Update: The Kicking Cancer’s Butt 8 fundraising tally now stands at $15,260
See below for Kicking Cancer’s Butt 8 photo gallery
Perennial powerhouses Armee Rouge became the first team to win back-to-back Kicking Cancer’s Butt titles by adding the 2017 title to their 2014 and 2016 victories. Over on the recreational side of things it was first timers Legion Honey Garlic who got their sticky fingers on the KCB Recreational Cup.
32 teams started the day with hopes of lifting the cup (admittedly, some had more realistic hopes than others!). Misfits were hoping to make the recreational final for the third time in a row but suffered a surprise early exit at the hands of eventual semi-finalists ODBs and Legion Honey Garlic. Cheetos FC were the top goalscorers in the group stages and looked in with a real chance before suffering a narrow semi-final loss to the Dirty Birds. Perhaps eating their lucky bag of Cheetos wasn’t such a good idea after all . . .
Legion Honey Garlic also squeezed through to set up a final match-up with Dirty Birds. The final was a close affair, with only a single piece of magic separating the teams at the end and handing team captain/coach/GM Seb Colma his first KCB trophy.
The competitive side seems to throw up a “Group of Death” each year, and this year it was Division 1 where a Make Football Great Again team that would have been a real threat in another section found themselves squeezed out by Armee Rouge and Los Galacticos.
Captain Majid looked on form, winning a group containing two previous finalists – Ottawa Wanderers and the Killer Bees, but fell to Merrimax in their first playoff game. Killer Bees recovered from their first game defeat to go through in second place and knocked off two group winners with back to back 4-3 victories over Fuego FC and Legion of Schwiftiness. On the other side of the draw, Armee Rouge cruised into the final with 3-1 and 5-1 victories over WhereistheD and Merrimax.
With the previous two champions matched up in the final, it looked like a close game was in store. However Armee Rouge had found another gear as the tournament wore on and picked apart a tiring Killer Bees team time after time, running out 5-1 victors and claiming their third Kicking Cancer’s Butt title.