Wigan Athletic Win Very Special Tournament

A football tournament in Basra, Iraq, won by the Latics, are you serious?

Absolutely serious and this was a very special tournament.

A tournament organised by British troops and sponsored by the Premier League saw a host of clubs represented in the competition and the tournament ran all day with the final eight teams contesting for the winners prize in an afternoon knockout session.

A team of Iraqi police officers represented the Latics and wore the Wigan Athletic kit on their way to be crowned Champions, nice one, in the final they beat Sunderland, who else, or as they are better known the RAF 903 Expeditionary Air Wing

The British troops in Basra have been working close with the local community and Russ Reid of the Army Physical Training Corps says that the aim of the tournament was to promote sport, build relationships with the local community and to help make the British people aware of what the Army is going in Basra.

Basra and this competition has a special meaning to some members of Vital Wigan and it is very pleasing to see the ties and progress that are being made.


The Champions - Wigan Athletic represented by the Iraqi Police


To watch a short news report and see the champions in action click here

Good stuff

Here is a list of the teams that entered the competition:

The teams that entered were as follows:

Manchester United - 5th Battalion The Rifles
Liverpool - 1st Royal Tank Regiment
Aston Villa - Queen's Royal Hussars
Chelsea - 200 Signals Squadron, Royal Signals
Arsenal - Royal Artillery
Everton - KBR (civilian)
Wigan Athletic - Iraqi Police Service
West Ham United - Royal Military Police
Manchester City - 1 Logistic Supply Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps
Fulham - 1st Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment
Sunderland - 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, Royal Air Force
Hull City - 35 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers
Newcastle - 52 Brigade Iraqi Army
Bolton - Department of Border Enforcement
Portsmouth - Turners (civilian)
Tottenham Hotspur - UK Medical Group
Stoke City - 50 Brigade Iraqi Army
Blackburn - 51 Brigade Iraqi Army
Middlesbrough - 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment
West Bromwich Albion - Iraqi Air Force.



Vital Wigan are pleased to announce the latest episode of the popular Latics Speyk podcast is now available for download or just for listening to via the stream at the bottom of this page.

This episode talks to Latics fans Andrew Peredi and Dave Skully via the phone-in, features up and coming star Blackburn`s own Megan Ellison, opinions on the Sunderland game and the chance of European football for next season, with music from The Kooks, Jilted John, Jimi Hendrix and the one and only Megan Ellison.

If you subscribe to itunes you can download the Latics Speyk podcasts to listen to whenever you want, its easy, just load up your itunes then click the itunes store button on the left side of the screen…then click on podcast, type Wigan Athletic into the search and low and behold there we are, Latics Speyk, why not subscribe, its free and you will get notified as soon as each new episode is broadcast.


You can listen to the current episode of the podcast now by clicking on the player here:

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