In glorious summer sunshine, a crowd of 300 attended the Furzebrake on Saturday to mark the occasion of the centenary of Beer Albion Football Club writes Richard Honnor.

The club is an integral part of Beer village life and it was very much a family occasion. The local children smartly decked out as mascots in the Fishermen's new kit for the forthcoming football season was a real highlight.

In the opening ceremony, club chairman John Moughton extended a warm welcome to Axminster Town and a number of special guests including representatives from Devon County FA, the Devon and Exeter League, chairmen Roy Turner and Charlie Ziemann from local rival clubs Colyton and Seaton Town respectively and the Perry Street League was also represented by their president, Sue Drayton.

John thanked the club's main sponsors Steve and Mel Light of Edenvale Turf (SW) Ltd for their ongoing support and for handing over the clubs new strip for the forthcoming season.

Special plaques were presented to the club by Paul Morrison on behalf of the Devon County Football Association and by Tom Sampson for the national Football Association.

The main event of the afternoon - the game between Beer Albion and Axminster- was a replay of the first ever final of the Morrison Bell Cup played 100 years ago in the season that Beer Albion was formed. In that final, The Tigers narrowly defeated the Fishermen by a single goal. Sadly for Beer they were unable to overturn that result 100 years on, Axminster winning again this time by a comprehensive 6-1 margin! The Fishermen competed well in the first half holding the Tigers to 2-1 but were undone primarily by the pace of their opponents in the second half. Current organisers of the competition, Collin Goodwin and Ron Berry were on hand to present the impressive Morrison Bell Cup once again to Axminster Town.