but don't quote me on that...) so, of course, the girls feature heavily in the tournament.

In an impressive feat of organisation, Anjana got 17 five-a-side football teams to sign up, paying £100 each to register their team. The tournament took place at Goals Wembley (just about in view of the new Wembley Stadium with it's very pretty arch) and the rules were simple - teams were allowed to have as many subs as they wanted but the golden rule for the day was that there had to be a girl on the pitch at all times. They played through a group stage and then went into finals of both a plate and a cup competition.

I went along to offer support in some way, be it shaking pompoms, handing out half-time oranges or generally standing around not knowing much about football. As it turns out, I was put to work with Anjana's boyfriend's cousin and it was our job to keep track of the scores to see who went through to the finals. Once the managers at Goals Wembley had explained the rules, everyone was really up for it and got VERY competitive! There was the odd occasion where people had to be reminded it was all for charidee and not the FA Cup Final, but it was the competitive spirit that gave the day its buzz. It even inspired me to think that I might like to have a go at football. Maybe next year.

Luckily, there were no (serious) injuries on the day other than bruised pride when the defending champions got beaten. Anjana's team faced humilitation when they were booted out of the cup by a bunch of upstarts and had to play in the plate competition, which they then won in a desperate attempt to salvage their pride. Shouts of "Fix!" were quickly drowned by after-tournament-beers at the bar. The fact that there were no physical injuries struck me as somewhat miraculous what with the gusto with which people repeatedly went crashing into the sides of the pitches, tackling high, low and anywhere else when the ref wasn't looking - and that was just the girls! I tell you, watching football is far more tiring than playing it, I reckon, what with the constant worry of who'll break their leg first! I thought Anajana was for it at this point when she was tackled side-on by two massive blokes, one of whom was on her own team!! This would make a good spot-the-ball pickie actually. Another fundraising idea perhaps, Anjana?

Anyhoo, everyone had fun and loads of cash was raised, which is the main thing. Anjana will be running the Marathon (all 27 miles of it!) on 22nd April and you can support her by clicking here. Do it now!

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