Indie agency This Is Flow has made history, becoming the inaugural winner of the Flow Cup Gala day. B&T’s very own Oliver Cerovic made history of his own, being the only journalist to sneak into the day that featured 12 teams made up of This Is Flow’s partners.
Yesterday, 100 fine athletes of the media industry laced up at the Willoughby Leisure Centre for a fun day of light active sports, a sausage sizzle, an afternoon of watching semi-pro [ed: really?] sports, followed by a few well-earned drinks to celebrate the day.
Teams made up of media gurus from Captify, Taboola, JCDecaux, ARN, Gawk, Pinterest, Livewire, Street Fighter Media, Cake Shop, Are Media, Mamamia, Nova, Teads, Alliance, News Australia, Veridooh, VMC, VMO, SBS, This Is Flow and one B&T hack.
Each team represented a primary school from NSW, giving it a fun school gala day vibe.
Flow’s futsal gala day was designed to bring its media partners together for an afternoon of friendly competition, nostalgia and giving back.
Organised by the agency’s Positive Impact Committee — comprised of Jasmine Hay, Justine Nikitopoulos, Annabelle Harrington, Triere Anthony and Sue Cant — the event was built around the idea of recreating the simple joys of primary school, from kicking a ball around with mates to lining up for a sausage sizzle and buying a raffle ticket. With indoor soccer already a big part of Flow’s culture, and the FIFA World Cup helping keep the world game front of mind, futsal was a natural fit for the day.
But beyond the competition, the event also aimed to remind participants how fortunate they were growing up, and how access to something as simple as music can make a lasting difference in a child’s life.
The day raised support for the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF), Flow’s charity partner, which provides free, long-term music education and instruments to disadvantaged children and young people at risk across Australia.
Alongside the futsal tournament, the gala day featured a raffle with prizes generously donated by Flow’s media partners, as well as a school canteen-inspired spread complete with a sausage sizzle, chips, drinks and a lolly bag.
The day was won controversially by This Is Flow, who had some players representing Cake Shop. The unstoppable team went undefeated to claim the inaugural Flow Cup. The Cup did in fact come home.
Onlookers (i.e. those knocked out in previous rounds) screamed out from the bleachers during the grand final that “Flow can’t win its own tournament”.
However, Matt Papasavva Flow’s chief operating officer, tried to flip the narrative to prevent this from happening by giving SBS — the home of football — the upper hand in the big dance by allowing them to sit one opposing player out for the duration of the first half.
This strategy failed in the end with Flow and Cake Shop etching their names on the inaugural Flow Cup trophy.
SBS fought hard for the duration of the match, pushing the champs to the very final whistle. After 20 minutes of play scores were locked up, sending the match to penalties. The home side kept its composure, slotting three penalties to SBS’ two.
The teams then went to the Greenwood Hotel to celebrate an amazing day with media friends. Rumour has it, Flow is still out and about celebrating its premiership.
“It was such a joy and honour for us to be able to organise such a nostalgic experience for our media partners and fundraise for ACMF. We look forward doing it all again with Flow Cup Gala day 2027,” said Raymond Ly, talent, culture and CX lead at This Is Flow.
Dodgy journo hacks the system to put on a guernsey
Hack Cerovic managed to swindle himself out of some afternoon work by representing Captify on the day. The signing almost paid dividends for the adtech vendor — who had aspirations to win the day.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Captify’s afternoon came crashing down after being knocked out by the eventual champs in the semi-finals.
Led by captain Brandon Joel, the team came out the gates flying, comfortably winning its opening two matches to book a spot in the semis.
Stood in the teams way was first Street Fighter Media. The team put up a good fight, before tenacious superstar Courtney Mitchell Sharan put the game to bed with a spectacular two point goal. Unfortunately, the game didn’t come without its setbacks, with winger Napasuda Pimthepa succumbing to a knee injury.
Then came the round of eight. Fighting Captify for a spot in the semi finals was Veridooh. Captify made light work of the out-of-home company, winning quite comfortably. This was thanks to a first half hattrick form captain Joel, some ferocious defending from fearless Megan McElderry, and an amazing header goal from striker specialist Liam Sharan. This was contender for goal of the tournament, before Cerovic booted in a full field goal from his own goals.
The team was anchored by unbeatable goalkeeper Akash Ogra.
On the day Joel, Captify’s sales manager said: “A good cause, a sausage sizzle, an activity, and great people. What more could you want? It’s an amazing way to build connection, both within our own crew and the wider industry. And a massive shoutout to B&T’s Ollie for lacing up his boots and giving our squad some much-needed firepower out there.”
