PROVING themselves undisputed Euro-kings of junior soccer, the three-squad St Helens City Glass JOL organisation has returned from a seven-nation tournament with "gold, silver and bronze".

It was a one, two, three performance by the under-12s, 14s and 16s, respectively, which was totally unrivalled by the other representative clubs from Germany, Holland, Denmark, Scotland , France, Ireland and England.

The St Helens under 12 inter-league side created a record for this well-established international competition, staged at two impressive soccer complexes near Den Bosch in Holland.

They became champions of their section for the fourth time in a row, a fitting finale for their dedicated coach, Terry Manley, who has now decided to step down -the praises of the JOL ringing in his ears - after seven demanding years in the role.

His young minnows topped off their incredible record in remaining undefeated in their six games and notching 30 goals with only one against.

The under 14s, under Kevin Abbott (standing in for regular manager Dave Burrows, now making good progress after sudden serious illness) recovered from a shaky start in which they drew the first two of their six games.

They battled their way into the final where they were beaten 1-0, despite having most of the attacking play. Losing only one of their matches, they hit 13 goals with just three against. It was a genuine hard luck story for the under 16s, managed by Bill Bromilow. They deserved better than third place, winning five of their six matches , racking up a total of 24 goals in the process while conceding only one. The way the draw fell meant the lads faced an unabalanced challenge of two games on the opening day and four matches on day two.

That four-match schedule meant a 9am start to day two - a stamina sapping schedule for the small 14-man squad after their gruelling 500-plus coach and ferry journey which took 14 hours to complete. After proving to be clear top performers within the three pools into which their 15-team section was divided, they conceded that single goal to a physical French side in a sudden death semi-final. The St Helens lads felt somewhat cheated when, in the opening five minutes, they appeared to open their account. The ball seemed well over the line in a goalmouth scramble, but the ref, clearly unsighted, waved play on as the ball was hacked away by a defender. By now, the St Helens lads seemed to be running on empty- but managed to raise their game and spirits to beat a Danish club side 2-0 in the third-place play-off.

And the gallant under 16s also had the consolation of picking up the Fair Play Trophy, to the delight of the JOL management committee .

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.