The history of the Sar-Chip Cup goes back to the 1980s, when an end of season game was arranged between junior football sides representing Sarratt and Chipperfield (hence the name). Following the re-start of junior football in Sarratt in 2000, the old Sar-Chip Cup was dusted off and up for grabs again. 2000, 2001 and 2002 saw tremendously close encounters when Chipperfield edged victories by the narrowest margin of 1 goal on all three occasions. In 2003, with Sarratt throwing down the gauntlet again the Sar-Chip Cup became part of the Val Cummings Cup. Val Cummings had been a great supporter of the Sarratt Junior Football Club. This year the format was for teams of Under 7s, Under 8s, Under 10s and Under 11s all to play against each other with the aggregate goals deciding the winner of the Val Cummings Cup. The Sar-Chip Cup would be won by the winners of the Under 11s game. On Saturday 10 May the boys from Chipperfield travelled to Sarratt to play at the King George V Playing Fields.
Under 7s
The first game saw the Under 7s playing under the management of Mark Whitbread and Anthony Crichfield. In the first half Chipperfield pressed forward and made the deserved break through just on half-time with a goal from Ewan Jackson. The second half

was even but Chipperfield kept Sarratt at bay to get the red & black shirted Chipperfield off to a great start: Chipperfield 1 Sarratt 0

Under 8s
Sarratt Under 8s came out determined to pull back the deficit and by half time had raced into a 2-0 lead. An excellent team talk at half time by managers Paul Harding and Paul Hewetson saw the Chipperfield boys dig deep and kept Sarratt away from goal for the second half (much to keeper Hayden Dickers delight !) Just as time was running out, a superb run by Harry Hewetson finished with him sliding the ball home for a vital goal Chipperfield 1 Sarratt 2 (Val Cummings Cup scores now Chipperfield 2 Sarratt 2)

Under10s
After a scary start with Sarratt nearly taking an early lead, the game was made safe by an excellently taken first half hat-trick by Chipperfields Jack Baker. All the goals were superbly taken and at the other end the resolute Chipperfield defence held firm. In the second half there were few chances, so manager Richard Holt was delighted with the final score: Chipperfield 3 Sarratt 0 (Val Cummings Cup scores now Chipperfield 5 Sarratt 2)

Under 11s
Clearly in the last game Chipperfield held the advantage for the Val Cummings Cup with a cushion of 3 goals but still nothing could be taken for granted and there was the added pressure in this game for the SarChip Cup.
A fairly typically close first half saw only half chances with both defences in reasonable control. With potentially extra time looming and only 15 minutes left, Sarratt made the first breakthrough to take the lead. This seemed to inspire the Chipperfield team who pushed forward relentlessly and a superb run by Zach Smith drew out the entire Sarratt defence. When the ball was crossed it fell to Jack Thompson who gleefully smashed home the equaliser. With only minutes left and the noisy crowd pushing them on, another Chipperfield attack ended with Jack Twomey scoring the winner. Final score: Chipperfield 2 Sarratt 1 So in an eventful day the Under 11s retained the SarChip Cup and the Chipperfield squad captured the Val Cumming Cup for the first time with a final score of 7-4 .
Our hosts at Sarratt had laid on a very warm welcome and special mention should be made of Dave Calcutt who was responsible for a lot of the behind the scenes organisational work. Next year Chipperfield will be hosting the tournament .
Martyn Dicker
Roving Match Reporter