By Casey O’connor
THERE is nothing quite like the end of the footy season. Last weekend we saw junior and senior league grand finals in Inglewood; Football/Soccer grand finals in Stanthorpe and the Warwick teams in the TRL major semi-finals and each centre involved was a buzz.
Grand finals serve to remind us of the importance of sport in our small communities. In Inglewood supporters once again dressed the town in red and black with signs warning Tigers of impending doom and Roosters appearing at every turn. Shops and pubs (sacre bleu) closed as all roads led to McIntyre Oval. No-one can doubt the passion in Inglewood when the pubs close their doors because it’s grand final day.
Volunteers worked at a fierce pace to keep food and drink up to the demand of patrons, and everyone even the losing teams left with a smile on their faces.
It was the same at the International Club on Saturday with supporters enduring full on winter conditions to support their players and clubs. Again a raft of volunteers were on hand to satisfy the spectators.
It is difficult if not impossible to put a price on the value of these events in our communities, and why we should fight hard to keep our sporting competitions afloat. It is never easy, and administrators and game officials more often than not have a thankless task.
The games I saw last weekend were played in good spirit and good sportsmanship – that is not to say there were not the occasional heated exchanges. I congratulate the players, officials volunteers and supporters on another outstanding job. Our communities would be so much poorer in so many ways if not for your contribution.
– Casey
(Check out next week spin for more grand final pictures.)
ROOSTERS COCK A HOOP
THERE has been plenty of crowing in and around Inglewood since the Roosters scored an emphatic win over the Tenterfield Tigers in the BRL grand final on Sunday.
History shows the Roosters are a tough side to beat at home when it comes to grand finals, and Sunday’s game was a reflection of that. From the kick off the Roosters monstered the smaller Tenterfield pack and only minutes into the game had put on two spectacular tries. The Tigers who had the wood on the Roosters earlier in the season looked flat early in the first half.
While there was no doubting the Tigers commitment, they could not match the intensity of the home side. Rooster Jamie Meddings who was one of his side’s best performers scored on the half time siren to take the score out to a 22-nil lead.
Tenterfield needed a miracle in the second half and while they upped the tempo after the half-time break it always looked like a mountain too high to climb.
Tempers flared as the big hits from both sides continued and the Roosters were left a man down when Matt West was sin binned for a high shot with his side leading 28-4.
Play was interrupted in the 65th minute when Roosters Brent Hearne went down in a world of pain with a leg injury. He was transported to hospital but was later cleared of any serious injury. Before his injury, Hearne had slotted five conversions and was one of the best for his team.
The Tigers had no answers to the Roosters attack which was relentless and at the full time siren the score was 44-10.
Roosters president Ryan Donovan and captain coach Brent Osborne paid tribute to the Inglewood players who have shown real commitment since the club re-joined the BRL this season. In accepting the trophy, Osborne thanked his team-mates for a great season and the passionate Roosters supporters who were out in force. While the player of the match was not announced on Sunday, it would be hard to go past Roosters centre Brandon Sauverain who had an outstanding game. Tim West and Jamie Meddings also had great games.
THREE PEAT SPECIAL FOR TIGERETTES
Meg Landers the Tenterfield Tigerettes captain held the Premiership trophy aloft for the third year in succession on Sunday when her team downed the Wallangarra Ramettes 32-10 in the grand final of the BRL Ladies League Tag. This was a much closer game than the score line indicates. The Wallangarra girls have certainly lifted their intensity and skills this season. Wallangarra surprised many when they opened the scoring in the GF and defended well in the first half before the more experienced Tigerettes took control of the game. Since the inception of Ladies League Tag three years ago, successive Tenterfield sides under the coaching of Wayne Minns have remained undefeated and they have set the bench high in the Ladies competition.
This season there were several new faces in the Tenterfield line up including the experienced Jamie Scott who formerly played for Texas and the Tigerettes continued their remarkable record.
This grand final was especially important and emotional for many of the group after losing their staunchest supporter, club patron, Aub Gillespie early in the season. Coach Wayne Minns and captain Meg Landers dedicated this win to their former mentor.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ACTION
THE Inglewood Sporting Shooters Assoc hosted the Queensland State Lever Action Championships last weekend and as competitors began arriving on Friday most of the talk centred on the cloudy blustery and cool to cold conditions as the visitors set up camp.
The first the Classic Calibre in which ammunition made 1938 or prior and the lever action rifles to suit are used with no refinements.
The second – the Open where various calibres and sights are used excluding telescopic sights.
Distances ranged from 100 metre to 50 metre to rapid fire 25 metre events – all timed events.
Competitors came from near and far highlighting the popularity of the sport.
In the Classic Calibre where competitors use the old open sights, no peeps or sighting tubes the winner was Jim Buckley from Picton NSW. In second place was Steve Hurley a sandgroper from Albany WA. Third place went to a Queenslander Darren Moy of Hervey Bay.
In the Open event, the Western Australian Steve Hurley reversed the tables on Jim Bickley to take out the event. Third placegetter was Lismore visitor Jim Ellis.
The Two Gun Winners – are the highest scores for both events, and once again it was the sandgroper to the fore with Steve Hurley the winner and Jim Buckley in second spot ahead of Darren Moy.
Visiting shooters were full of praise for the Inglewood club’s facilities.
This is not the first occasion that the hardworking members and committee have hosted a championship shoot. The State and Zone Muzzle Loading championships have been held on the Glenarbon.
Of course, like all events they take a great deal of planning and hard work, but it is a worthwhile exercise in the end and the club thanks all those competitors who attended and the members who volunteered to help run the event and feed the starving hordes. Members are expecting to be a little quieter down on the range this weekend.
COMMITTED BUNCH
Golfers are if nothing else a resilient and committed bunch – conditions last Saturday were dreadful and there was a moment where there was a threat of no play at all however enough diehard (or crazy) players turned out and the competition went ahead as scheduled. Not surprisingly, scores were a little over par with little run on the heavy course after the rain.
Simon Shannon showed good form in the heavy conditions returning the best score of nett 71 to win the September Monthly Medal sponsored by Aqua Rural Supplies. Shannon went out with a 43 and came home the final nine with 42
Best gross score of the day was 83 with both Fred Wharton and Rob Reeves on the number. Putting honours were shared by Hayden Smith and Bill Pyne with 27 putts for the round.
Fred Wharton also collected the pin shot at 3 and Rob Reeves won the balls at 12 and 17. Pro-pins went to Bill Pyne at 1/10, Mark Hendry at 5/14 and David Burgess at 9/18. Hayden Smith and Mick Thompson shared the birdies nest at 15. In the run down, it was a ball each to scores of nett 76 and better.
The Ladies event was no contest with Nikki Rossow playing great golf all day to take a win.
Thanks to Remo from Aqua Rural for playing and presenting the trophies after the game.
Match play continues and last week Mick Thompson just edged out Stephen Kay and Mark McCosker got the better of Graham Tonkin. Both winners advance to the next round.
Another busy weekend on the course is planned for the coming weekend and organisers will be hoping the weather gods are a little kinder.
Saturday golfers will be playing in the annual Laurie Newley Memorial Day sponsored by the Newley family. Tee off is from 11am
Sunday is the men’s and ladies foursome championships with tee off from 9am
Next Sunday is the men’s and ladies’ foursome championships, teeing off from 9am. Saturday is the Laurie Newley Memorial Day, and is sponsored by the Newley family.
Time sheets have been posted on the board at the club house.
COWBOYS STILL ALIVE
THE grand final dreams of the Cowboys A Grade and Under 18 sides are still alive despite both sides suffering losses in the Semi-final round of the TRL.
The A Grade Minor Premiers received a wake-up call on Sunday at Clive Berghoffer Oval in their game against Pittsworth. The Danes led 8-4 at the half-time break after a tough first half.
A try in the second half from Ryan McIvor sent the Cowboys to lead for the first time in the game giving them a 10-8 lead.
The turning point in the game came for the Danes when Brad Brosnan scored, swinging the lead back to Pittsworth. The momentum swing continued as the Danes piled on 24 unanswered points late in the second half.
The Cowboys were out enthused by the Danes in a physical encounter.
The Cowboys must now regroup and prepare for their preliminary final against Highfields this weekend. The Eagles outclassed the more experienced Gatton Hawks and held their nerve to win the minor semi-final in a see-sawing game.
The Cowboys will go into this game favourites, but it is all or nothing for both sides and they will leave nothing on the field in their bid to fill the last spot in the grand final.
The scenario is similar for the Cowboys under-18 side which was beaten 36-16 by minor premiers Valleys after taking a 12-0 lead early in the game in their semi-final.
The Roosters showed why they finished minor premiers, scoring the next four tries before half time to take a 22-12 lead to the break. The Roosters ran away with the game in the second half. In the end, a comprehensive win to Valleys.
The Cowboys under-18s will meet Pittsworth in the preliminary final after they defeated Burnett Blue 52-10 in the minor semi. All games will be played at Clive Berghoffer Oval this Sunday.
BIG CROWD IGNORE CONDITIONS
A BIG crowd turned out for the Stanthorpe Football Association grand finals on Saturday despite the dreadful conditions. While the early games were played under the threat of showers, conditions for the Colts, Ladies and Men’s finals were nothing short of Artic. Supporters rugged up adding more layers as the games progressed.
Players and supporters of the Ballandean Club were paying scant regard to the conditions, and had plenty to celebrate after winning the Men’s A Grade and Ladies grand finals.
In awful conditions, the Ballandean Ladies set the stage for a big day for the club when they grabbed a 2-1 win over United. Sarah Day was on target slotting two penalty goals to give Ballandean the title.
In the Men’s game, Ballandean scored a 3-2 win in a tight game. With the scores locked at 1-1 at half time, the stage was set for a thrilling end to the season and the faithful, by this time almost frozen supporters were not disappointed as the game moved quickly from end to end.
With the scores at two-all, Ballandean scored close to full time to clinch the win.
It wrapped up a big day that saw Inter Fillies defeat Ballandean 1-0; City defeated United 1-0 in the Junior Colts and in the senior Colts it was a win for Inter who defeated United 1-0in earlier games closing another successful football season for the Stanthorpe Football Association.
GOLDEN GLOVE WIN FOR WYLLIE
JAKE Wyllie was one of five Rose City boxers who recently competed in the Australian Golden Gloves tournament at Acacia Ridge in Brisbane, and was the only representative of the club to come away with a prestigious Golden Gloves win. Wyllie really stepped his boxing up to the next level, and had three convincing wins during the three-day tournament and in the final defeated Dillon Biggs of Beaudesert.
All other Rose City counterparts boxed well without success. Jacko McMahon came up against the more experiences Kyle Chan who is the current New Zealand 75kg champion in his first fight on Friday night. Despite a good performance, Chan’s experience was a telling factor in the bout. Teresa Poole fought Tasmanian, Maddie Holland in the 60kg women’s division. In a tough encounter where there were some heavy punches, Poole was beaten on points. Charlie Sweedman faced ACT boxer Ben McMahon in a Friday afternoon bout and despite a good performance went down to the more experienced fighter in another point’s decision. This weekend the Rose City team will be well represented at a tournament in Rosewood on Saturday.
ANNUAL GOLF DAY SUCCESS
EVERYONE loves rain unless of course you are a golfer or a golf club planning a big weekend. The overnight rain on Friday prevented any play at Wallangarra for the scheduled club game on Saturday, but by Sunday morning the sun was shining and the course had dried for the annual Golf World Toowoomba Two Ball Ambrose event.
The crows were also out in force trying to snatch their share of those eye-catching yellow golf balls.
An impressive number of players also lined up for the popular event with players travelling from Toowoomba Tenterfield and Warwick for the popular event. Nett winners were the pairing of Steve Hampstead and Gary Sutcliffe. The Nett runners-up were the Cutmore combination from Tenterfield.
The Gross winners were the local pair Murphy and Thompson. Collecting the gross runner-up prize were J. Purcell and K. Williams.
Nearest the pin at 3/15 was G. Sutcliffe who also claimed the Accuracy drive gong. G. Morris picked up the pin on the ninth and the Women’s Accuracy drive went to J. Hopkins.
The Wallangarra Golf Club wish to thank the sponsors, Golf World, Toowoomba, for their support of the yearly event and the volunteers who provided the lunches and helped out in the bar.
GOOD NUMBERS ON COURT
MARGARET Dickenson and Pat Schnoor teamed up to play against Joy Newman and Carol Verwey in Tuesday’s golf croquet game last week. They pegged out with 26-11; win over their opponents – both players having three breaks of three in the game.
Grace Howard was playing under an injury cloud after suffering a fall when she partnered Andrea Denkewitz for a 24-14 win over Heather Widderick and Val Richardson. Despite her difficulties Grace Howard had two breaks of three (and we are note referring to bones.
EARLY PLAYERS ENJOY BEST CONDITIONS
THERE was a return to good weather early last week, and a good turnout for golf croquet where players split into three groups to play doubles. This group had the best of the weather conditions with the Thursday session abandoned due to the conditions. A small group did however enjoy an afternoon game on Sunday.
Wednesday winners were Marion Castles and Dianne Wren who defeated Elaine Brown and new comer Peter Harrington 11-10. Although only new to the game, Peter Harrington is showing good improvement with each game he plays and added four hoops to his team’s tally in this game.
Val Fancourt partnered another first time player, Pauline and the pair had a narrow 13-12 win over Liz Ellway and Bev Sullivan. The experience of Fancourt came to the fore, included in her top score of 10 was a hoop in one. Her partner was very impressive in her first game scoring thee hoops.
Teresa Pyne and Shirley Page also had a 13-12 win over Justin Liddy and John Castles. Page and Castles top-scored with seven hoops apiece.
In the second session, Bev Sullivan and Pauline played Val Fancourt and Peter Harrington, scoring a 10-9 win. Tops scorers were Sullivan and Fancourt each with six hoops.
John Castles and Dianne Wren were the other winners in the session, defeating Shirley Page and Justin Liddy 11-8. John Castles played extremely well in this game, scoring eight of the winning 11 hoops.
The small group that ventured out in better conditions on Sunday played a sociable game of triples which saw the Castles family in good form, defeating their opponents.
GATEBALL NEWS
THE gateball crew once again got the worst of the week’s weather conditions. While conditions were not ideal for the first couple of games on Friday, they did improve as play went on.
In games one and two the Red team of Andrea Denkewitz, Margaret Dickenson, Bill Golding and Val Fancourt played the White team -Les Williams, Effey Russell, Pat Schnoor, Joy Newman and Jenny Tunbridge. Red had a comfortable 18 -10 win in the first, but a countback was required to determine a winner in the second game after scores were locked at 11-all. White was eventually declared the winner
There was a reshuffle of teams before the next game. Andrea Denkewitz, Pat Schnoor, Les Williams and Jenny Tunbridge played Red against White – Margaret Dickenson, Joy Newman, Val Fancourt and Bill Golding.
Red took out the first game with a 15-11 win, but the results were reversed in the final game with White bouncing back for a 17-15 win.
Weather conditions prevented Saturday afternoon games from going ahead, however players will be back in action this week.
SPORTERS CELEBRATE DAD’S DAY
THERE was a great roll up at Sporters on Sunday as enthusiasts chose a round of golf on Father’s Day.
Owen McPaul was celebrating a win along with runner-up Max Hunter. Aaron Simmers had the Best Gross and along with Jim McPherson figured in the run downs. The Pin Shot and Pro Pin went unclaimed, however there was better luck for Dale Gilliam and Batt Beale – each went home with a meat tray after the raffle.
Sporters are reminded that this Sunday September 11 in a slight but important change to times, all players must be off the first tee before 8.30am due to the Mixed Foursome competition which will be played after Sporters.
FINALLY A FINAL EIGHT
THE composition of the NRL final eight came right down to the wire with the finals berth not decided until after the last match of the season with the Titans scraping in ahead of the Tigers.
The Melbourne Storm claimed the JJ Giltinan Shield and $100,000 as minor premiers with a convincing win over the Sharks and now the real fun begins.
Friday night it is do or die for the Broncos and Titans. I am expecting a Broncos win at Suncorp but this will be no easy gallop for the home side. Sam Thaiday has already stirred the possum with his tongue in cheek take on the Hayne’s planes journey.
On Saturday the all-conquering Green Machine will be at full strength when they take on the Sharks who look to be floundering. Canberra’s Jack Wighton was cleared to play after the judiciary threw out his shoulder charge suspension. The Sharks will be better, but I can see a Raiders win here. Saturday night the minor premiers take on the reigning premiers in a thriller at AAMI Park. It would no surprise to see this game go into extra time so close are these teams. Splitting hairs I think Melbourne Storm just – maybe.
Sunday its crunch time for the Doggies and Panthers at Pepper Stadium. The Dogs will lift but I think the Panthers will live to fight another day.
Who knows if the cards fall the right way, we could be looking at a repeat of last year’s grand final in a few weeks.
It will be interesting to see if the judiciary’s ruling on Tuesday night opens a Pandora’s box, leading into the finals. Let the fun begin.
