Sunday 17^th May marked the return of the Annual FASS Football Tournament at Heriot-Watt University.  Ten teams from the major actuarial companies in Edinburgh attended and the weather conditions couldn’t have been much better.

Group Stages

Group A was a tight affair with only three wins in the ten games played.  Two of them went to “SL Club 7”, the group winners, and one went to “Royal London”, the group runners-up.  Despite the abundance of stalemates in the group, there were plenty of goals on show for the spectators, 23 in total. 

On the other hand, Group B produced a win in every game, with “Stooka Pass The Ball” from Scottish Widows maintaining a remarkable 100% record throughout with four wins out of four.  Second place went to “Watson Wyatt”, with three wins, who had been narrowly beaten 1-0 earlier in the tournament.

Semi-Finals

The semi-finals were much more cagier affairs. Royal London ended Stooka Pass The Ball’s 100% record over the 14 minutes but they had the last laugh as a tense penalty shootout ended 3-2 in Stooka’s favour thanks to two great saves from their goalkeeper. 

In the other semi, SL Club 7’s unbeaten run came to an abrupt end with a 1-0 reversal at the hands of Watson Wyatt. Some quick thinking by the WW keeper caught the Standard Life boys napping as his long ball over the top allowed the WW captain in to finish.

Final

The final followed the trend of the semi-finals, with little between Watson Wyatt and Stooka Pass The Ball.  A wonder strike from Kenny Ettles had Watson Wyatt thinking they had done enough but Stooka Pass The Ball got a reward for their determination with a late goal, forcing the tie to penalties.  However, on this occasion it was missed penalties rather than great saves that won the day as Watson Wyatt triumphed with a 3-1 win on penalties. 

So, it was Watson Wyatt who won the bragging rights and the new J M Souness Memorial Trophy.  The tournament will return in 2010.  Look forward to seeing you there! 

Thanks to all attendees for making it a great day.  The next FASS event is the ERM Talk on Wednesday 27^th May – details can be found via the slider on the homepage – hope to see you there. 

More details on the J M Souness Memorial Trophy can be found here.

Photo of the winning team

Results Table