FOOTBALL was the winner as young pupils from ten schools competed in the Salisbury District Primary Schools' Football Festival on Monday at Westwood St Thomas.

The festival was the culmination of weeks of hard work which has seen specialist coaches visit schools across the area.

For many of the youngsters, the event was their first taste of competitive action.

Since the start of the autumn term, Salisbury City FC's football in the community officer Andy Cook has visited the participating schools offering expert tips and advice to budding Wayne Rooneys and Michael Owens.

The former Southamp-ton, Millwall and Exeter City player was also on duty on Monday acting as one of the referees during the contest which involved 16 teams playing in four divisions on a round-robin basis.

Highbury's A and B teams plus Barford St Martin and Bemerton B emerged as victors from the first round group stage and then locked horns to compete for the 2004 title.

In what proved a series of tense matches, High-bury B beat their own A team 1-0 and then drew 0-0 with Barford St Martin.

They then made sure of the championship crown by winning 2-1 against Bemerton B.

The remaining 12 teams continued playing for the runners-up honours.

Among those teams making their festival debut were Bemerton Heath-based Woodlands whose enthusiastic young players epitomised the spirit of the competition.

At a special presentation ceremony at the end of the day's activities, there were whoops of delight from the youngsters when it was announced that they were the recipients of the special Fair Play award.

The event was organised by Salisbury District Council, Salisbury City football in the community, St Edmund's School & Sports College and Salisbury Schools Sports co-ordinators programme.

Karlene Payne, Salis-bury District Council's sports and community officer, said: "This project has enabled more than 250 seven to nine-year-olds to receive quality coaching."