Helix United: A Rooftop Rivalry That Brought a Community Together

Goals, Grit, and Great Vibes: The Inaugural Helix Football Tournament Recap

Monday 29^th September marked the beginning of what is sure to be an annual tradition championing community spirit amongst The Newcastle Helix sites buildings. We saw buildings and businesses come together, all in the name of football, fun, engagement, and competition, via a 4v4 football tournament on the rooftop pitch at Newcastle United Foundations NUCASTLE home, hosted by Ryan Blake, Assistant Centre Manager of The Catalyst.

Represented on the day were The Catalyst building, through Oxford Innovation Space, the National Innovation Centre for Ageing, the Internet of Caring Things, GlycanAge, Jumping Rivers, NIHR Innovation Observatory, Urban Foresight, ramarketing, and the Bank of England. The Spark building was out there in force, as expected with any competition, with the likes of the National Audit Office & Womble Bond Dickinson showing up. The Lumen saw both Savills & Hay-Kilner done the boots and shinpads on the day. And finally, the Urban Sciences Building represented by U.S.B F.C.

We had a total of 14 companies, create ten teams, from across four/five of our buildings across the Newcastle Helix site. Our mission? Bring the Helix community together through sport, passion, and fun! We did just that! We set out two mini leagues where in 5 teams faced off against each other for an overall position. In league one, Group Blue Star, we saw Catalyst Utd, Urban Foresight Utd, Urban Sciences Building F.C, Savills F.C and National Audit Office F.C play against each other for supremacy. Group Blue Star was extremely competitive with no team escaping without facing defeat! N.A.O F.C ran away eventual league leaders with nine points and eight goals. Followed closely by Catalyst Utd with nine points and five goals.

League two, Group Magpie, saw the likes of NIHR Innovation Observatory F.C, Bank of England F.C, ramarketing F.C, Womble Bond Dickinson F.C & Hay-Kilner F.C compete in a fiercely competitive grouping. Womble Bond Dickinson F.C and Hay-Kilner F.C couldn’t be separated after four games of football each. Both with 10 points, seven goals scored, and no losses, even drawing their game 0-0 meant we had to take drastic measures to separate the two. A penalty shoot-out was called with Hay-Kilner coming out victorious and topping the group.

This culminated into two hotly contested semi-finals between Hay-Kilner F.C vs Catalyst Utd, and National Audit Office F.C vs Womble Bond Dickinson F.C. N.A.O F.C emerged victorious in their 1-0 against W.B.D F.C with a well worked goal. However, 8 minutes of play was not enough to separate Catalyst Utd and Hay-Kilner F.C playing out a 0-0 stalemate. They ultimately faced off in a penalty shootout where in Ryan Blake of Oxford Innovation Space, and Jonathan White of GlycanAge, expertly dispatched their two penalties, with Hay-Kilner missing both of theirs to come away as 2-0 winners in the penalty shootout.

Hay-Kilner and W.B.D F.C opted for a penalty shootout to decide their 3^rd place play off winner, with W.D.B F.C finishing in style to secure third place. Our final took place between Catalyst Utd and N.A.O F.C and what a final it was. It felt like a homage to the one of the greatest managerial rivalries of our time. Pep vs Mourinho. The visionary, vs the Special One. N.A.O F.C, honoured their inspiration of Pep-Esque football, possession, possession, and more possession. They utilised the lack of conventional goalkeeper extremely well, consistently creating a 4v3 overload against Catalyst Utd. Catalyst Utd tried to dictate the game through aggressive pressing, cutting out the overload, but N.A.O were too calm and too energetic. Catalyst Utd was forced to adopt a Mourinho inspired approach of, low block, defend well, and play for the penalty shootout. The two teams couldn’t be separated, finishing 0-0, resulting in our 4^th penalty shoot-out of the day! N.A.O came out as deserved winners after 2 missed penalties from Catalyst Utd and subsequently scoring 2-0 in a best of three shootout!

Well done to the team at National Audit Office. Their football was fair, creative and a joy to watch. They thoroughly deserved to take the trophy home with them in the end. We had everything, from wonder goals, to wonder saves, friendly competition to (let’s say) one or two niggles, clear winners to the heartache and elation of penalties!

All in all, it was a terrific effort from everyone involved and it wouldn’t have been possible without the enthusiasm and competitive spirit of our incredible Helix site. There is a real community here amongst our buildings and it was great to see it come to fruition like it did! We’re already looking forward to the next one! The feedback has been incredible, with teams already planning regular kickabouts and future tournaments. We’re thrilled to see this spark of connection and can’t wait to build on it.

Here’s to more goals, more games, and more community. See you at the next one!