Ølands Disciples wins the CBS Sport Challenge
After months of planning, the day of the CBS Sport Challenge was finally here. Volunteers met up at CBS at 7:30 in the morning to make sure that all the equipment, the prizes and the goodie bags would be ready for when the teams would start arriving at Nørrebrohallen an hour later. A total of 25 teams and 217 participants had signed up for the Challenge, which was the first big tournament hosted entirely by CBS Sport.
No microphone – no problem
Everything seemed to be ok at Nørrebrohallen until it as discovered that the microphone at the football courts – which would be used to say welcome to all the teams and later on for announcing the winners – didn’t work, which meant that Mette, the announcer ended up having to use only her voice to tell all the participants what was going to happen throughout the day. Fortunately, everyone was quiet and shortly after the tournament could begin with only a short delay.
The teams had been divided into 5 groups of 5 teams, with everyone playing each other twice – so all teams was guaranteed a minimum of 8 matches during the day. At the end of the group stage, all the group winners would go on to the semi finals together with the best runner-up. And it was clear from the get go, that everyone was there to compete for the first place in their groups. Intensity was high and the referees would hear for everyone decision that the teams disagreed with.
The Challenge
The Challenge started with football and basketball, and Volleyball was added about 45 minutes into tournament. For the Challenge, Nørrebrohallen consisted of 2 football courts, 1 basketball court and 1 volleyball court. This of course favoured the teams who preferred football, but this would turn out not to be a problem throughout the Challenge.
As the teams played their first couple of matches, certain patterns showed in the groups. Especially in group 1 where Ølands Disciples quickly took the lead with an impressive goal difference. 5 matches into the Challenge, they could brag about a maximum of 15 points and a goal scorer of 22-0 after playing all 3 sports. The team would eventually win the group recording just 1 defeat in a basketball match against The Stiffs.
Group 2 was a whole other story. Det Var Sørens and Reimann’s Finest were both doing great throughout the day recording 6 wins and 2 loses, giving both teams 18 points at the end of the group stages. None of the teams was sure about who had progressed, and all the participants in the 2 teams were waiting anxiously for the final result. It ended up being Det Var Sørens who was better in the matches between the 2 teams moving on, and Reimann’s Finest would therefore have to wait to see if they would end up as the best runner-up to see if they progressed to the semi finals.
Group 3 saw HA(Mat)ness and mmm Alvin move out in front from the start. The 2 teams beat each other 1 time each, so it was the results against the rest of the teams in the group that would send one of them through. And at the end it would be mmm Alvin’s 2-2 draw against MCM Eleven that send them crashing out of the tournament. Being better against HA(Mat)ness in the matches between the teams meant that a win against MCM Eleven would have seen them through, but unfortunately for the, they didn’t manage to put the winner in the back of the net in the deciding football match.
Team Fred won their first 3 matches in group 4 and never looked back. Recording 6 wins, scoring 18 points there were never any doubt which team would progress in that group. HA-Almen6 got close at one stage when the beat Team Fred 5-1 in a football match, but as Team Fred won the rest of their matches, the route to the semi finals was cleared.
Group 5 would be dramatically in a whole other way than the rest of the groups as it saw one of the teams being disqualified from the tournament after throwing a shirt after one of the referees after being sent out in a basketball match. Luckily this didn’t have an effect of who won the group as Dynamo Puha! Was already out in front in the top. Team Fernet was close behind, but with only 12 points before their final match and 6 points behind Dynamo Puha!
So at the end of the groups stage, it ended up being Ølands Disciples, Det Var Sørens, HA(Mat)ness, Team Fred and Dynamo Puha! who won the groups and went on to the semi finals. Reimann’s Finest who ended up equal with Det Var Sørens in their groups took the final spot as the best runner-up.
The semi finals
After a short break all the teams was gathered to find out which sport they would play in the semi finals. This would be decided with a draw. 2 semi finals would be football and 1 would be basketball. The teams would draw a note that said either football or basketball, and it was very clear that all but one team was hoping for football. Only Det Var Sørens who had been the best basketball team on the day was hoping to draw basketball, and the excitement was easy to see when the note said basketball. The opponents would once again be Reimann’s Finest who had lost the first basketball between the two teams 15-7. The other 2 semi finals would see Ølands Disciples play HA(Mat)ness and Team Fred playing Dynamo Puha!, both in football.
The first of the football semi finals between Ølands Disciples and HA(Mat)ness was match dominated by Ølands Disciples, but a number of missed chances meant that after 8 minutes of play, the score was 2-2. The teams played on looking for the golden goal that would see one of the teams into the final, and it took just 5 seconds of play before Ølands Disciples had put the ball in the back of the net booking their place in the finals.
In the basketball semi final, there was never any doubt about the result. A clear 23-4 win for Det Var Sørens saw them into the finals.
The last football semi final between Dynamo Puha! And Team Fred ended up with a quite comfortable 4-1 win for Dynamo Puha!
The final of the CBS Sport Challenge would once again be decided by a draw between football and basketball. The draw were made by a Challenge Official, and it turned out that the final discipline would be football. The 3 final teams were placed in a group where the teams would all play each other.
The finals
Ølands Disciples started against Dynamo Puha!, and once again a football match with Ølands Disciples ended up as a match played to one goal. The team had the ball for most if the match and managed to score 3 goals during the 8 minutes, giving them a perfect start to the final.
The second final match saw Det Var Sørens take on Ølands Disciples in a match that could see Ølands Disciples as the winners of the CBS Sport Challenge if they won the match, as it would give them the 6 points needed to be sure to win the final. And they got of to a great start with a quick leading goal. As the match progressed, the Disciples once again proved themselves the best football team in the tournament scoring an additional 3 goals. Det Var Sørens managed to put one goal in the back of the net, but a 4-1 win for Ølands Disciples was more than enough to secure the title as the winner of CBS Sport Challenge 2009.
Before the award ceremony the match between Dynamo Puha and Det Var Sørens would decide who would take down 2nd and 3rd place. The match was more even than the two first final matches, but at the end of the day, Det Var Sørens took down the match with a comfortable 4-0 win earning them the second place in the tournament.
Congratulations to Ølands Disciple
So, at the end of the day Ølands Disciples took the place at the top of the podium, with Det Var Sørens in second and Dynamo Puha! in third. Ølands Disciples earned themselves loyalty cards from Joe and the Juice for the 1st place, Det Var Sørens won 1-year passes to Tivoli Gardens for 2nd, and there were sportsbags from Royal Unibrew to Dynamo Puha! in 3rd place. Besides this, all the top 3 teams received samples from L’Oreal new mens line, Mens Expert.
CBS Sport would like to thank everone who helped out in the day for a great tournament, all the participants for supporting the event and being in good spirit all day, and of course all the sponsors that helped make the day possible. Therefore thanks to Joe and the Juice, Tivoli, Royal Unibrew, L’Oreal, Fidels, Kraft Food, Nordea, Hummel and Sportigan.