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 The best eight pairs of feet from Mazars Milton Keynes, Bedford and Oxford offices, were invited to a City-based, five-aside football fundraiser, on 19 November, at London’s David Beckham Academy in support of the Sumbandila Trust. The charity provides secondary education and mentorship, free of charge, to the brightest and most poverty-stricken children of rural South Africa. Although the children have often suffered from malnutrition, ill health and social upheaval, the trust turns their young lives around, enabling them to become responsible job creators.
Competitors and hosts Marwyn gathered 12 teams from the capital’s most prestigious corporate finance allies and competitors to go head-to-head on the field. Following Mazars’ involvement in a successful, £25 million transaction for a locally based Milton Keynes client, they were invited by Marwyn, financial advisors, to make their debut at this annual event.
As the Mazars players kitted up for their first game, partner Stephen Eames realised that focusing on kicking the ball was imperative to success. With this in mind, he temporarily handed over the responsibility of leadership to supporter and transaction services manager, Clare Kelley.
“Mark Brownridge of Milton Keynes calmly lobbed the keeper from the half way line and scored in our first match, against Investec. We attacked in waves, with Richard Rouse of Oxford in fine form. Mark picked up the ball again and, with the help of a dummy run from Tim Blunt of Bedford, tucked away another goal with only one second to spare, bringing Mazars a 2–1 victory,” said Clare.
In the next match Mazars faced their old rivals Ernst & Young to bring in a hard-fought 0–0 draw.
The penultimate game showed the true grit of the Mazars team. Although law firm Travers Smith has won awards from the desk, when it came to battling it out on the turf, they could not stand up to Ben Young’s, MK-Dons-style goal. It took a spectacular team effort from Mazars’ defence to keep their lead. When Tim’s injury lulled Travers Smith into a false sense of security, Toby Stanbrook, another Milton Keynes prodigy, laid on another goal for Mark. Two more goals stormed through and the Ronnie Biggs tribute from Mazars was complete.
In the final group game, Mazars played league leaders, Deloitte. Pressure grew on the Mazars’ net and an awful own-goal mix up at the end, meant that a 1–0 defeat marked the end of this match.
Nevertheless, a respectable third place in the group meant that Mazars were in the quarter final against Wavex, previous joint group leaders. This was a tight and tactical tussle, with Mazars benefiting from supporter Clare’s directions of “down the line” and “don’t let him turn.” With moments of true class from Bedford’s Michael Marslin, the game went to a sudden death penalty shoot out. Following one goal and two misses, Stephen kept Mazars in the game so that Ben could seal victory, which meant they faced Deloitte once again.
Putting knowledge gained from their previous match to good use, Mazars held out and tested Ben’s super-human ability. Finally, the Deloitte substitute nicked through several flailing tackles and put the ball in the net. Despite their best efforts, Mazars could not break these charity football veterans down, but no doubt Deloitte will have to watch out next year.
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