Nottingham University Jewish Society football team have been crowned champions of their Sunday League Division One.
They now face a showdown against the winners of the Intra Mural Saturday League Division One for the right to represent the University against Loughborough University.
The side, created at the beginning of the academic year in October, got off to an outstanding start in the Semester One League, winning their first six games on the bounce, which included 10-2 and 5-0 victories.
Unfortunately, the team lost the final game, leaving them second in the table.
This was enough to ensure promotion to the top division for Semester Two.
They travelled down to Birmingham for an ill-tempered “friendly” against a Birmingham JSOC XI in January, before the start of the current league.
The game ended in a penalty shoot-out victory for Birmingham, and complaints over the state of the pitch. The return leg is much anticipated amongst the Nottingham players.
The new league started with a bang for Nottingham with a 5-1 victory, and the team were unbeaten going into the final game. A victory would have guaranteed league success, but the team went down to only their second competitive defeat of the year.
Fortunately, their nearest rivals were unable to take advantage, drawing their final game, leaving Nottingham JISOC champions.
The team will face the winners of the Saturday League Division One on April 15.
The victors will then have the honour of representing the University against the best team at Loughborough University in a “Grand Slam Showdown.”
Goalkeeper Ben Sheldon, the student who put the JSOC team together, said: “At the beginning of the season it was great to even have a team.
“Nobody could ever have predicted that we would win the league in our first season— a truly remarkable feat.”
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