Rotherham beat Doncaster in first tournament in memory of schools football champ Ernie Oliver

Ernie Oliver, who played a pivotal role in the re-emergence of schools football in Rotherham and Doncaster, passed away in the spring, aged 73.

The two places’ schools football associations decided to hold a memorial trophy for Ernie each season involving all first teams from U9-U15s.

A points system is taken from each game to decide who wins the trophy.

This season the matches were played at the Phoenix in Brinsworth, with the pitches donated for free by Ben Watkins from the venue.

Spokesman Aaron Boyd said: “It was Ernie who approached me to become the U9s manager four years ago and he was on the phone a lot to me championing schools football and how it needed to be rebuilt in the area.

“He had already been pivotal in ensuring Rotherham Schools Football Association was set back up along with Chris Eccles and Bob Cooper some years ago and was still pushing for it to be grown.

“I am sure Ernie would be looking down very happily to see where we currently are. Neither of us would likely be where we are today without him.”

Ernie’s widow Diane presented the trophy to the winning captain, Rotherham U15s skipper Seth Butcher.

The results on the day were: U9 – Rotherham 0-0 Doncaster , U10 – Rotherham 5–2 Doncaster, U11 – Rotherham 4–3 Doncaster , U12 – Rotherham 3–1 Doncaster, U13 – Rotherham 10–2 Doncaster, U14 – Rotherham 3-6 Doncaster, U15 – Rotherham 3–3 Doncaster. Rothererham won 14-5 on points.