I Played In (And Won?!) Two Tournaments In One Day

What started as a joke in a flag football Discord group said in jest quickly moved into a day people won't be forgetting in a hurry.

Flag football has grown exponentially, but within the UK scene at the least, most people respect the European tournament dates, meaning if that weekend is already booked for a popular EU event, then there won't be a tournament planned.

With the rapid growth of the sport in the last two years, there is just way too big of a player base for that to be the case anymore, with tournaments or game days every single month and sometimes even weekly if you're in the right circles.

Earlier in the year, the Lincolnshire Longhorns announced they would be hosting the fourth rendition of their pre-season tournament, Flagna Carta IV (basically being the northern UK pre-season tournament). Down south, the Buckinghamshire Wolves announced the second rendition of their own pre-season event, Turf Wars II, both residing on the same date.

It quickly became a topic of interest in the UK & EU Flag Football Pick Ups Chat (used to connect players without teams to squads needing players to play in these kinds of events). And the bait was set.

"How funny would it be if someone played in both tournaments in one day?"

Turning a Joke Into Reality

I didn't even need much provoking. I'm not even sure I got mentioned or @'ed in the chat. It was the exact kind of thing I wanted to do.

But I needed it to be done right. I didn't want it to be something that was just for the laughs and spoken about as a myth at flag football game days.

Fortunately, two weeks later I was participating at Flagging New Year in Ravenscraig, Motherwell, Scotland. A chance meeting led me to find Eoghan, a videographer and photographer for the Dunboyne Wildcats, who was heavily in the St. Pats football world and Irish American football and flag football scene. Together we came up with the plan, and it was set in motion.

Eoghan flew over the Friday night, and the weekend was set in motion.

Stop One: Turf Wars II (Aylesbury)

We were up first thing, 8AM Saturday morning, with a two and a half hour drive to Aylesbury. At roughly 10:40AM we got to Kingsbrook School and we did well for time, being able to greet the squad of Flaggin' Ball Z who had been kind enough to let me play just the one game with them.

We played against the Kent Exiles. We got into our groove; I scored two touchdowns and two 1XPs and had a great time with some of my close friends.

But the fun came to an end quickly. We were on the clock.

As soon as the final whistle went, we shook hands with our opponent and we were off running to the bags, decleating, unbelting and running back to the car for the second half of our venture. Half the mission complete.

The Race North

During the first half of this drive, we learned that Flaggin' Ball Z had won their group, beating the London Rebels in their second game of the day, leaving them in a great spot for the rest of the tournament.

A 2.5-hour drive later, I arrived at Lincoln Priory Pembroke School at 2:30PM, just in time to join Coventry Phoenix for their quarterfinal clash against Lincolnshire Longhorns Black.

No warm-up. No adjustment period. Straight into knockout football.

Stop Two: Flagna Carta IV (Lincoln)

It was a rough start. On a fourth down dropping into 3QB we dropped the ball backwards into the end zone, resulting in a safety. We managed to claw it back, with myself trying to not only get used to a second quarterback and playbook in the space of four hours, but also last-minute warm up all over again after being sat in the car warming down for two and a half hours. After a climb back up, we managed to win.

And it was onto the semis, against the Northants Titans.

It was a close affair. This normally in UK (BAFA) league game days was a typical Prem division matchup, except I was in the mix this time around. I made it count, connecting on three separate post routes with QB Ben Eaton over the top for three scores, which would squeeze us through 19-13 in the end.

The Stakes Change

During the interval, we learned we would be playing the Lancashire Bombers.

One of the Coventry Phoenix boys tapped me and showed me his phone:

Flaggin' Ball Z had won Turf Wars.

This quickly became more than just playing in two tournaments. I could win them both. The stakes couldn't have been higher.

The Final: Everything on the Line

Coventry Phoenix vs Lancashire Bombers.

The game was symmetrical. Both teams had been stopped once. Coventry had scored three times and missed 1XP, and Lancashire had scored twice, missed 1XP but had the ball driving with 1 minute remaining at 20-13.

With mere seconds left, they scored. Tie game 20-20. Able to go for 1.

They went for it, but the WR couldn't bring it in at the back of the end zone.

10 seconds left on the clock.

Two fades on the outside, centre drops back into 2QB, and I hovered around 10 yards for an underneath option.

I get the ball, made one miss, two, three all the way up the sideline, halfway to the 10 yard line.

Tackled, by a former teammate of mine Ben Schneller, GB Euros player.

XP shootout it is.

Defence for us first. The QB rolled, wanted to hit his guy in the middle. Our safety intercepted, tried to run it back but was tackled before the halfway.

Our time. I had a 5-yard in. I got jammed on the outside on my release but as I turned into the DB the ball had already come out.

Shoot right to my side from the slot.

Touchdown.

Two Tournaments. One Winner.

We'd won. I fell onto the floor in disbelief. Celebrations transpired as we all congratulated each other.

We congregated to the fence to receive the trophy, but there was something else to be awarded first: Finals MVP. "Finals MVP!" she said. "And I'm really sorry if I butcher the name but... Matt Bourke?"

I couldn't believe it. Not only had I won two tournaments in one day. I'd won MVP in the second one.

What a day. I rang the Flaggin' Ball Z boys to tell them the news before reality hit: we had a 4-hour drive home ahead of us.

And better yet... I had Welshbowl tomorrow.