Intervillage Report 2013

This was the Croatian Cultural Societies 10^th year hosting the Annual Inter-Village Tournament.  A new twist to the Inter-village Tournament this year saw the tournament held over Labour Weekend attempting to make Sunday’s play and evening celebrations a more relaxing atmosphere.

Despite a different format, the tournament ran smoothly.  We have to thank the pioneers who thought up the name after a vino, namely Pupnat and their opposition.  And who could forget the young Mark Posa making his debut onto the field that one sunny day!

Over the last 10 years of the tournament, there was only one team that still hadn’t had their names etched on either a trophy or a plate.  So this year in 2013 they decided to buy a brand new team kit and call themselves Hvar.   Unfortunately Hvar started off poorly on their opening game against team Podgora.  This year Podgora was under the new management of Mike Marinovich (older brother of Andrew Marinovich).   Podgora pulled off the upset of the weekend, actually more like the decade, with a 2 -1 victory over Hvar.   From there Hvar went on to beat the tournament top dogs. 

So the title contenders Zagreb played Hvar in the plate final and the Hvarians pulled off the biggest win against Zagreb than any other team.  Hvar finally broke with tradition, etching themselves in folklore in the Plate Final with a 2 -1 win over Zagreb.   Thank you to Ivan Stanisich for donating it for a Rugby League game.

Podgora’s next game was to be a huge challenge against Vrgovac, last year’s tournament winners.  Podgora did well under new management finishing the match against Vrgorac 0-0. At this point in the competition, no one knew which way it was going to go.

The long weekend didn’t suit the boys from Pupnut with several players missing through commitments with other football teams that weekend.  If you were to note any highlights from Pupnat’s weekend it would go to the draw against Podgora .  A big thank you to Ivan Trvdeic for taking care of the team for the tournament. After Friday night’s play, Vrgorac, Korcula, Zagreb & Podgora finished all on 4 points, each with a win and a draw.   Hvar & Pupnat were equal on zero points.

There were exciting changes to the point standings after round 8 on Sunday!  With two more rounds left, it looked like this:

The bottom two teams looked like they were going home early.  Zagreb, Vrgorac & Korcula were playing for the finals down to the wire.

The next match up between Vrgorac and Korcula had people wondering if it would be a draw or not. Following straight after was Zagreb playing against Hvar.   Zagreb hoped Korcula and Vrgorac didn’t draw the game, otherwise Zagreb would make it to the final.  They wanted to knock Podgora out of the final, and that’s exactly what they did!

So we were faced with a Korcula, Vrgorac final once again!   Vrgorac were playing for the trophy for their third year in a row.  Korcula were playing for their third Trophy in 10 years!   At the end of full time Vrgorac won 4-3 claiming the first ever hat trick at the Croatian Club.  Congratulations once again to deservingly good winners… this year round.

For the first time the Inter-village Tournament included a junior Inter-Village competition.   Four teams showed up in the 5-8 year old division:   Vrgorac, Korcula, Hvar & Zagreb.   Three teams participated in the 9-13 year old category:  Makarska, Korcula & Hvar.   Overall winners in each group were Vrgorac for the 5-8 year old division and Makarska for the 9-13 year old division.  With such a positive turnout of youth for the tournament, next year is looking promising for Junior Inter-Village. It added a lot more entertainment and a family feel to the tournament this year.  Thanks to Nada for organising heaps of different things, we are going to need more bibs next year!

Thank you to everyone that helped and gave up their time over the weekend, particularly helping in the kitchen (thank you Vesna and crew) and on the BBQ (Ivan Rudez and crew).   As always there is a small tight gang that keeps it running smoothly.   To Bob Vicelich and Goran Katich, thank you for organising and operating the bar at full capacity.  Thank you to all the players that make the tournament possible and to all the supporters who turned up to support their team and their club. 

Once again this was another successful “Robert Vicelich Memorial Trophy Inter-Village 7-a-side Football Tournament” weekend. Thank you Bob, Sanja & Family.

Thank you to our referees, you know who you all are.

Bog I Hrvat

Fabian Ukich