CFB football Kings

IT may have taken them 40 years, but Charles F Broome can now boast, having won every major primary school sports title there is in Barbados! Having taken championships in netball, athletics and chess, among others, the Government Hill institution put the icing on top of the cake with a win in football, after coming out on top of the 2016 BICO National Sports Council Primary Schools Football Competition.

Playing in the final yesterday at the National Stadium, Charles F Broome (CFB) were forced to fight from behind to take a two-one win over first-time finalists, St. Cyprian’s Boys.

CFB, who were also in their first final in the 36-year history of the competition, were up against a side which was more tactically-sound, and used their superior physicality to make up the deficit, which was struck in the 12th minute of the exchange.

St. Cyprian’s top goal scorer, Marcus Whittington, whipped the stadium into a frenzy when he made the most of his team’s first opportunity at goal. Making a run to the middle from the right, Whittington beat the CFB keeper, Jelan Ward, with a lovely right-booted lob, that dropped in at the right.

St. Cyprian’s were in a good place after going into the break with the lead. However, as soon as the teams switched sides, the complexion of the game changed. CFB, who came through the season unbeaten, were determined to turn around their situation, as it was the first time they trailed a team for this year’s competition.

In the 22nd minute, Khalil Vanderpool-Nurse found himself in the right place at the right time, and pounced on a loose ball in the middle just outside the box. He sent his shot along the ground at the left upright, and Jireh Malcolm, a man who is usually extremely spatially aware, stood flat-footed as the ball rolled over the line and into the back of the nets.

The equaliser bolstered the CFB morale, and six minutes later, Yanni Marshall took a chance with a long range shot on the right, that Malcolm failed to keep out. Now a goal down, St. Cyprian’s did their best to get themselves back into the game, but to no avail. The whistle went at the end of full-time, giving CFB their first schools’ football championship, and a full set as it relates to sporting titles.

Earlier in the the day, Bay Primary came from three-one down to beat out Arthur Smith Primary four-three in the third-place playoff.