Sport
Rand inspires Escolla to Super League futsal success
Jared Rand fired a hat-trick to help Reading Escolla Futsal win the FA Super League for the first time.
June 4, 2018 09:33
Jared Rand fired a hat-trick to help Reading Escolla Futsal win the FA Super League for the first time.
June 4, 2018 09:33Winger Rand, 17, has featured in all 22 games for the High Wycombe-based team, and saved his best till last with some ruthless finishing in Escolla’s 8-1 win over York City Futsal Club in the York club’s temporary home in Manchester.
“It’s been a memorable season and it was great to finish it with a treble and the title,” said Rand, a Year 13 A-Level student at JFS. Reflecting on a dream first full season with the team, Rand said: “It’s a great feeling. I’ve been travelling around 250 miles a week for matches. It’s very tiring physically but it’s all been worth it.
“We knew we needed to win our final game. After losing to Helvecia we treated every match like a cup final. Our team motto was ‘we die on the court, because if we don’t we’d die on the bench’.”
Following his match-winning efforts, Rand, from Mill Hill, was selected in The Daily Futsal Team of the Week for the Escolla team who won 19 out of 22 matches, losing just once in the league.
He described the standard of the Super League as “really strong”. “This was the first season where the league was united across the whole country.
“It worked really well as it used to run on a north-south regional basis with play-offs. The new format makes you feel more professional.
“The journey home from Manchester was crazy. We celebrated for hours and had a team BBQ the following day.
“As champions, we’ve been invited to play in an exhibition game at St George’s Park next week and we will play in the Uefa Champions League, starting in August.”
Rand has been playing futsal for four years and he is captain of the England under-19 futsal team.