Sports News

Hook, Line and Sinker with Lindsay Doust

A little cold; a lot of barra

This week's photo is a great shot of Andrew Stephenson with a wild bass from "a remote area in the local hinterland".

A touch of cold in the air has brought the winter anglers out. More and more boats are appearing on the river of a night chasing bream and jew on bait and using soft plastics during the day.

Eight local anglers have just returned from a top trip to Arnhem Land catching well over 200 barramundi (all released). Their world famous quarry came in at between 7 and 12 kilograms each, in the main.

Magpies rise as eyes turn to Nimbin

The exquisite Nimbin clubhouse, one of the many features of Australian football, Nimbin-style. The Demons will host old rivals the Murwillumbah Hawks this Saturday.

The Byron Magpies have achieved Premiership favouritism after only a couple of rounds of the home and away season. Last Saturday they finished over the top of the Lismore Swans in a classy encounter to win 17-12-114 to Lismore's 11-6-72.

In a tense game the Swans went to the three-quarter time break with a one-point advantage.

However Byron were all class in the final quarter and kicked eight goals to Lismore's one to run out easy winners in the end.

Swans coach Ron Meldrum was not too disappointed with his team's showing. After the match he said he "was reasonably happy with the effort considering Josh Suffolk was a late withdrawal and apart from the last quarter we were competitive in every aspect of the game".

At Fripp Oval Ballina the Bombers bounced back into the winners circle with a 16 point win over the Casino Lions, scoring 14-14-98 to Casino's 12-10-82

For the third week in a row Patty Bulzomi was best on ground for the Bombers, with his three goals an added bonus.

Casino led at quarter time by six points, and was only four points behind at the last change. The experienced Bombers steadied their ship in the final quarter to run out winners.

This week all eyes will be on Nimbin for the only remaining game of the split round. The Nimbin Demons will be hosting their old rivals the Murwillumbah Hawks. Although this is their first game in over a decade previous encounters between the communities connected by the Uki Road were always spirited.

The Nimbin AFL experience is unique, as many people who went to the 2003 grand final will attest, and a large crowd is likely to be in attendance at the Nimbin Showground.

Aths club on track for students

Lismore Athletic Club will be back on the track for the first winter prep session for the upcoming schools athletic season on Sunday 9 May at Riverview Park, South Lismore from 10:30am.

The club coaches will be available to lend their expertise to all high school aged athletes as an avenue to improve their chances of progression through to the State All Schools Championships to be held in Sydney later this year.

The Lismore Athletic Club is very proud of its long history of providing high quality coaching and assistance to local athletes since it first affiliated with the NSW Amateur Athletic Association in 1935.

Champion athletes introduced to the sport and developed by club coaches include current Australian Women's Long Jump Champion Kerrie Taurima, a member of the Lismore Athletic Club throughout her high school and Junior athletic careers. This led her to a scholarship at the AIS in Canberra in 2000.

Promising young high jumper, Daniel Lawton. Daniel, the current NSW under 20 High Jump Champion, has improved his personal best from 2.06m to 2.10m since moving to Lismore to study Human Movement at SCU.

For further information on the Lismore Athletic Club contact the President Phillip Newton on 6624 4044 or the Secretary Mrs. Janette Price on 6621 3732.

Group One fortunes on the improve - Rugby League

The future is starting to look healthier for Group One, still recovering from the late withdrawal of Workers Club from the competition on the eve of the 2003 season.

While there are currently nine clubs in First Division, leading to a weekly bye and only four games each weekend, the inclusion of the New South Wales-based clubs from Gold Coast-Group 18 competition next year could prove a boon.

On top of this potential comes the news that former Casino and Marist Brothers centre, Matt King has been selected for NSW Country in the annual City v Country Origin match that plays such an important role in the selection of the NSW State of Origin side.

Meanwhile the Mullumbimby Giants bandwagon rolls on. They accounted for Ballina 26-16 on Saturday night and are licking their lips at the prospect of a hit out at Kyogle this Sunday.

Ballina and South Grafton should provide a close encounter at Kingsford Smith Park. South Grafton fresh from an 82-4 demolition of Casino RSM will face a much sterner test but should still win.

Grafton Ghosts will have to be at their best to ensure the powerful Lower Clarence forwards don't waltz through them as though they are apparitions. The Ghosts suffered at Byron Bay's hands on Sunday to the tune of a 51-16 pasting. Byron will have the bye this week; no doubt pleased with the three wins from four they have earned to date.

Lower Clarence will be full of confidence for the clash after having accounted for Kyogle 62-20.

Marist Brothers return to action after having the bye in the last round. Firmly in their sights will be Casino RSM and the scoreboard.

Redbirds search for win - Baseball

The first double header for 2004 in the Rex Airlines FNC Baseball League has left struggling Redbirds winless after four rounds.

Last Friday night Norths Bears dominated Redbirds with both bat and ball in taking the game 14 -1. Redbirds entered the game with a number of junior players, including up and coming Under 16 member, Jake Tucarto. Bears pitcher Mark Robb showed the benefits of his break last year, pitching for the win in seven innings. Robb's performance was matched by his team's errorless game in the field.

In game two on Saturday, Norths continued their form by trouncing Redbirds 29 runs to 6. Norths amassed 23 hits across 7 innings, including a 12 run surge in the 4th. Redbirds continued their poor form in the field, conceding 6 errors. Norths contributed five errors of their own.

In the weekend's other match-up, Workers and Brothers went head to head on Baxter Field. For Workers, Queensland Provincial pitcher, Josh Daley, held the Brethren to a 6 - 0 score line across 9 innings, yet another shutout for Brothers, an unthinkable result in 2003.

Workers secured the win with runs in the 4th, 5th and 8th innings taking them to the top of the ladder with Norths. Next weekend, Norths and Workers go head to head in a battle to take the lead on the premiership ladder. Last time up Norths found themselves on the end of a batting frenzy from Workers, losing courtesy of the ten run rule. Workers have a talented team full of skill and experience while Norths have greater depth in their pitching. However, Norths are still blooding a number of younger players to the top grade and may take a few months together to hit their peak.

Brothers will take on the luckless Redbirds. Redbirds have the potential to beat the Brethren, but must overcome their perpetual error problem and hit the ball consistently.

Pennant aspirants take next step - Bowls

Zone play-offs for the NSW men's pennant competition will be held in the Clarence District this weekend. Casino RSM have a strong line-up and have an excellent chance to progress through to the state finals, as do the members of the three Evans Head teams in the number 2's, 5's and 7's.

Locally the District Pairs final contestants have been decided after two one-sided semi-finals. In the first semi the favourites, David Ball and Brian Nixon defeated N Rowland and P Vallotto 32-2. Ball and Nixon have already taken out the fours and triples NRDBA titles. The second semi wasn't quite so one-sided with Neil Burgess and David Tancred overcoming Rod Greentree and Rob Montague 27-7..

The fi9nal will be held at Alstonville on May 8, starting at 12 noon.

The final of the District Reserve Pairs was held at Lismore City on Saturday with City's Dusty Allison and Larry Maxfield taking the title from Lismore RSL's John Neill and John Piper 23-14. The winning pair have now qualified for the Zone play offs on July 11.

For those interested in a little social bowls and a chance to get to meet the members of Lismore's most successful football team, the Marist Brothers rugby League club, there is a social bowls day at the Lismore City Bowling Club this Sunday, May 2. All players, family, sponsors and supporters are welcome with anyone wanting to make a late entry to call Luke Campbell on 0405 194 583 ASAP.

Casino breaks record as Woosley breaks driver

The annual Casino Meat Works Co-Operative Charity Golf Days, played last weekend was once again an outstanding success.

Over 300 participants helped in raising over $15000, which will directly benefit the Westpac Rescue Helicopter, Windarra Tearooms and Nursery and Jumbunna Pre-school and Early Intervention Centre.

The hard luck story of the week concerns Kyogle's Craig Woosley who broke the shaft on his new driver on the first tee at Kyogle on Sunday. ]

Honour Roll

Casino off to perfect start - Soccer FNC

The Casino Cobras are the only FNC Premier Division side to maintain a perfect record after three rounds. Hosting Bangalow on Saturday they came away with a convincing 3-nil victory. The game was effectively sealed by half time after goals by Aaron Swanson and Chris Bentley. Bangalow are finding out the hard way the difference between a decent Cup run and life in the premiership.

Rovers unleashed the dog on their visit to Alstonville. At least that's how it must have appeared to the 'Villa faithful as Rovers piled on seven goals to two. What Rovers have really unleashed is Matthew Olley, fresh from a last start hat trick he went one better and slotted home four goals.

This sets up a potential goal-feast at Rovers this Saturday as Casino and Rovers go head to head. Between them the two teams are responsible for one third of the goals scored to date in the Premier Division.

The Byron v Thistles and Workers v Maclean matches both resulted in 2-all draws, but both could have been different but for a couple of late goals.

Byron looked to have wrapped up their fixture after having twice taken the lead and holding a 2-1 lead. With only a few minutes left on the clock up stepped thistles Luke Elliott to slot in a close range shot to give Thistles a share of the points.

Workers were facing an unexpected home defeat against Maclean. Down 2-nil in the second half it became a battle of the experience in Workers line up against the pace and precision of Maclean. Anthony Alvos started the Workers recovery with a second half goal, but it seemed too little too late up until the referee awarded Workers a penalty late in the day. Tom Guttormsen put in the dot-shot much to Workers relief.

On Sunday at Saunders Oval, Ballina, Stars further redeemed themselves after their appalling pasting at the hands of Byron Bay in the first round. Fresh from their victory over Workers, Stars took on Ballina in a replay of last year's grand final, a scenario that is unlikely to be repeated this year on the offerings shown so far.

Once again Stars came out on top, although Tyson Price's first half strike gave the home side the lead. Josh Sharp and Jeremy Pollard both put themselves on the score sheet for a 2-1 victory that moved Stars into second place on the ladder.

This weekend will see a double header at Oakes Oval under lights, featuring Byron and Workers in the first match starting at 5pm, followed by Stars and Alstonville. Both matches offer the potential of heavy scoring and should be worth the entry fee.

Maclean will host Ballina in a game that is crucial for the home side. They have only one competition point from their first two games and the 2001 major premiers could be looking down the barrel of a long season.

Rovers, with home advantage, may test the newly invigorated Casino team while Bangalow will have their work cut out for them at Thistles.

Gilly and Workers chip in

Pictured at the hand over, along with the shirt of Lismore's favourite sporting son are LBH's Rebekka Battista and Robyn Venn (standing) with parent Kerry Aboody-Fischer, and her daughter, patient Lillian Aboody-Fischer, fellow patient Ben Miller, his father John and Lismore Workers Club president Max Thompson.

Adam Gilchrist and the Lismore Workers Club have combined their energies and the Our Kids/Northern Rivers Children's Health Fund has come out the winner.

Adam agreed to give the club a signed version of one of his international shirts on the condition that they respond with a $1,000 dollar donation to the Lismore Base Hospital Children's Ward.

This week the Workers Club came through on their side of the bargain, when club President Max Thompson (pictured, at right) handed over a cheque for $1,300 at Lismore Base Hospital.

Byron demolish first round heroes

Byron threw down the gauntlet to Intershape Women's Premier League heavyweights Workers and Rovers by thrashing joint league leaders SCU 7-1, including five second-half goals. In the first round of the competition SCU, down to seven players defeated Lennox head 2-1, but there were no heroics last weekend.

The victory has moved Byron in to top place on the table, a position they can consolidate this Friday when they travel to Woodburn to take on the newcomers. Woodburn are coming off a 4-1 victory over Thistles so they could easily spoil Byron's outing.

Byron coach Bianca-Lee Cody was ecstatic with the victory. "This was without doubt our best performance to date. The girls showed they have the resolve to be real contenders this year and proved that we have been playing below our ability in some of our fixtures to date." Cody stated.

In the other fixtures newly promoted sides Lennox Head and Ballina found the going tough against Callan McMillan grand finalists Workers and Rovers with both sides going down 2 - 1.

Workers obviously felt the effects of Tuesday's Callan McMillan Grand Final struggling to overcome a determined Lennox Head side still looking for their first points for the season. Lennox managed to score twice in the match but regrettably one of those was an own goal.

Fixtures this weekend throw Thistles up against Workers and Byron against Woodburn on Friday night while Mother's Day on Sunday will produce local derbies between close rivals Ballina and Lennox and Rovers battling it out with SCU.

Results of the 2004 Callan McMillan Memorial Shield Open A: Rovers 4 d Workers 1; Open B: Stars 4 d Nimbin Headers 0.

Echo backs Golden Boot

The Northern Rivers Echo is once again sponsoring the Soccer Far North Coast Golden Boot competitions in the Men's Premier Division and Women's First Division.

Rovers Matthew Olley has streaked to the lead in the premier Division with seven goals in the past two games. In the Women's comp Byron's Rose Argent bagged a hat trick against SCU to join Renae McIntosh of Rovers, who added another to her tally against Ballina.

Men's Premier Division

7 - Matthew Olley (Rovers)

5 - Adam Bostock (Byron Bay)

4 - Thomas Guttormsen (Workers)

Women's First Division

5 - Rose Argent (Byron Bay)

5 - Renae McIntosh (Rovers)

3 - Five players.

Casino's claims not all bull - FNC Rugby Union

The Casino Bulls ground out an 18-13 victory over Ballina at Queen Elizabeth Park last Saturday to leave them level with Southern Cross University as the only unbeaten teams in First Grade.

The SCU Gold Rats, no doubt inspired by ex-Rat and current Wallaby Justin Harrison's naked image from the 1993 Gold Rats calendar that appeared in the SMH on Friday, ran riot over a distracted Grafton. Running in seven tries to two SCU won 45-10, easily earning the bonus point. Nick Jones was responsible for a hat trick of Uni tries in a game that poses questions about Grafton's season ahead. Uni's real test will come this Saturday against Lismore, the 2003 premiers at SCU.

The Lismore Greens delivered Wollongbar its second consecutive defeat. Embarrassingly both have been on their home turf. The loss of players back to rugby league may have hit them harder than expected. They will host their third consecutive game this Saturday, but there is unlikely to be a let up as they face an undefeated Casino.

Ballina travel to Grafton and should return with their first victory of the season.

The Village competition returned to the field last weekend with Kyogle downing their mountain region rivals, Richmond Range by 68-nil. Evans River took the points at Bangalow 16-nil while Lennox Head won again, this time taking Iluka's scalp.

Falcons sound a warning to rivals - Netball

Woodlawn Falcons have alerted their competition that they will be a force in Lismore Netball's First Division in 2004 even though they lost to perennial power Breakaways on Saturday. The match was close throughout with last year's premiers just edging out the newcomers 31-35.

Daleys were too strong across the court for the fading All Saints. The Saints are coming off a poor year and will need to ensure that their new blood is up to the demands of the top flight or it will be a long, long season for them.

Rous and Daleys Tribes are still both untested after Tribes forfeited their encounter.

The game of the round this Saturday is undoubtedly the Breakaways v Daleys confrontation. Daleys will be keen to stamp their claims over Breakaways from the outset so this should be a torrid, close encounter.

It will be an interesting test of Woodlawn Falcons resilience when they come up against Rous. It will be the second tough match for the Falcons in as many weeks, but that's how it is when you live life at the top.

The All Saints v Daleys Tribes game isn't exactly a mouth-waterer, but both teams will approach the game knowing that they are in danger of casting a flawed dye for their season without a win in this encounter.