Sims Group wins Waste World Cup 2008

Sims came out top of the six-a-side mixed gender tournament, sponsored by Valpak, after overcoming title holders Valpak on penalties in the semi-finals as well as defeating hotly-tipped London-based recycling firm ACM Management and letsrecycle.com in the knock-out stages.

Having seen thirty teams from across the waste and recycling sector compete in the group stages, the final of the day-long tournament boiled down to Sims and consultancy Eunomia, who had seen off Grundon Waste Management, Cory Environmental and the Norfolk Waste Partnership on the way to reaching the decider.

Showing no signs of tiredness from a long day of football, Sims took the lead with a controversial effort which some disputed as having broken through the side-netting, but the referee determined Sam Vizor's shot was simply too quick for the Eunomia keeper and flew in at his near post.

Moments later Vizor doubled Sims' lead after slipping through the defence and making no mistake from the edge of the box just before halftime.

Eunomia were unable to break back into the game despite forcing the Sims goalkeeper to perform a number of great saves towards the end, while Sims seemed content to run out time by keeping possession for extended periods.

David Woodriff, business development manager for Sims, captained the winning team. Holding the cup aloft, he said: “This is a really excellent result for us. We have a good game and we have brought in players from all four quarters of the company across the UK.”

For Mr Woodriff the success was his second taste of glory in the Waste World Cup. He previously worked for past cup winner Recycling in Action.

Knockout

Elsewhere in the tournament, Grundon Waste Management made a great charge for the final after overcoming SITA UK on penalties in the second round and Viridor Waste Management in the quarter-finals before succumbing 1-0 to Eunomia.

Mike Brown, keeping up a strong performance, scored the only goal after breaking through the Grundon backline to drive the ball home from just outside the penalty box.

In the other half of the draw, reigning champions Valpak, who beat Surrey Waste Partnership in the last eight, refused to relinquish the cup without a fight despite going down 1-0 early in the second half of their semi-final against Sims.

Sam Vizor – who had been prolific throughout the day – saw his low shot fire across the Valpak keeper and cannon in off the post to give Sims the lead, however, with only a minute left to play, Josela Renderson found herself in acres of space to slot home an equaliser forcing the game into extra time.

Neither side could use to the additional seven minutes to create a clear cut chance and struggled to remain vertical on the slippery pitch. Eventually, it fell to a dreaded penalty shootout to separate the teams and Sims' goalkeeper, who utilised his chin to save Valpak's first effort, proved the difference with Sims going through 4-2 on spot kicks.

Crossbar

Running alongside the Waste World Cup, there was the Crossbar Challenge sponsored by REgenerist, which saw players from every team attempt to hit the crossbar from the halfway line.

The competition produced joint winners with both Grundon's Maria Shotton and ACM's Gracie Leslie bagging a cash prize of £100 between them. Grace Leslie said: “It was a good experience for girls to win and beat the boys.”