The Hive today hosted a youth community football tournament organised by the BFC Community Trust.

‘The Hive Community Cup’ comprised of sixteen under-11 teams made up of local schools and sports clubs competing to be crowned champions of the inaugural event.

The tournament was organised by the Community Trust providing the opportunity for teams to participate on the excellent first-team training pitches at The Hive.

After coming through the group stages and semi-finals, the final saw Dollis Junior School A defeat tournament hopefuls Oakmere 2-1. Both the runners-up and winning teams were presented with medals by Barnet FC first-team players Elliot Johnson and Mauro Vilhete.

The Bees players had some consolatory words for the losers of each semi-final – St Lawrence A and Dollis B – while signing autographs for their young fans.

St Lawrence manager, Uthman Odutayo, said, “The pitches are lovely and all the kids really enjoyed themselves today.”

Robbie Courtnage, the victorious manager of Dollis Junior School located in Mill Hill remarked, “The facilities here are second to none. It’s great that the tournament was community based. Events like these should be running all over the country more often.”

Community Trust manager, Birtug Kazim, also spoke of the importance of community orientated events that get kids together, participating in sport.

“Following on from last week’s successful Community Day we were pleased to organise another event for local young people. We had to cap the number of teams in the tournament due to the huge demand which is really encouraging and the day turned out to be a great success in the sunshine. Events like this show Barnet FC’s commitment to the local community and the aim is to stage these tournaments annually so we’re really pleased with the outcome.”

The Girl’s Tournament took place the following day on Sunday 7th July. In sweltering conditions, Ruislip Girls A triumphed on the day to take home the trophy.