From The Sideline. (Round 4 - War)
So Saturday was a home game due to Wollongbar’ s Lyle Park being soaked much like all other sporting fields on the Far North Coast. Ballina and WAR have played for the Dane Cupitt Shield for many years in memoriam of Dane who played for both club’s and it is an important event in our calendar. Dane’s parents Noel & Marg were in attendance at the game as they have for many years and they truly appreciate the efforts made by the clubs and feel grateful and humbled by this. The shield is determined by the progressive scores of all grades and this year, Ballina were convincing winners against a strong WAR club.
Aside from a bit of drizzle the games were played in great spirit and plenty of aggression. It was great to have most of our players back on deck in 1st grade with Ants and Stanley Lolohea back with Sam Giltrap and Brad Brown all strengthening our team.
Women’s 10’s was cancelled due to illness from Evans Head and 2nds were also strengthened with the addition of Nick Brydon and the younger brigade of Reuben Saric, Corey Threlfall and Braithe Keirle all improving with every game. Ryan Hamilton returned with some barnstorming defence but unfortunately Adam Thomas may have incurred some damage to his knee which will slow him up for a while. Be careful with a comeback.
The teams really gelled well this week and it appears the more games under their belts, the better they will play. Commish has provided some great photos this week and we thank him for his efforts in taking these photos.
Just a reminder, we will be organising a Ladies Day event as well as a combined Old Boys / Island Night . The club wants to ensure the Ladies connected to our club are honoured in the best way and our Pasifika members will be showcasing their heritage with a Hangi and Kava ceremony. This will be towards the end of the season proper and this will be a great time to bring all the old boys back into the club for a catch up and enjoy themselves with the island night. Every Old Boy / Lady , past player / member, spouse or sponsor is welcome to attend this event. We want to finish the end of season on a high so that if we are in contention for finals then we can build on the legacy and ensure that the current crop of players can see who they are playing for. It should be a great event.
Make sure you check out our Facebook and Instagram posts as we have put a large investment into making sure we are providing as much suitable content as we can. Look out for the sponsors posts each Wednesday where we will showcase the efforts of our sponsors and why they love the connection to our community club.
