St Bede’s RC Sports College hosted the finals of the Blackburn Primaries 7-a-side Jubilee Shield finals – one of the oldest school tournaments in the country.

The Jubilee shield has been contested since 1934 and this year, eight schools reached the finals having progessed through two qualifying rounds.

Teams were split in to two group with Group One consisted of Salesbury, St Francis, St Gabriels’s and St Peter’s. Group Two included Blackburn The Redeemer, St Annes, Westholme and Lower Darwen. St Francis won all of their games to top the group with Salesbury also progressing thanks to a win and a draw.

St Annes topped group 2 thanks to 2 wins and a draw with The Redeemer finishing as runners up after a win and 2 draws.

In the first semi final, St Francis beat The Redeemer in a penalty shoot-out while Salesbury beat St Annes 2-1 after extra time. The final pitted champions St francis against Salesbury and after a very tight and anxious final it was the Saints who proved triumphant by cooling slotting away the only goal of the game.

In the third/fourth play-off, St Annes beat Redeemer 2-0.

“I would like to thank St Bede and their staff and to the Young leaders and Ambassadors from St Bedes who volunteered their time to referee all of the games in this competition,” said Andrew Mercer Blackburn with Darwen School Games Organiser.