Haddenham Youth FC’s Festival of Football returned over the August Bank Holiday weekend, bringing together around 90 teams for two packed days of grassroots football.

Despite some extremely challenging weather, with spells of heavy rain, strong winds, players, coaches, referees, volunteers and spectators embraced the conditions and helped create another fantastic festival atmosphere.

Across Saturday and Sunday, the festival hosted age groups from U7 through to U15, with football taking place across eight main pitches and a dedicated U7 3v3 festival area. The festival delivered 488 scheduled matches and mini-games across 14 separate competitions and formats.

The Festival in Numbers

This year's event once again demonstrated the scale of grassroots football in our community:

• 488 scheduled matches and mini-games
• More than 65 hours of football
• Around 90 participating teams
• 14 separate competitions and festival formats
• 521 goals scored across the competitive U9 to U15 age groups
• 96 U7 mini-games played during the dedicated 3v3 festival
• 42 non-competitive U8 matches
• 125 unique team entries represented across the weekend

The U7 and U8 age groups remained proudly non-competitive, with all results recorded as 0-0. The focus for our youngest players was participation, learning, confidence building and enjoyment, ensuring every child had the opportunity to be involved and experience festival football in a positive environment.

For the older age groups, group stages were followed by Cup and Plate competitions, helping maximise playing opportunities and ensuring every team remained involved throughout their session.

HYFC Success on the Pitch

While the festival is about far more than trophies, it was fantastic to see several HYFC teams enjoy success across the weekend.

Congratulations to:

• HYFC Black, winners of the U9 Rangers Plate
• HYFC Hawks, winners of the U12 Colts Plate
• HYFC Harriers, winners of the U12 Rangers Plate

We are incredibly proud of every HYFC team that represented the club throughout the weekend. Across all age groups, players demonstrated outstanding effort, teamwork, sportsmanship and respect, reflecting the values that sit at the heart of Haddenham Youth FC.

Another Successful Festival

The Festival of Football continues to play an important role in supporting the club and helping us invest in football opportunities for young people across our community.

The level of support shown throughout the weekend by participating clubs, sponsors, volunteers, parents and local businesses was fantastic and will help us continue developing football at HYFC for seasons to come.

This year's event has undoubtedly set a high standard for the future and provides a strong foundation as we begin planning for next year's festival.

Thank You to Our Festival Partners

Events of this scale simply would not be possible without the support of our sponsors and partners.

A huge thank you goes to our Festival Partners, Eland Cables and Redrow, whose support played a significant role in helping us deliver another successful Festival of Football.

We would also like to thank our pitch sponsors:

• Aylesbury Bullion
• C&H Plastering
• Studiosvn
• Ivor Miles
• West Brickwork
• Thame Bathroom Solution
• Haddenham Park
• Thames Valley Lodge Round Table

Their backing helped prepare and operate the pitches that hosted hundreds of matches across the weekend.

Additional thanks go to K&A Scaffolding, Resource Print, Haddenham Waste & Recycling, COS and Helpful Hirings for their valuable support behind the scenes.

A True Team Effort

The Festival of Football is only possible because of the commitment and dedication of an incredible team of volunteers.

From pitch preparation and parking management to registration, refreshments, presentations and tournament operations, hundreds of volunteer hours went into making the weekend a success.

We would also like to thank every participating club, player, coach, referee, parent, volunteer, sponsor and supporter for contributing to such a positive atmosphere throughout the weekend.

Looking Ahead

Feedback received so far has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly around the tournament formats, pitch layout, organisation and focus on player welfare and enjoyment. The festival committee has already committed to returning next year, with plans to start preparations even earlier and continue building on this year's success.

Most importantly, the Festival of Football provided thousands of children with the opportunity to play, learn, compete, make new friends and create lasting memories.

Thank you to everyone who played their part in making the HYFC Festival of Football 2026 such a success. We look forward to welcoming you back next year.