Sutton Juniors Under 11's have now completed their tour of Holland, and guess what...they are now....

....CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE

We arrived in Holland on Friday 23rd May after a 15 hour journey, thankfully the ferry crossing was very calm. We had our own tour bus driven by a Scot named John, who is now an honarory SJFC supporter after proving to be very supportive to the whole team and thier families, although we did arrive slightly later than planned due to sat nav problems, well that was Johns excuse anyway, although the navigator might have had something to do with it too, what do you think Craig!!
We played our first tournament at a place called Cuijk. It was the International Aviko Tournament 2008 hosted by V.V. SIOL. We were met by an official of the English FA who welcomed us to the event. The teams gathered for the National Anthems and introductions then we were quickly into action.

The A team were first to play, everyone was quite nervous with it being the first match and not knowing the quality of the opposition. It wasn't long though before the goals started going in for Sutton against a team from Top Oss (location). The lads were playing great football and eventually won 2-0.
This win boosted everyones confidance and it carried through to the B team who also won their first match 3-0, also against a team from Top Oss. Sutton were on a role now with both teams winning their first matches in Europe.
The second round of matches quickly arrived and Sutton A continued their winning run, beating Rumalner TV(country) 3-0.
The B team came up against a fairly strong squad from Wvv Wageningen (country) and were very unlucky to lose by the odd goal as Sutton enjoyed most of the attacking play in this match, final score was 1-0.
The lads were doing well so far, everybody now enjoying the day with the sun shining and both teams playing well.
Round 3 saw the A team play JVC Cuijk, and they produced yet another fine performance wth goals from EJ, in thefirstst 3 seconds of the game, followed by goals from Tom and Peter to finish with another win 3-0.
The B team had an outstanding 3rd round with all the team trying their best after the loss in the previous round, Joseph Horsfall showed amazing skill with some clever Cruyff turns down the wings, the team finished winners with a 1-0 victory against JVC Cuijk.
As the final round approached we all knew that the A team needed to win to ensure they finished top of the table. The flags were out and cheering and chanting greeted the players as they took to the pitch. It was one of the best atmospheres that the players had experienced, with support down the full length of the touchline and behind the goals from members of the B team.
The opposition were SIOL, the home team, so they had good support also.
Sutton took time to settle but managed to keep the opposition away from their goal and were soon starting to get chances of their own. The breakthrough came about halfway through the game when Sutton scored. The crowd went wild!! with a mini pitch invasion by a few parents. Sutton continued their good football and managed another 2 goals to settle the nerves and this started the party on the touchline with parents and coaches singing and cheering the winners to victory, it all looked like a typical English team in Europe!
The B team still had to play their last match so all attention was switched to them.
They were also playing a team from SIOL and after watching the A's win the league they went all out to win their own trophy. The lads soon got infront and this started the singing and celebrating on the touchline. The B's just kept pushing forward at every opportunity and finished the day off with a fantastic 4-0 victory.
It was now a matter of waiting for the other teams to finish playing to see where the B's would finish. They could finish top if the results went the right way....
In the end the B's got second place and were delighted with this, they had scored 9 goals and only let in 1 during the whole tournament..

The trophies were presented to both captains and then celebrations continued for the rest of the day with A team coach getting a well deserved soaking in good old winners style celebrations and singing on the coach journey back home.
Day one had been an amazing success...WELL DONE LADS

Once again we would like to thank our sponsors without whome we could not have taken part in this event.
Our current sponsors and prize donators are shown below, please visit their websites.

We have done a number of bagpacking days which have been a great success,. All the lads got stuck in and we think they enjoyed it. We were pleased with the response of the many customers that allowed us to pack their shopping bags and with all the good comments we received about how polite our players were. We would like to thatnk both Morrisons in Skipton and Sainsbury's in Keighley for their support.

A few photos from the first of our bag packing sessions, someone tell Tom he's supposed to be packing the things, not eating them.

A raffle has also been arranged with first prize of a superb mountain bike, worth about £150, and many other quality prizes including a fantastic set of 4 mugs from Abbey Road Studios, Signed sports books, Champagne, (full list & pics coming soon).
Tickets are available at £1 each from managers and parents of the under 11's.
Winners will be announced at the Grand Draw, Saturday 8th March, 8pm at Eastburn Inn and also displayed on this website. Please attend the draw if possible.