The winners of the Woman’s League will progress to the northern finals to play for the chance to play in the national finals at the Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The winners of the Men’s League will enter a regional Finals day at Leeds’ Futsal Centre to play for a chance to get to London for the national finals. 

At Kenton School on Thursday night, the Woman’s league got off to a flying start with Team Northumbria scoring 20 in the opening game of the competition. Victories then came for Newcastle East End ‘B’ and BHP United, before the game of the night saw a close encounter between Blyth Town Lions Ladies and Cramlington Women. The game ended 6-4 in favour of Cramlington thanks to some excellent finishing. The night was also played in fantastic spirit with positive support from parents, coaches, and all the players who watched while waiting for their games. It was an excellent showcase of local football teams embracing a format of the game that was new to many of them.

Sunday night saw the turn of men at Coach Lane Sport Centre. In the opening game, Currys PC World FC played an excellent 2nd half to turn a 5-4 half-time scoreline into a 10-6 victory. The second game saw Newcastle Eat End defeat Bishop 13-5, despite Bishop scoring the goal of the night with a halfway line thunderbolt from Calum Sinclair. The games were both played in the spirit of Futsal with an emphasis on skill and enjoyment.

Both leagues are trialling a ‘Respect Mark’ rule where the match official awards teams a score out of 10 based on the levels of Respect and fair-play shown. Respect Marks will be used to separate teams tied on pts. It was encouraging to see that all teams scored 9 or 10.