The soggy ground is holding up and so is the weather.
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Day one of the Joey’s Mini World Cup saw all teams in the draw get through their games despite the tournament losing one field due to Sunday’s downpours.
On Saturday, all the fields looked good and promising but the heavy showers on Sunday meant one of the fields was ruled out of contention on Monday.
Founder Heinrich Haussler paid tribute to the Inverell Council grounds staff who worked all day Sunday to get the fields ready.
A hole in the ground from a leaking sprinkler was discovered early Sunday during a ground inspection and the hot water system broke down in the canteen on Saturday.
The council grounds staff have done an absolutely terrific job led by Ian Spalding
- Joeys Mini World Cup founder Heinrich Haussler
But Harvey Norman came to the rescue for the hot water and council came to the rescue with sand for the hole.
“The council grounds staff have done an absolutely terrific job led by Ian Spalding,’’ Mr Haussler said.
“It is all much much better than we could have expected four days ago.
“We started at 9am on Monday after a lot of concern about the fields being ready to play on.
“Everything went off really well and everyone is having great fun and are looking forward to the music nights.’’
The mini world cup teams have a day off on Wednesday and play again Thursday and Friday.
An associated world cup music festival will run Wednesday to Friday nights for players and their families.
it is open to the public on Saturday night.
The mini world cup is in its sixth year after Mr Heussler found a way to up-skill regional Australia and tap into the world cup vibe.
The cup will identify the best 15 year old, 17 year old, woman, and goal keeper.
These winners will be eligible to attend the four week football tour and coaching clinics in Germany – the home of football.
Partial subsidies will be announced on Friday for 30 others.