Dublin, Ireland January 2009
After the last years' fundraising event (rugby penalty kicking by 10 Salesforce.com employees) for the Homeless World Cup organisation, there was a great appetite to do something again for this good cause. Salesforce.com has 4 soccer teams (including the ladies team) that compete under the ‘Futbolforce' name in the Astro.ie leagues in Dublin. We though it was a good idea to see which department in our Dublin office can field the best soccer team.
After last year's win by the Sales Development team, this year many departments wanted to prove who is best. So the ‘Clash of the Forces' event was born, after Tony Doyle from Astro.ie agreed to allow us to use the pitches in St Benildas and also suggested to make, sure that 2 referees would oversee fair play.
We envisaged that many salesforce.com employees had a keen interest to place a bet on the winners, with a very high percentage of this going to the Homeless World Cup organisation. With help of the team captains and a tremendous contribution of our Business Partners (Kerensen, 20:20, Parx, Fujitsu, SaasPoint, Westbrook, Parx a H&W Consult and Vivens Group), the tournament raised a whopping Euro 5850. This is after the ‘matching' that Salesforce.com Foundation supplied for any contributions supplied by our employees (many thanks to Elena).
So, on Friday the 16th the event took place. The tensions where high, the teams well oiled and kitted out in colours that some found more appealing than others. Many teams had a strange desire to at least win against the team of the managers. That proved an easy task, although ‘the managers' managed to get one point! 8 teams were participating in two groups, and in both groups two favourites quickly emerged (UK1, UK2, SR/EBR and Services/Renewals team). It worked out that the last match in the group phase would produce a clash between these teams, hence heightening the suspense. In the final, the pre tournament favourites (Service renewals and SR/EBR) fought out the final battle of the Clash. Service/Renewals under leadership of Barry Cronin and Bob Downey emerged victorious after a 2-1 hard fought win.
But apart from the competitive spirit and the good cause, many aspects of this tournament made it into a successful event:
- French Business partner Kerensen fielded an entire team, that flew over from Paris especially for the tournament. Serious Jet Lag prevented them from winning. Also Mark Cameron from 20:20 in the UK made the ‘Gladiators ‘team a much better competitor. Thanks to all, for coming to this event and giving it that extra international edge.
- The ladies in each team scored some pivotal goals that changed the tournament, and even the very talented top scorer was female!
- Many people showed up to cheer on the teams, which resulted in a ‘World Cup Mania' like atmosphere
- Fair play was on everybody's mind, the few incidents where more to blame on old age then on maliciousness
- The weather gods were very kind to us
After the final, everyone went over to the pub to ‘rehydrate'. Michael Harmon from the Homeless World Cup Event and the trainer of the Homeless Squad where there to explain all the good work the organisation is doing and how they help the homeless people that participate in their soccer initiatives. Michael also handed over the main prize to the winners, Service/Renewals team. Tony Doyle from Astro.ie was also very kind to supply fleeces for the winning team and also trophies for best male and female players.
Here are the outstanding achievements of the ‘Clash'
- Overall Winner Service / Renewal under the guidance of Barry ‘the philosopher' Cronin and Bob ‘the enforcer' Downey
- Best Female Player Aisling ‘the whirlwind' Gaffney (also top scorer of the tournament!!!!)
- Best male player Eoin ‘Gandalf' Greaves
- Queen of penalties Aisling ‘the whirlwind' Gaffney
- King of penalties Simon ‘lost toenail' Elmes
- Winner of the bet Darren ‘marathon man' Brennan (he predicted one of the few the top 4, correctly and his total goal prediction was closest)
All in all, it was a hugely successful event, thanks very much to everyone who made it remarkable!
