Thirteen Thamesmead primary schools took part in the 13th annual Matthew Clarke Memorial Tournament held at Woolwich Poly on Thursday 16 June.

The event saw 12 of the 13 schools battle it out to become the 2011 champions, whilst Discovery Primary School, who are still too young to take part in the competition, put on an exhibition match to showcase their talent.

In all, 34 matches took place throughout the afternoon, with Hawksmoor, Heronsgate, Windrush and Bishop John Robinson making it through to the hotly-contested semi finals.

Then the real nail-biting began. It seems there’s not a year that goes by when Hawksmoor and Heronsgate don’t come head-to-head and this year was no different with Hawksmoor winning their semi-final one-nil.

The second semi-final between Windrush and Bishop John Robinson really went to the wire, finally being decided on penalties and a sudden death shoot out which was won by Bishop John Robinson.

The final between Hawksmoor and Bishop John Robinson was played with real spirit and some great displays of attacking and defending football but at the final whistle it was the winners of the 2008 tournament, Hawksmoor, who were crowned champions, beating their opponents by the only goal of the match. Cue tears from the losing finalists and jubilation from the victors!

However, no-one went away empty handed with every player in the tournament receiving a medal from Charlton Athletic first team defender John Fortune.

The finalists were also given individual trophies to take home and the Hawksmoor captain was presented with the Matthew Clarke Memorial Tournament Cup.

Elaine Johnson, Head of Communications and Marketing, Trust Thamesmead said: “On the surface this might seem to be just a football tournament but it is so much more than that. It is the only event that we know of that brings together all the Thamesmead primary schools, whether they are Greenwich or Bexley.” - Elaine Johnson, Head of Communications & Marketing, Trust Thamesmead.

Julia Hickson, Marketing and Communications Officer, Trust Thamesmead: “The annual tournament really does justice in keeping the memory of former St John Fisher and Thamesmead Town FC Under-10s team member Matthew Clarke alive. His mum Marci supports the event every year and both Marci and Matthew’s sister Elle were there and thoroughly enjoyed the day.” - “It was a lovely day, the kids and parents were great; there were no disagreements; credit to them all.” - Match Ref The day’s compere, Andrew Sayers of AJSay Media said: “There was such a great atmosphere. The kids played in really good spirit and showed the positive side to young people and the future generation of Thamesmead.”