Florida Albion celebrate life of Eva Bartlett with memorial tournament

Before lacing up the boots, acknowledgement must be given to those who served as the inspiration to do so.

To celebrate the life and contribution of a club stalwart to women’s football, Florida Albion Football Club (FAFC) hosted their inaugural Eva Bartlett Memorial Tournament. ‘Aunty Eva’, as she was affectionately known, was a long-standing member of the club who sadly passed away at the beginning of 2021. Her memory now lends itself to the love, hard work and dedication to the round-ball craft.

Ladies teams from surrounding areas embraced the occasion to get some preseason fine-tuning with a 7-a-side tournament, February 26. Clubs brought multiple teams to maximise game time, with the 12 teams being split into two groups of six each. After the round-robin section, the top two teams from each group were paired in the semifinals with FAFC, Bantwana College Football Club and two Panorama Football Club sides making the final four.

After seeing off challenges from Emmarentia, Old Parktonians and Cosmo City, the Panorama Ladies, sporting their lime Design-A-Door kits, topped both groups to earn semifinal spots against the hosts and the Bosmont-based Bantwana ladies. Panorama’s A team would beat Bantwana 4–0 and their B team would outgun FAFC in a penalty to shoot-out to set up an all-Pana final.

Despite the roaring action on the pitch, the underlying tone of the day was celebrating all that is female football. “The ladies season could not have started off on a better note than celebrating one of its own, Eva Bartlett. FAFC and its leadership showed all in the football fraternity what women’s football should be like: enjoyable, fun, great competition and most of all providing our young girls an opportunity to play competitive football,” said Bantwana College Owner and Head Coach, Theo Buttress.

FAFC committee member, Rashaad Gangaat shared their sentiments about the icon of the day, saying, “Florida Albion and our members have always considered Eva Bartlett as a family member. Her time spent at Florida Albion will always be treasured and valued, particularly around the support and lessons she so elegantly provided to the ladies team over the years.”

The small matter of the final was still to be played but in a show of friendship and sportsmanship, the finalists chose to lift the trophy together. “Both teams equipped themselves very well and considering that each team had players as young as 12 years old in their ranks, both teams performed exceptionally well,” said Panorama Ladies head coach, Greg Green. Putting the game ahead of results, he explained, “We felt that female football had indeed been the winner on the day and decided to share the trophy”.