Sports News

Hook, Line and Sinker

Red-spot a modern phenomenon

This is Gary Estreich with a horse of a spanish mackerel, which weighed in at 191kg. Gary caught the beast off Woody Head recently.

The Evans Head Fishing Classic got off to a great start last Friday. However the great weather for Saturday was soon shattered by the wild winds of Sunday. Next week we will be able to bring you an up-to-date report on the classic.

The recent flood has put a lot of colour in the water around Ballina and many species of fish have responded well. Bream and jewfish are predominant and now some nice blackfish are taking yabbies during the day. A number of the bream have developed "red-spot" sores, which seems to be a modern day thing, many believing it to be caused by the various nutrients that wash into the river after a long dry spell. The fish do not seem to be sick. They bite well and fight hard but are not recommended for eating. Associated with the flood has been a bass kill in the Cooper Creek area. Some hundreds of fish have been found dead in paddocks as the floodwaters receded. Southern Cross University is doing research to ascertain the reason.

The Department of Primary Industries and the Australian Fishing Network have released A Guide to Stocked Lakes and Dams in NSW and it is set to become the new bible for freshwater recreational fishers. It outlines virtually everything you need to know about 93 of our inland waterways, from the species present to the bag limits allowed. It costs $25 and can be purchased through the DPI website at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au.

Keep the photos coming in.

Call of the Loon with Laurie Axtens

Safe passage no more

No one doubts the depth of the connection between Australia and England and that is why we feel a collective sense of horror at the retaliation bombings in London last week. However, the attacks open up a host of real and important questions about the safety of Australian sportspeople in England.

After all, if the Blair Government cannot safeguard its own citizenry from the revenge of the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq, how can they assure the safety of our people? At present we have our touring cricket team in their country and throughout the year many of our sportspeople travel to England to ply their trades, both sporting and civil.

In terms of the revenge of the aggrieved peoples, and remember over 100,000 innocent people were killed during the invasion of Iraq, what would suit their purposes better than to bomb Lords during the opening day of the first test? Think about it. It would be an attack on the symbolic link between two of the three nations involved in the mass murder of their countrymen and women. Yet as I watch the one-dayers it seems to me that there is a blithe sense of invulnerability amongst all those involved. I dearly hope I'm wrong but I can't see how the bellicose posturing of the Blair Government will defuse the situation.

More over if Blair doesn't repair and retreat from the aggrieved nations in the very near future and recommit to the charter of the United Nations then they will remain a target up to and after the 2012 Olympics. Why the International Olympic Committee chose a host that openly admits to being at war, I simply can't fathom. Particular as the other major contender, France, chose to abide by the UN charter and refused to attack Iraq. At least Paris isn't in line for retaliatory strikes. One thing is for sure - the IOC selection process should be more transparent and the guidelines for selection weighted toward the safety of the participants.

The sad fact is that the question of safety has not nor will it be discussed adequately in our Parliament and it is quite likely that some of the millions of Australians who marched against the Iraqi invasion will be put at risk during the next few years. But that's democracy for you.

Anyway, I'll be watching all the cricket matches live and I will be doing so with a prayer in my heart that nothing monstrous happens.

The numbers are up

Cliff Copeland has no doubts about what number he is amongst the local featherweights.

Sixteen of Arthur Maloney's top boxers have registered to fight this Saturday, July 16, at the Lismore Workers Club in one of the largest bill of bouts in recent times.

The local fighters will match it with boxers from Kyogle, Ballina, Tamworth, Moree, Kempsey, Grafton and southern Queensland. Of all the fights the match up between Cliff Copeland and Copal Staples for the North Coast Golden Glove Featherweight Championship is probably the most awaited.

"Cliff is a hundred per cent for his rematch against Copal," said Maloney. "Cliffy won by just one point last time they fought. He came home really hard after losing the first two rounds. He's a good chance of winning again."

Boxing will commence at 7.30pm.

Tickets $15 for adults, $10 for pensioners and children, or $20 for a family.

Huxley to officiate

East Ballina's Jill Huxley is one of the 188 Australians nominated as athletics technical officials for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Huxley will fulfill the roles of chief walk judge, umpire and lap scorer at the prestigious event.

"It's great to see Jill on the list of officials nominated for the 2006 Commonwealth Games," said Athletics NSW CEO, Greg Doyle. "Like all those nominated, it is a tribute to her dedication to the sport over an extended period of time."

Run For Life launch

Karen Gilfillan and her daughter Ashlea are launching 'Run For Life' this Saturday to raise money for Early Bird Advocacy.

The Gilfillan women - Karen, Ashlea, Jessica and Courtney - hold more records for cross country running and steeplechase than this page could hope to hold, but it is their dedication to and compassion for families with ill or premature babies that sets them apart from your average athlete.

After losing two children of her own Karen Gilfillan helped establish Early Bird Advocacy in Lismore and together her with her athletically gifted daughters has been raising money for the group and awareness about early childhood health for many years.

This Saturday, July 16, the Gilfillans will be on hand at The Channon Tavern to launch this years 'Run For Life' at 7pm, which will raise vital funds for Early Bird Advocacy. Tickets for the official three-course dinner and launch are $60 and can be obtained at The Channon Tavern or by ringing Karen Gilfillan on 6688 6309 or 0421 643 434.

World beater, king of the kids, in Lismore

2004 World Hockey Player of the Year, Jamie Dwyer, glides past a couple of youthful defenders during a practice game called 'survivor' at the World's Best Hockey Clinic at Hepburn Park on Tuesday. Jamie joined fellow Australian players Angie Skirving, Nikki Hudson and Daniel McPherson as part of the coaching staff for the touring clinic. Much of the credit for organising a visit from our Olympic heroes lies at the feet of former Lismore resident Paul Kelly. Kelly, a graduate from the former University of New England Northern Rivers (an early incarnation of Southern Cross University), runs a company called Sports Link International, which organised the event.

Women's premier league

Waratah Falcons continued their winning style in round six in the women's competition to reclaim the outright lead in the Premier Hockey League. While missing the drive of Ebony Philip, the Falcons did enough to take the points from cellar dwellers Northern Star, winning 3-1. It was a gritty performance from Star but in the end they were outclassed. At Murwillumbah, Mudgeeraba seemed to have awoken from their slumber accounting for Glee 3-1. In a good fast game Deb Bowman-Sullivan took charge of the match for Mudgee, setting up each of their three goals.

At Hunt Park on the Gold Coast the silken skills of Australian forward Nikki Hudson handed Labrador an easy 4-nil win over East Lismore on Sunday.

In the other Saturday match, Redbacks and Capri played out a 1-all draw.

This Sunday Labrador travel to Lismore to match it with Glee in what should prove to be a very entertaining game. The match gets underway at 2.15pm.

Meanwhile on Saturday in Murwillumbah the Redbacks play United and Kingscliff take on Griffith.

Women's pointscore:

Waratahs 13, Redbacks 11, Vipers 11, Labrador 10*, Glee 8, Mudgeeraba 8*, Kingscliff 7, Capri 4*, East Lismore 3, Griffith 1*, Northern Star 1. (*deferred game).

Men's premier league

In a star spangled display of goal scoring Allstars and Northern Star converted 10 goals between them at Hepburn Park on Saturday as Star came away 6-4 winners. Allstars took an easy lead and looked to have the game under control leading 3-1 at the break but the men in black and white weren't to be outdone. Star tightened their defence and this opened the way for Phil Hancock and Chris McGuiness to shine in front of goal.

In Murwillumbah Alstonville's defensive combination of Peter Neilson, Graham Bielefeld and Jay Creighton worked hard against the high-flying Waratah Bobcats but finally succumbed to the relentless pressure 3-nil.

On Sunday East Lismore put a significant dent in Mudgeeraba's title aspirations winning 2-1 after Mudgee led 1-nil for the bulk of the game. In a close and entertaining fixture Easts' defence proved the difference. Matt Rodda had a fine game in the midfield coordinating play, with Chris Clarke and Daniel Hughes, Easts' goal scorers, the main beneficiaries.

Ballina held on to the top spot after struggling to a 3-nil win against lowly rated Burleigh.

Burleigh's keeper Sam Laskowski was denying many of Ballina's opportunities. While the game failed to reach the normal blistering Ballina standard, Scott Bovis and Geoff Davis controlled the game well for the men in sky blue.

In the other matches the United Vipers overcame a spirited Mullumbimby Taipans 5-3 in an extremely competitive and hard fought game.

In the last match played over the weekend Kingscliff defeated Redbacks 4-1.

Coraki had the bye and the Labrador vs Capri game will be played at a time to be announced.

This weekend at Hepburn Park Northern Star host the Mullumbimby Taipans at 2.55pm, Ballina and Mudgee will cross sticks at 4.20pm and on Sunday Coraki and Labrador will fight it out with their eye on a spot in the finals at 3.40pm.

In other matches Alstonville travel to Murwillumbah to take on the Allstars, the Waratahs play the Redbacks, Kingscliff play United and Capri take on Burleigh.

Men's pointscore:

Ballina 25, Waratahs 22, United Vipers 19, East Lismore 18, Mudgeeraba 16*, Labrador 15*, Coraki 14, Kingscliff 13*, Northern Star 12*, Mullumbimby 10, Capri 7*, Allstars 7, Redbacks 6*, Burleigh 4, Alstonville 4.

(*deferred matches).

Golf with Stan Bendall

Sunday, July 24: Northern Rivers mixed foursomes at Coraki over 27 holes.

Tuesday, July 26: Northern Rivers delegates meeting at the Workers Club from 6.30pm.

Sunday, July 31: Interdistrict annual encounter between Northern Rivers Gold Coast and South East Queensland Associations will be played with colts, junior, open and senior teams all taking part on the Tweed Heads course.

The Michael Cup

The first round of the annual encounter for the coveted Michael Cup was played last Saturday attracting 10 pairs from the Casino Club. The Lismore golfers will travel to Casino next Saturday for the second and final round. Lismore only have a two-point lead after this round and I think that the Casino boys will overturn that on their own turf. By the way the Michael Cup is in its 41st year and was instigated by Lismore's Mick Michael, whose brother played at the Casino Golf Club. During those 41 years Casino have only prevailed 13 times. Maybe this year they can claw back some of the difference.

The winners of last weekend's round were Chris Barbary and Blake Jamieson who scored 47 points while the best Casino pair was past champion Brett Dean and escape artist Mark Patterson, who picked up 46 points. Bruce Mathieson won the single event with 42 but the highlight of the day was the ace recorded by Jock McPherson on the par three second hole. The hole-in-one was his first.

Redbirds stumble in Mudgee - Baseball

Easts stellar season suffered its first major setback on the weekend when the Mudgeeraba Redsox took them to the cleaners 22-nil in the regional Interleague.

The massive defeat came after a night of revelry that left the Redbirds squad a little worse for wear. However, that takes nothing away from the perennial Gold Coast champions who blasted 12 hits and picked 15 walks during the walkover.

The loss leaves Redbirds just one point ahead of Brothers and in danger of giving up the second position on the ladder.

Meanwhile, just up the road at Runaway Bay, Norths finally prevailed against Runaway Bay 18-15 in an afternoon where fielding proved a difficult task. Runaway Bay appeared to have the A's on the ropes early, smashing in 14 runs by the top of the fourth to lead 14-6. Finally the A's started to find the middle of the bat and capitalising on numerous fielding errors scored 13 more runs in the next four innings to take the game. Highlighting the game for the A's included Paul Simes' four hits from as many bats, and three hits to Ross and Steve James.

In the final game of the afternoon it was full steam ahead for Workers Club at Surfers Paradise when they knocked over Robina 10-6 in nine innings.

This Saturday Brothers should dispose of Runaway Bay at home on Baxter Field, Workers will travel to Mudgee to take on the Redsox and the Redbirds will be keen to get their season back on track against Robina. All games get underway at 2.45pm. Norths get the bye.

For more information on baseball, visit Far North Coast Baseball online at www. fnc.baseball.com.au.

Rob Brown's Redmen

Lead by lock and captain Rob Brown the Grafton Redmen won the battle of the big packs on Saturday in Grafton over more favoured rivals the Casino Bulls, 20-4.

In a true celebration of the clubs 40th birthday Brown crossed for two of the Redmen's four tries and tackled with virtually religious zeal to keep the Bulls try-less.

In the Lismore game, breakaway James Olivieri continued his golden year with another match winning performance for City as they got the better of the Wollongbar/Alstonville Pioneers 17-5. Olivieri heads the Player of Year rankings and if he continues his barnstorming runs and big hits he should be a shoe-in for the title.

Despite being on the wrong end of a 34-26 scoreline, Yamba's fullback Adrian Millers picked up three points in the Player of the Year standings on the Ballina rugby field on Saturday. Ballina crossed for five tries to pick up the bonus points to sure up their spot in the top four.

This Saturday Wollongbar travels to Ballina, Lismore hosts a rampant Grafton in the match of the round, SCU hosts Casino and Yamba gets the bye.

Pointscore:

Lismore 45, Casino 39, Grafton 39, Ballina 37, Southern Cross University 26, Wollongbar/Alstonville 12, Yamba 9.

Soccer lock up

Italo Stars' midfielder Clint Willoughby gets the ball away down the line despite the close attentions of Workers goal scorer Steve 'Moose' Morrissey on Sunday at Rec 12. Morrissey's early second half goal proved the difference between the teams.

The Tursa Men's Premier League is locked up - four teams share first place and three teams look set to fight against relegation. At the top Goonellabah, Byron Bay, Ballina and Italo Stars are neck and neck while Bangalow, Thistles and Casino stand on the edge of a precipice at the foot of the ladder.

Intriguingly, of these teams only Bangalow and Thistle are set to play each other this weekend. Bangalow, who will host the match, are coming off a very creditable 3-2 win over last year's minor premiers Rovers, while Thistles copped a 5-1 soccer lesson from the Goonellabah Hornets on Weston Park. All the momentum is with Bangalow but Thistles need the win. This will be a tough encounter. Expect to see the odd yellow card.

Rovers will still be smarting from the Bangalow game when they run on against Italo Stars at Barrow Lane on Saturday at 5pm and won't be in the mood for another loss. Stars, thanks to a close range finish from Workers veteran striker Steve Morrissey, also lost last week and will find it difficult to restrain their aggression if things go pear-shaped against Rovers. This could be a torrid affair.

In Ballina, Workers will take on one of the competition leaders. The Seahorses suffered a shock 3-nil loss to Byron Bay in Byron last Saturday and they will need to get back in the winners circle if they want the premiership trophy in the pool room.

The teams play completely different styles of soccer. Ballina's compact defence is difficult to breach and they have a lot of speed up front. Workers midfield dominate possession like no other. Impossible to pick.

Byron's Rams will be feeling 10ft tall and bullet-proof after their victory over Ballina but they would be foolish to go to Maclean expecting an easy win. Maclean's Wherritt Park is a wrecking yard for arrogance and Byron would be wise to prepare well.

In the last match of the round Casino host Goonellabah. This is a season that the Cobras would rather forget and it is also a season for goal feasting for the Hornets. The only question is how many will Goonellabah score?

Pointscore:

Goonellabah 20, Byron Bay 20, Ballina 20, Italo Stars 20, Richmond Rovers 18, Lismore Workers 17, Maclean 12, Thistles 7, Casino 7, Bangalow 6.

Women's premier league

Thanks to a goal each from leading golden boots Emma Turner and Lisa Kelly Ballina have risen to the top of the Southern Cross Credit Union Women's Premier League after knocking off Workers 2-nil. Workers, who are all class, have staggered recently and coach David Condon will be searching for a way to re-ignite them before the minor premiership slips from their grasp.

Casino also pulled off a shock 3-nil win over Lennox to give dignity to a poor year so far for the Cobras. Meanwhile Rovers fought out a tough win over Byron Bay 1-nil to shore up their spot on top of the competition.

This Friday Lennox host Byron at 8pm and Workers will be keen to reassert themselves over Casino at home at 8pm.

On Sunday Ballina will travel to Weston Park to take on Goonellabah at 9am, while Italo Stars will be looking to knock Rovers off their perch when they get out of the cars at Neilson Park in East Lismore at 11am.

Pointscore:

Rovers 22, Lismore Workers 22, Ballina 22, Italo Stars 15, Goonellabah 14, Byron Bay 9, Lennox Head 9, Casino 7.

Constellation Hotels (www.constellationhotels.com) Golden Boot Award Standings

Men's premier division:

18 - Peter O'Neil

10 - Grant Nielson

7 - Wayne Mortimer, Stewart Coughran

Women's premier division:

18 - Renee McIntosh

13 - Lisa Kelly

10 - Emma Turner

Ballina blitz country short course

Ballina Indoor Swim Team sent six competitors to the NSW Country Short Course Swimming Championships in Sydney in early July. They came away with 19 medals (nine gold), 29 personal best times, and finished 7th in the country club standings ahead of 62 other clubs.

This gobsmacking performance at the Sydney Aquatic Centre was spearheaded by 15-year-old Gemma Johnson, who hauled in five gold medals in both her age division and in the open division. Gemma's gold came in the open 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m backstroke. In her own age division she set a new country record in the 100m fly and picked up gold in the 100m freestyle. The extraordinary performance included seven personal bests, silver in the open 50m fly and 15 years medley, and a bronze in the 15 years 100m backstroke.

17-year-old Kate Johnson, who also swam seven personal best times, picked up gold in the open women's 400m, 200m fly and 200m freestyle, and in the 17 years freestyle, along with four silvers.

Despite a knee injury 16-year-old Dean MacKay picked up two silvers, while Sean Johnson (17) swam a personal best in every race he contested including one national qualifying time.

Masters of the mountain bike

Cross-country mountain biking is one of the bright new innovative additions to this year's Master Games in September. The notion of including a leisurely 60 to 80km mountain bike ride into the itinerary came to event organiser, John Bancroft, as a blinding flash whilst he was polishing an arcane talisman and watching Australia Day awards. "Of course!" he thought, "Lismore contains some of the world's leading mountain bikers, lets offer them a chance to compete in the masters!"

It was pure genius. That plastic talisman is worth its weight in gold.

"Okay, it might not have happened exactly like that," John admitted, "but the mountain bike idea is a good one and has already drawn 50 entrants."

The mountain bike event will run on the Saturday and Sunday of the games and starts at the Lismore showgrounds and runs through to the Turf Club and back. If you're interested in taking on the gruelling and gothic course phone John on 6622 8147 or for further information phone Martin Miller on 1800 122 504.

Umpiring exam on the net

Cricket NSW has launched a new online umpires exam that allows prospective umpires to earn their badge over the internet. This new way of completing an umpire's course is unique in Australia and will benefit people in rural areas who may have difficulty attending courses in Sydney.

Current international umpire Simon Taufel uses the exam as a regular revision aid to assist him in preparation for international matches. The exam has a database with more than 400 questions.

The exam can be taken at the website www.awareness.com.au/nswcusa and will allow interested umpires to gain their State Umpires Ticket if they successfully complete the exam. The exam features the use of video footage and diagrams. It costs $15.