The Autism Awareness Cup -A New Event Takes Root

An account of the inaugural Autism Cup, played yesterday on the astroturf at Lynn Sport, which raised £75.55 for NAS West Norfolk.

INTRODUCTION

Yesterday saw the staging of the inaugural Autism Awareness Cup on Lynn Sport’s artifical pitches a mile and half from King’s Lynn town centre. The event was a great success, and fundraising collections on the day netted £75.55.

THE TEAMS

Five teams had entered, with names being selected on a European Championship/ World Cup theme. The five names selected were England, Holland, Italy, Republic of Ireland and Spain. The tournament was organised in two phases, a mini-league after which the top two teams would contest the final.

THE PRELIMINARIES

As well as our own NAS banners a sponsors banner was on display. We also had two tables set up displaying various items, including the cup and sets of gold, silver and bronze medals.

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Event organiser Grant Cotton and NAS West Norfolk chair Karan McKerrow.

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Local radio coverage – Grant Cotton with an interviewer from Radio Norfolk.

 THE LEAGUE STAGE

None of Italy, The Republic of Ireland or England ever looked convincing. England managed a 2-0 win over Italy which also featured a penalty being saved (justice done – it should never have been given, although in fairness this was the only bad decision of the day) but this came too late to be of much value. In one of the final pair of matches (matches were played two at a time at this stage, side by side) Spain beat the unfortunate Italy 5-0 to confirm their position as league winners. They would face Holland in the final, while England secured the bronze medals.

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Everyone taking part in the tournament.

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THE FINAL

This was an excellent game, with possession fairly evenly balanced between the teams. The trouble for Spain was that Holland did more with their possession – while the Holland goalkeeper was never seriously tested Holland scored twice. Thus the final score was Holland 2 Spain 0. Spain as league winners collected the gold medals, while Holland became the first holders of the Autism Awareness Cup and collected silver medals for coming second in the league.

THE PRESENTATIONS

The cup and medals were presented shortly afterwards, out on the field. Congratulations to Holland for winning the cup and to Spain for winning the league element. Congratulations also to Helen Van Riel for assembling the Holland squad. Finally of course, massive congratulations to Grant Cotton for organising the event.

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The Spain team with their gold medals.
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The Holland squad (having eight players at their disposal enabled a bit of rotation).

 

Author: Thomas

I am a founder member and currently secretary of the West Norfolk Autism Group and am autistic myself. I am a very keen photographer and almost every blog post I produce will feature some of my own photographs. I am an avidly keen cricket fan and often post about that sport.

3 thoughts on “The Autism Awareness Cup -A New Event Takes Root”

  1. Great photos the total above was what came out of the pots for cakes and donations, Grant raised more, total as yet to be announced but the BIG aim of yesterday was to raise awareness of autism which was hugely successful.

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Some Autism Coverage in the Lynn News | aspiblog

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