Inverell and Macintyre High School joined around 250 players around the region for the inaugural north west AFL Secondary Schools Gala Day on Tuesday.
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Area development officer (program leader) Sonia Martin said she didn’t think there had ever been a secondary schools competition in the region and that it was a fairly new sport for the north west.
“Some of them, they’ve never even watched a full game of AFL on the tv before, so it’s a big learning curve for a lot of them.”
Seventeen teams from Inverell, Uralla, Armidale and Tamworth braved the steamy heat for a full day of AFL. Spread out over three fields in the Inverell Sporting Complex, each played several friendly games from 9.45am-2.45pm.
Inverell High School did well on the day, coming out on top in the youth girls and senior boys competitions. Despite a determined effort from Macintyre High’s ‘green’ team, Inverell High defeated Macintyre High, Moree and Glen Innes in the girls section. Sarah Byrnes put in an impressive performance, and was awarded best on the ground for the grand final.
Inverell High also came first in the senior boys, defeating the most improved team of the day, Carinya Christian School in a nail biter by just two points. The best on ground for the grand final were Jack Stafford and Jackson Blake – both from Inverell High School.
The junior boys was a battle between two Farrer teams, with Farrer unsurprisingly taking the win. The best on ground for the grand final was awarded to Brad Sadler
Martin said the day was about introducing the sport to the region.
“This is like a come and experience AFL – give it a go,” she said.
“That’s why we’ve been flexible with combining teams and the umpires aren’t just strictly umpires, they’re also explaining some rules as they go along when the kids don’t know them.”
Although Moree and Glen Innes’ girls teams had to pull out, Martin was pleased to see four teams playing on the day.
“When we started talking about this then people went ‘girls AFL?’ like ‘yeah, girls AFL!’. So we’ve now got four teams of about 60 girls out there running around. It’s awesome,” she said.
To combat the heat, Martin said the players made sure to keep their fluids up, and played short games.
Naomi Shumack
Born and bred in Inverell, I'm passionate about community journalism. I'm the youngest of five kids, am a book worm and have a ridiculous movie collection. I have a double degree in Communications and International Studies from the University of Wollongong. I write stories for the Inverell Times, Moree Champion and Goondiwindi Argus. You can contact me at naomi.shumack@fairfaxmedia.com.au or on 0438 606 351.
Born and bred in Inverell, I'm passionate about community journalism. I'm the youngest of five kids, am a book worm and have a ridiculous movie collection. I have a double degree in Communications and International Studies from the University of Wollongong. I write stories for the Inverell Times, Moree Champion and Goondiwindi Argus. You can contact me at naomi.shumack@fairfaxmedia.com.au or on 0438 606 351.
