Boiler Room 5s: the inside track on the coolest tournament around by Aaron› 6 Sep 2012

Boiler Room Fives 2012 Tailored by Umbro

You've seen the video, but what actually happened at the Boiler Room 5s 2012 tournament? Looking back on a super sunny day in London, Boiler Room's Rhys Coren gives us his write up of how the day went down...

For the second annual Boiler Room FIVES tournament tailored by Umbro, 16 teams battled it out for the coveted (and homemade) Boiler Room FIVES trophy. Hailed by many as the greatest competition in east London football, teams from XL Recordings, Vice Magazine, Elastic Artists, Fabric, Arena Homme , R&S Records, Red Bull Music Academy, Numbers, Domino Record Co., PRESENT, Green Soccer Journal, i-D Magazine, Dazed & Confused, NTS, Ninja Tune and BNTL battled it out to see who would be Championes Championes, oh-lay oh-lay oh-geeeezaaaah.

Arriving at FIVES
On Saturday the 4th of August, Hackney Downs park played host to a truly epic and otherworldly spectacle of knockout competition football, music, beer and BBQ. As you walked up through the park, on the distant horizon, you could make out a host of brightly coloured, bespoke Umbro kits darting around 4 back-to-back pitches, a sea of dancing supporters (each brandishing either a beer, a hotdog, a FIVES foam finger or the lead to a dog), all against the backdrop of marquee tents, one playing host to Boiler Room DJs and the coveted FIVES trophy, the others just there in case it rained like last year. It did too, for a bit. Despite the rest of the day being glorious.

The Kits
Also like last year, each of the teams got to work with Umbro in the design of their kits. First thing I noticed as I unpacked the delivery of fresh sportswear a week or so before the event, was that all but three captains had picked the colours of their supported teams. With the exceptions of Green Soccer Journal (unless one of them was a Plymouth Argyle or Yeovil Town supporter) who had to go for green I suppose, BNTL who thought they were getting the gold of champions (but their kit looked more like Wolves') and NTS who, despite being gaffered by a Gooner, went for referee / Newcastle colours. {IMAGE1}

Music and football?
All day long, Boiler Room DJs provided the soundtrack to the on and off pitch action. But what is the best type of music to play football to? Garage and Grime inspire a ferociousness and determination, turning every player into a Crazy Gang-era Wimbledon player. It isn't beautiful, but it's effective in sporadic bursts and hard to play against. Disco inspires a sense of rhythm and finesse, prompting some beautiful football, but that dainty style may lack precision in the final third, a la Arsenal. Then what of Chicago House and Detroit Techno? Well, this may have been responsible for seeing some great counter-attacking football. Rhythmic, reassuring, then quick and simple.

The highlights tape
In the lead up to the competition, it was clear there were two mini-battles going on. One amongst the magazines, and one amongst the record labels. This provided PRESENT, the Shoreditch-based clothes, coffee and book shop, the opportunity to stay under the pre-tournament banter radar as underdogs. Then, after 4 groups of 4 teams had all played each other in respective mini-leagues, it was XL, Fabric, R&S, Arena, Green Soccer Journal, PRESENT, NTS and Ninja who made it to the quarter finals. There were some woeful performances from some teams whose pre-match warm up at been 6am benders the night before, whilst teams like BNTL were robbed by poor refereeing, despite going into their final game a little like England v San Marino in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers and thrashing their opponents in an attempt to get the goal difference they needed. XL, PRESENT, Green Soccer Journal and R&S sauntered through into the semis, before PRESENT beat R&S three nil in the final to become 2012 Boiler Room FIVES champions.

Conclusion?
The sunburn, aches and hangovers were definitely worth it, and made even worse by partying on into the night at NTS. Thanks to everyone involved, and to all the Boiler Room, Umbro and Red Stripe people who made it possible. We should all just be thankful that Hackney Downs was not subject to some sort of deadly natural disaster on this particular day, otherwise all lifestyle magazines and independent record labels would have bee wiped out in one hit, and there'd be no one to serve us coffee and garms in PRESENT either. Phew.

Category:
Football Stories