We’ve been working hard here at Kitlocker.com. As well as ensuring that we provide you guys with the best match kits for the upcoming new season, we’ve also been working on a celebration of grassroots football. The Kitlocker.com Cup gave two teams – Brinsworth Crusaders and Swarthmoor Social Football Club – the opportunity of a lifetime as they played Palmers FC of YouTube fame.
Palmers need no introduction, having racked up millions of views online. For the first-time ever, though, they’d be playing live on their channel. The two invitational sides, plus Team Kitlocker (again), provided the opposition. A shiny silver trophy and compulsory champagne to spray awaited the winners.
Changing Teamwear
Sunday’s event was an industry first. There has never been a men’s grassroots football tournament organised by match kit suppliers in the UK before. The Kitlocker.com Cup followed a similar tournament in January for junior age groups, which also proved to be successful. All teams were kitted out by Kitlocker for the event with Nike apparel.
Thousand of viewers tuned in live to the Palmers FC YouTube channel for the all-day event, and it seems as though you guys all enjoyed it! It was also great to see a number of fans turn up to the venue and watch the four teams in action.
Watched the whole tournament and I enjoyed every minute of it. Great tournament put on by Kitlocker. Congratulations to all the teams that participated but so very happy to see my Palmers FC lifting the first https://t.co/y65SF0J2zy Cup!
— Mike (@VictoriaGooner) June 3, 2018
How the Kitlocker.com Cup unfolded
After a slight delay, the tournament began in extremely cagey fashion. Brinsworth and Swarthmoor played out a scoreless stalemate after creating few chances. Palmers were the first team to score on the day scored the first goal of the day. Henry was the man who claimed it, as his effort deflected past a number of bodies in the way of the Team Kitlocker net.
Team Kitlocker rebounded from the narrow 1-0 loss with one of their own in the second round of fixtures. The goal came in similarly scrappy fashion, with Dave Rodgers’ header squirming into the back of the net. Palmers would go on to secure a 3-0 win in their next fixture against Swarthmoor, with Lewis bagging his first of the day. The finish was a simple one, with the goal unguarded following a mix-up at the back.
The results after two games each seemed to suggest that Team Kitlocker would go on to face Palmers in the final.
Despite being bottom of the table after two games, Swarthmoor’s 1-0 win over Team Kitlocker was enough to see them through to the final. A stunning (and rare!) freekick from Scottish was the pick of the goals in a 3-1 win for Palmers over the Crusaders in their last group game.
Palmers secure silverware
It has been a cruel 2018 for Palmers FC. Your second favourite team have come close to lifting a trophy a number of times, before falling just short. Their League Cup final loss on penalties was soon followed by a heavy 4-1 defeat in the last game of the Essex Cup. Palmers made sure that they wouldn’t end the season trophyless in Sheffield, though.
The tournament ended in similar fashion to how it began. Cautious play from both sides resulted in a game of few chances. It was Palmers who finally broke the deadlock late on, though. Henry’s goal, quickly followed by another strike from Lewis, secured victory for the favourites. Wild scenes ensued soon after, with Palmers lifting the trophy under showers of Ainsley’s champagne.
Kitlocker.com Cup 2018: celebrating grassroots football
We were really excited to present the first-ever Kitlocker.com cup to you guys. Having recently celebrated one year in partnership with Palmers, we wanted to do something special. By bringing two Sunday League teams from different parts of the country to play Smiv’s famous side live in front of 200,000 subscribers, we think we did that.
We’d like to thank all the teams that entered our competition in the build-up to the tournament. Brinsworth Crusaders and Swarthmoor Social FC, who won the chance to play, were great sports. It was a pleasure to meet both teams and also the fans that turned up on the day.
ADC Photography also provided some great snaps from the day. Check out their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for more top-level imagery of the inaugural Kitlocker.com Cup.
Thanks for watching, guys! Be sure to follow us on our own social channels to stay up-to-date with more exciting news.