The 7-a-side charity football tournament, now in its third year, took place on Saturday 20 May at Roots Hall Stadium.

Our first match saw us play against Palmers Solicitors and we did a very professional job with a 3-0 victory and a great team performance. Our second match against Seagrave and Partners also saw a comfortable 2-0 victory, meaning that we were assured of our passage out of the group ahead of our final game against CLS Money, with confidence flowing from our performances. Unfortunately we lost the game 3-1 with their first goal being worthy of the applause from all watching as their star player showed some good touches.

The loss led to us playing the winner of another group who had been entered into the tournament as a last minute replacement for a legal firm, to which we stood up really well, but ultimately we fell to a 1-0 loss. Our conquerors made it all the way to the final before being defeated by the defending champions Scrutton Bland (who also knocked us out last year!).

Andy Paul, Client Manager at Rickard Luckin, commented: “Last year a staggering £27,000 was raised for HARP, so we're looking forward to finding out this year's total. Although we didn’t win the tournament everyone in the squad had a great day out, we just wish we could have brought the trophy home with us. Bring on 2024!”

Speaking about the event, Vanessa Hemmings, Chief Executive at HARP, said: “World Cup-on-Sea 2023 was a huge success. There was an amazing atmosphere and some truly impressive footballing performances! We’re hugely grateful to all the teams that come together to help raise awareness and donations to support our work helping local people to overcome or avoid homelessness.”

If you would like to make a donation for this incredible cause via our Enthuse fundraising page it would be hugely appreciated: https://homelessactionresource.enthuse.com/pf/rlfundraiser

Image credit: Gaz de Vere