From our previous stories on the blog, you might’ve gathered that we like football at Materialise. Although it started as a small inter-departmental rivalry between our Medical and Software units, it turned into something much, much bigger.
Last week the Materialise Football Championships took place, with no less than 17 matches between different departments. And archnemeses Real Magics and Medical United faced off once again…
The championships were split up into two different tournaments. There was the Pro League, for the hardcore athletes with the Championship trophy on their mind, and the Fun League, for those who just felt like kicking around a ball with their colleagues after work.
The matches kicked off at 17:30 in a blaze of pom poms, drums and foghorns. One brave soul even attended the matches fully clad in a giant chicken costume! Before we knew it, it was time for the final match, and although our Manufacturing and Staff football teams had dribbled and passed the ball valiantly, they were no match against the Real Magics software team and Medical United.
The two ancient enemies clashed once again, and although Real Magics had been the victor the year before, 2017 turned out to be Medical United’s year! It was a close match – so close, that the game went into overtime and needed to be decided through penalty shots. A few malcontents even whisper that the victory was not entirely fair as the referee ended the match after only 3, not 5, penalty shots…but there are others who would simply call them sore losers.
As for the Fun League, this year saw a victory by the Staff football team, which included our very own CEO! The winning team from the Pro League was awarded a magnificent trophy which was 3D printed in-house. We aren’t a 3D printing company for nothing.
We decided to use our new HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200 printer to create the Championship trophy. It was a nice opportunity to get creative and try out some cool designs and lightweight structures! Check out the result on the left.