A FLINTSHIRE high school held a five-a-side football competition for local primary pupils in memory of a victim of the Hillsborough disaster.

Holywell High hosted the event, and has been running the John McBrien Memorial Five-a-side Football Tournament for thirty years.

John was an ex student at Holywell High and was in the sixth form when he tragically died at Hillsborough in 1989, aged just eighteen.

The memorial tournament was set up by Brian Purcell, chairman of the Liverpool FC Deeside supports club. Brian organised the bus to Hillsborough that day and wanted to set up something in John's memory. He has been attending the tournament and refereeing in it ever since and has refereed locally for over fifty years.

This year saw teams from nine local primary schools taking part, up on last year, with a total of ten teams made up of sixty pupils from years 4 to 6. The schools participating were Ysgol Bro Carmel, Ysgol Maes Y Felin, Ysgol Maesglas, Ysgol Y Llan, Ysgol Glan Aber, Ysgol Brynffordd, Ysgol Trelogan, Ysgol Trelawnyd and Ysgol Gronant.Ysgol Brynffordd were triumphant on the day and won the coveted trophy.

It was the third year that the tournament was held on the school’s new 3G pitch and, as always, it was well attended by family members and staff.

Rob Chesters, PE teacher and director of learning at Holywell High, has organised and run the tournament for the last sixteen years since he joined the school.

He said: “This year’s John McBrien Memorial Tournament was again a wonderful event and an excellent way of remembering John and celebrating the game he loved so much.

“It was once again fantastically attended and supported by our local primary schools, with some excellent team and individual performances on show. We also had school’s taking part that have never attended before which was excellent to see.

“I would like to say a big ‘well done’ to everyone who took part and especially Ysgol Brynffordd for winning the title. I also want to thank my year 10 GCSE PE students who helped with the refereeing, fixtures and scoring during the day.”

The John McBrien Memorial Trophy was presented to the winning team and all the finalists received trophies. All participants were also awarded with a certificate for taking part.

In addition to the memorial football trophy, the school has two John McBrien Memorial Awards, one for academic achievement and one for sporting excellence, which are presented at the Prize Giving Ceremony at the end of the school year.