Allen & Overy Sports Tournament 23.03.10

A surprisingly cheery march morning dawned in Manchester as the law society prepared to host teams from Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leicester, Liverpool and Warwick for the now annual Allen & Overy sports tournament at the Armitage centre.

An excellent turn out on the day pleased our sponsors greatly, and it was not long before the trainees from A&O were kicking the soccer tournament off in style with some flashy passing and spectacular skills, if their reporting is to be believed. Despite their best efforts the trainees didn’t go home with the trophy on this occasion, with the spoils going to an excellent side from Sheffield Law Society, but the trainees were able to rub shoulders with many budding lawyers and pass on some of their wisdom and experiences.

Over on the grass pitches was some fantastic “10s Rugby” was on show with tries galore and some real champagne moves keeping the crowd entertained all afternoon. Birmingham brought a strong team and were impressive in their early games, setting up a huge match against Manchester to decide who would win the tournament. I am pleased to report that Manchester came away victorious, but only narrowly, and duly sprayed their winners champagne around with far less class than they had shown on the pitch on the way to victory.

Manchester were also the winners indoors in the ladies netball competition, arguably the toughest y fought contest on the day with Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool coming close. Unfortunately during the middle of play one of the stand out performers of the day, the captain of Leeds, took a tumble and sustained a nasty injury. We all wish her well and hope that her absence wasn’t too much of a contributing factor behind Manchester’s eventual success for the second year running.

An enjoyable day on the pitch was finished off with a few beers and some food in a local pub before the awards were given out and speeches made. It was a relaxing end to an excellent day and provided another great opportunity for all of the participants to mingle with and pick the brains of the trainees and associates. On behalf of everyone who attended I would like to thank Allen & Overy for their support and sponsorship, without whom such a successful, entertaining and rewarding day could not have taken place. It was a great experience for everyone involved and I’m sure this will continue in the same vein for many years to come.

Drew Smith
Sports Secretary and Tournament Organiser.