Friday, 10 August saw the finals of the School Sport WA Primary Football Championships come to an exciting conclusion with Forest Crescent primary school crowned Glory Cup Champions beating Halls Head 2-1 at Hilton Reserve, Fremantle.
The four Regional Champions were all looking forward confidently to their semi -final encounters with Connolly the Northern Champions playing the Peel Champions, Halls Head and in the other semi, Forest Crescent were drawn to play previous two time State Champions, St Jerome's.
Forest Crescent took the ascendancy early against St Jerome's and scored a couple of early goals in the first half, which placed a great deal of pressure on the opposition to come back. Two more goals sealed the win for Forest Crescent in their first ever finals game. St Jerome's scored a late consolation to make in 4-1 but Forest Crescent had a Grand Final berth sealed.
The second semi-final was a much tighter affair with both, Halls Head and Connolly, in their first ever final, sparring relentlessly in a classic end-to-end encounter. The game ended in a nil all draw, mainly due to the Halls Head goalkeeper who saved his team on several occasions. So for the first time in the four years of the Championships a semi final came down to penalties. The turning point came when two consecutive penalties were skied over the bar, giving the advantage to Halls Head, who despite missing another, kept their composure to slot home their last penalty to send them into their first Grand Final, much to the delight of the large contingent of parents and supporters!!

The scene was set to have a new State Champion for 2007 and what a start it was for Halls Head, taking the lead early in the first half. The Forest Crescent Team was stung into action and eventually their relentless pressure resulted in an equaliser. The score at half time was 1-1 with all to play for in the second half. Both teams played a high quality game and went for the win. In the end Forest Crescent prevailed scoring half way through the second half, with excellent approach play from Scott Galloway who quite rightly was named the most Valuable Player. Scott dictated terms throughout, making some skilful runs and incisive passes, opening up defences through the sheer pressure he exerted on the game not only in the Grand Final but also the Semi-Final.
This is the first year that two government schools participated in the Grand Final and it is very pleasing to see that the standard of the game in the primary schools is improving greatly year-by-year.

This year saw, Glory players, Jason Petkovich and Jimmy Downie attend the finals and helped present the medals to the Grand Finalists. The players were also given playing shirts with embroidered logos of School Sport WA, Perth Glory, Football West and Championship sponsors, Smarter than Smoking. It is historic that this Championships represents the first time that School Sport WA, Football West and Perth Glory have worked together in an event. Something to be proud of.
In the end it was another highly successful Championships, where over 700 children participated over the two weeks, demonstrating excellent sportsmanship and skills. It was pleasing to see the large number of parents and supporters who attended even though the inclement weather did make it less than desirable. Thank you to everyone for their support.

Schools wanting to participate in 2008 are asked to nominate through www.schoolsportwa.com.au. Next year's Regional Championships will be on Friday, 1 August with the Grand Final being on Friday, 8 August.
This year's Inaugural Girls-only 9-a-side Regional Championships will be held on Friday, 7 September with the Grand Final being held on Friday, 14 September. Contact Tony Carvajal on tonylcarvajal@gmail.com or on 0414 475 312 for further information.