OHAFC Festihphil set for 7th edition this weekend

14 Sep 2018

The 7th hosting of the annual OHAFC Festiphil, the five-team, round-robin tournament played by current Harrow Schoolboys and members of the OHAFC, takes place this Saturday with, for the first time in three seasons, a new name set to be engraved on the trophy.

1st XI forward Alex Gilbert retained his title last season (pictured), becoming the first OHAFC player to win the tournament more than once, but he will not be present when the action gets underway just after lunch on the Phil pitches.

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The inaugural competition took place in 2012 and was opened by the then headmaster Jim Hawkins in front of the newly-constructed Alcock Pavilion. Theo Gordon's Reds team emerged victorious, Theo becoming the first OH to captain a side to glory and have his name engraved on the Jubilee Cup - formerly awarded to the victors of the five-a-side indoor competition that preceded the Festiphil.

Since then, former winning captains have included Dave Stead, Azhar Khan, Ed Poulter and, for the two previous editions, Alex Gilbert.

This year's tournament, organised once more by goalkeeper Charlie Walsh, promises to be bigger and better than ever and sees five captains named, with Jack Orr-Ewing, Tass von Hirsch, Kyri Pittalis, Max Curry & Charlie Bick leading the teams in this year's tournament.

A full report on this year's competition, along with a selection of photos, will appear on ohafc.com early next week.

Good luck to all the players taking part!