Over the weekend of the 6^th and 7th July, sixteen teams and over 175 players enjoyed some fantastic competition, as they competed for the BWCI Shield and Plate trophies. With ten local teams, including the GFA Aztech Academy, four teams from Jersey and Two from Bristol City, the Festival again illustrated its popularity and reputation for being a fantastic event.

Over the course of the two days of competition, the hundreds of spectators saw some fantastic team and individual performances.

The festival began with two groups of eight teams completing a round robin on the first day.  Saturday 7^th July saw 56 matches played across 4 pitches, 12 matches resulted in draws and a total of 125 goals were scored on the first day of the festival.

Once the round robins were competed two new groups were created, the top four teams from each group came together to compete for the BWCI Shield and the remaining four teams from each group combined to compete for the BWCI Plate.

The Shield group comprised of Bristol City, Bristol Robins, GFA Aztech Academy, Jersey Scottish, Rihoy North, St Martins AC, St Pauls Yellow and Sylvans Pirates,

The Plate group comprised of Belgrave Wanderers, Bodyline St Martins, Grouville, Guernsey Rangers Red, Northerners, Rovers, St Pauls White and Vale Rec Yellow.

With some unfortunate overnight and morning rain the participants arrived to waterlogged pitches on Sunday 7^th July. The GFA staff and tournament organisers worked incredibly hard to get the pitches playable to continue the much-loved festival. After a short delay the festival was able to go ahead

Both groups completed three rounds of fixtures before heading straight into the semi finals on Footes Lane.

St Pauls Yellow faced GFA Aztech Academy in the one Shield Semi Final whilst Bristol City took on Rihoy North for a spot in the final. GFA Aztech Academy and Bristol City were both victorious with 1-0 results and were heading to the 2024 BWCI Shield Final.

In the Plate competition Vale Rec Yellow had to face Grouville in the Semi Final whilst Belgrave Wanderers played St Pauls White. Belgrave Wanderers came victorious with one goal in their match but Vale Rec Yellow and Grouville had to go to penalties after a goalless draw. Grouville went on to win the penalty shoot out and secured a place in the final to face Belgrave Wanderers.  

The much anticipated climax of the festival had arrived and it was time for the Finals. Taking place at Footes Lane the spectators looked on from the stands to see who would be lifting the trophy this year.

Bristol City and Belgrave Wanderers both won their matches without the need for penalties. Both winning comfortably 2-0 the Shield was awarded once again to Bristol City and the Plate being awarded to Belgrave Wanderers for the first time in the clubs history having only attended the three previous festivals after an absence of 10 years.

Festival Chairman, Martyn Banton, commented that;

"Once again the BWCI Festival has delivered another fantastic experience for all of those children that have enjoyed participating throughout the weekend. We have witnessed some really impressive performances from individual and teams but perhaps more importantly, the Festival has been played in a great spirit. As always we are indebted to the Festival’s headline sponsor, BWCI, who have now sponsored this event for eighteen years because without this support, and that of the companies in the sponsorship consortium, an event of this stature simply could not be delivered.

It is this continued support, which is greatly appreciated by the Guernsey Football Association and ensures that the Festival remains one of the highlights of the sporting calendar in the Channel islands."

Jonathan Kemp from BWCI said “We are proud to sponsor this event. It was great to see so many young people competing and having fun. Congratulations to both Bristol City and Belgrave Wanderers, for their winning performances This year we’d like to add extra thanks to all those involved in making the tournament happen, despite the challenging weather conditions.”