Lava Cup: Event is heralded as a huge success, helping raise over £1,000 for Cerebral Palsy national team

A total of 12 teams – eight from around the UK and four from Iceland – converged on Bo’ness on Friday for the competition, including the likes of the Falkirk Foundation FFIT. Aberdeen's FFIT Legends were crowned winners on the day.

Last year the inaugural Lava Cup seven-a-side tournament was held at Aberdeen’s ground Pittodrie and proved a success, and this year’s event succeeded that, with the cup also helping to raise over £1,000 for Scotland’s National Cerebral Palsy side, who are also based at Newtown Park.

Lava Cup chief Marc Boal said: “We move the tournament around Scotland each year and the plan was to have the event at Falkirk’s stadium, but that was shelved due to their play-off ties and we moved to Newtown Park, and the association have been outstanding with us.

"They have worked around us and made it a special day. Simple things like having the Icelandic flag up for the travelling teams and we had a piper and the national anthems before the matches – it was a really professional event. The kids who came from Kinneil Primary School had a great day and got loads of freebies at the end.

"We want to keep the event an invitational because it has to have that prestige attached to it and we are building a strong reputation.

"The Icelandic FA have been huge supporters of what we are doing and they had people here. BBC Alba were filming too and we even got a mention in the Scottish Parliament afterwards.

"People are wanting a piece of the action now and it is really getting massive. We have two initiatives now with one here and one over in Reykjavík.

"The guys taking part are really becoming so fit because they want to win this tournament, and the other events abroad and things like that are enticing. It is making a difference to people’s lives.

"Raising money for the CP team was brilliant too and we always raise money for a charity each time we do this. We are working closely with them to plan more events in the Falkirk area.”