Sports News

Hooks and Slices

with Stan Bendall

NRDGA

The annual junior coaching camp is to be held at Lake Ainsworth from July 6-11. Also on July 6, IIuka will host the Keno NSW Mixed 4-ball district final. The Pennant finals were held on Sunday with details to follow in next week's column. The Division One final will be played on Sunday July 13.

Ballina

On Saturday the second and final round of the 4-ball championships will be held. The ladies will play a single stableford with Brownies golfers to tee up for an ambrose. The club will also be hosting the annual Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter Charity Day.

The first round of the 4-ball championship saw Mike Kelly and Greg Cross ombined well to win the day on count back.

Coraki

On Saturday the club will play an American Foursomes event. Peter Cordery won A Grade on Saturday with Neil Ryan taking B Grade and Brian Murray winning C Grade.

Casino

This Saturday the club will host the Telstra Countrywide single stableford. In the Ron Howard Memorial, held on Saturday, Ray Stock and Shane White won by one from John Riggall and Brendan Butcher.

Kyogle

Saturday will be a bisque par event. The Annual Merv Brown Memorial Day will be held on Sunday. The winners of Saturday's 4BBB stableford were Rob Lyons and Des Farrell winning by one.

Lismore

On Saturday a 2-ball aggregate will be played in conjunction with a single stroke event. The ladies completed their club championship on Saturday with top talent Nicole Jenkins winning by ten strokes from Margaret Hayes. The Divisional champions were: Div 2 - Janine Martin; Div. 3 - Irene McPhee, Division 4 - Margaret Gardiner; Vets - Margaret Hayes; Super Vets - Norma Underwood.

In the men's club event Damian Chambers recorded a fine 6-under 64, partnering Pierre Feletti to victory. In the single stroke Darryl Hicklin eon A grade, Andrew Savins took B Grade and Owen McCallum got up in C Grade.

Woodburn/Evans Head

Saturday will be a single stableford event. The ladies championship was completed on Saturday with Fay Riddell winning by five strokes from last year's champion, Irene Crampton. The B Grade champion for 2003 is Lyn Jeffrey with Helen Savins winning the C Grade title.

The winners in the 4-person ambrose on Saturday were Bill Flanagan, his grandson Brett Forrester, Ron Follers and Bill Rolfe. Irene Crampton won the ladies section.

Hook, Line and Sinker

with Lindsay Doust - Suffolks Sports Store

News has come to hand of several recent prosecutions of anglers caught with numbers of fish over their bag limit. Your local tackle shop has NSW Fisheries brochures about size and bag limits. There are also several rumours that some bag limits are to be reviewed again.

Many of us have enjoyed the good old days of huge catches with very few limitations, but those days are long gone as times change. Our population grows, pollution increases, there are far more anglers and it is fairly logical that fish numbers must therefore decline. In parts of the world many places are almost devoid of any fish at all. This is particularly so in Europe and there is no good reason to say that as our demographics change, that it won't happen here.

In trips to the Northern Territory I have seen the pressure being put on by many people in commercial fishing.

James Hamilton, 9, and his sister, Sarah, 7, with their slippery friend in the prize winning photo.

Bag limits and education about local conditions are crucial, particularly as foreign visitors and recent migrants may see the abundance of fish stocks here as being overly inviting as compared to those they may have left in their country of origin.

Many of the places they have come from have been fished out and there is feeling in places like the Northern Territory and Sydney Harbour that it could happen here unless very strict regulations are applied.

By taking care now, we, as recreational anglers can play a part in keeping to the regulations, in the hope that we will not have to face too many more restrictions on our sport in the future.

Linked to the above was the Australian Story episode on the ABC last Monday night concerning the Pelican Man of Ballina, Lance Ferris. As anglers, we have responsibility to take home with us our rubbish, such as plastic bags, broken off fishing line, etc. This will not necessarily protect every pelican, as some will undoubtedly eat fish that have broken off lines. But it will be a small help.

The winners of our competition for the most interesting photograph are James Hamilton, 9, and sister Sarah, 7, of Goonellabah. They won with a photo of a large eel they caught, with their father's help, in Fidamann's Creek, Emerald Beach, New South Wales. They had been fishing in the small creek with bread dough and chicken nuggets when something "took the line fast, thrashed around in the water and then chewed the line through." Their father, Graham, put a trace on their line and re-baited it with another piece of chicken nugget. Within five minutes they had another bite, this time the water erupted as the prey made it's way towards a snag. Their father jumped in and helped them pull in their quarry. (Sarah is not afraid of having her photo taken; she just thought the eel looked creepy and snake-like).

After de-hooking the eel they released it back into the waterway.

The book they have won is a great handbook for the travelling angler with GPS fishing marks all around Australia.

We plan another competition starting next week and the prize will be the Complete Book of Fishing Knots and Rigs. Read next week's column for details.

Winter fishing is good now and last week-end there were many encouraging reports of tailor, jew, bream, flathead and blackfish. So get out the winter gear and enjoy the opportunity.

Swans junior makes the grade - Aussie Rules

Josh Suffolk showed against Nimbin on Saturday that the Lismore Swans could be on the verge of dominating the competition for a few years to come. Josh, 14, played his first senior game for the Swans and booted home two goals. He is just one of a fleet of junior talent that has come through the ranks of the club over the past two years, including Matt Meldrum and Shane Winterbon.

The Swans overcame a spirited Casino 11-19-85 to 7-6-48. Casino's Sebastian Steenhuis again led from the front, ending the game with four majors.

The Swans are travelling well on top of the ladder with only one loss, but they occasionally have difficulty in finishing a team off. Their 37-point margin could have been much greater. They will need to develop that killer instinct if they expect to have success in the finals against the experienced campaigners from Ballina and Byron.

Byron moved into second place on the ladder with a clinical performance against Nimbin. The Magpies prevailed 17-145-116 to 6-7-43.

Nimbin led by 14 points at quarter time but a savage seven-goal burst by Byron in the second quarter put the game out of Nimbin's reach by half time. The Magpies will have a week off and then return to face Casino at home.

This Saturday the Swans will travel to Fripp Oval in Ballina. They may find that Ballina are becoming a harder nut to crack than at the start of the season. Their coach, Peter Plummer, is a wise old football head and he is preparing his team for the major premiership, minor titles not being regarded with much importance in the Australian Football sphere.

Casino will be hosting Nimbin in a match in which they will be looking to extend their competitive time in the game through to the final quarter. Although they have yet to win a match in their inaugural year, the Casino Lions have led after the first changeover in most games they have played.

A victory for Nimbin will keep alive their slim hopes of working their way up the ladder and into contention for a major semi-final berth.

Tex hands Kyogle points - Rugby Union

FNC rugby union had a touch of the Hopoate's on Saturday in the Yamba - Kyogle Second Grade fixture. Yamba won 36-8 but lost the competition points after it was discovered they had played a disqualified rugby league player, Lower Clarence's Tex Chapman. FNC Rugby official, John Drysdale, told The Echo "Suspended players from other codes cannot play union during their suspension. It counts equally for players from AFL, soccer and league."

Ballina continues to dominate First Grade, winning 37-8 over Byron Bay. The Bay kept within range for most of the match, but the strain of holding up the Ballina pack proved too much.

Mullumbimby bounced back from their huge defeat by Lismore City to roll Grafton 19-15.

City turned from victor to vanquished, losing to Wollongbar. Leading 11-0 at the break Lismore's dam wall broke and in a twinkling of an eye (well, more like 25 minutes) Wollongbar had scored four tries to take the win, and complements of the final try right on the bell, a bonus point.

Southern Cross University downed Casino 33-19 in a tight match.

This weekend could see some cricket scores knocked up by Wollongbar, Uni and Ballina when they face Grafton, Mullum and Casino respectively. Casino seems to be the most likely to force a tight result.

Lismore and Byron have the bye.

Workers scrape home again - Baseball

Workers Club have stacked together two sweeps over the past fortnight.

On Friday night, they handed Norths their third consecutive head-to-head loss, their second by just one run. Workers were initially in control of the game, but their indifferent defence allowed the Bears back into the game and ultimately the opportunity to even the game up at 4-all at the bottom of the ninth. Workers took the game from North's by one run in the tenth.

On Saturday after­­-noon Workers backed up to thrash premiership front-runners, Marist Brothers 14 - 4 in eight innings. In other games over the weekend, Easts went down to Brothers 17 - 14 in nine innings.

Norths continued Redbirds bad weekend by handing them a 24 - 5 drubbing in the Saturday game. North's pitcher Brad Daly threw 167 pitches and hit a home run in a marathon workout.

This week's round will see Norths play Brothers and Workers play Easts on Saturday at 2:45pm.

It's a fine Pine who leads in the field

Adam Pine captured during the 100 metres butterfly final at the Australian Championships during March.

Adam Pine could be on his way to an individual gold medal at the coming World Championships.

The former Lismore swimmer has shown at the recent Telstra Grand Prix swim meet at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre that he is still one of the world's top butterfly exponents.

While most of the Australian elite swimmers are currently in heavy training they still turned up en masse for some hard racing. Pine entered both 100-metre butterfly events, winning both. In the first final, held on Saturday, he recorded a time of 54.21 to beat multi-world record holder Geoff Heugill by 0.24s.

In the second final he swam even faster, clocking a time of 53.80.

Pine has won both Olympic and World Championship relay gold medals and a host of individual minor medals at the top level. Even though it is now ten years since Adam first burst onto the scene by winning the Australian 100m butterfly title he has had to bide his time, living in a country that has produced two of the best world's butterfly swimmers in Michael Klim and Heugill. Without Klim in the field and with his recent victory over Heugill, this could be Adam's chance to finally stand on top of the dais as the world's best.

The World Championships will be held in Barcelona between July 13-27.

Stars may have double trouble - Soccer FNC

The Byron v Casino clash at Oakes Oval was a great spectacle and a hard fought affair as can be seen from the above photo...

... but there is debate as to how this Byron player was 'blown' off the ball by his Casino opponent.

This weekend will see full round of games plus a catch-up game between Stars and Maclean on Sunday.

Stars' glorious start to the season has hit a slight snag lately with a couple of draws, while their closest rival, Ballina, continues to string together victories.

Stars went to Thistle Park on Saturday full of confidence, facing a Thistles team that has been disappointing this year, if nothing else. But pride in their performance was a great motivating factor and they put pressure on their more fancied rivals across the park. The first goal of the game came in the second half when Stars 'timer' brothers Wayne Mortimer and Max Latimer combined for Latimer to push the ball over the line. Thistles in previous weeks may have cracked at this point, but to their credit they kept up their attacking pressure and drew level when Darren Beardow finished off a hard run with a superb shot.

Workers continued their press to the finals with a 2-0 victory over Alstonville. Villa's season has been one of frustration. They have the basis of a very good team and they are spending a lot of time on the field in the ascendancy. They just aren't winning the games on the scoreboard. This happened again on the weekend. Alstonville were able to dominate play for large sections of the first half but went into the break one goal down, thanks to Steve Morrissey's sixth goal of the season. Tom Guttormsen, another prolific scorer for Workers this year slotted in a second half penalty to complete the scoreline.

Ballina took the points against Maclean, also with a 2-nil margin, thanks to goals by debutante Jordy Campbell and Christian Watson.

In the blowout of the round Richmond Rovers ran against the trend of their annis horribilis by flogging Southern Cross 5-nil. Troy Matthews screamed up the Golden Boot list with a hat-trick while Andy Gray and Josh Saye completed Rovers goal-feast.

Byron is now firmly entrenched in the top four after they overcame Casino 2-1 at Oakes Oval. The game looked set for a repeat of the round one upset when Casino took the lead before half time through a Stewart Coughran goal. Byron, the holders of the Tursa and Anzac Cups were not about to let last-placed Casino have the better of them for the second time this season. Second half goals to John Bradbury and Anzac Cup final hero Bruce Moorhaus gave Byron the victory.

Stars will be playing two games on the weekend. Their regular Saturday fixture will be against Byron Bay at Stars Barrow lane home ground. They will then kit up on Sunday at the same venue to take on Maclean. Byron will be a hard match as they are in form and have been combining well in recent weeks. The danger for Stars is that they could put in a huge effort against Byron and then be flat for the equally important game the following day.

Maclean's Saturday game will be against a newly confident Rovers.

The match of the round this weekend appears to be the Ballina v Workers game at Saunders Oval. Workers will be hoping to get a few minutes extra out of the star recruit Paul Foster, who left the field just after half time against Alstonville. Foster played the full 90 minutes in the previous round.

Four into one just doesn't go - Rugby League

The Brothers defence close in on another Mullum raid during their first round encounter at Crozier Oval.

The 2003 Group One Rugby League minor premiership battle is proving to be one of the closest in memory. Four teams are currently sitting on 16 competition points with their points differential being the only way to separate them. Wins on the weekend to Marist Brothers and Ballina, plus the points that Casino garnered for the bye has seen them all catch a faltering South Grafton.

For the second week running South Grafton have been defeated. The previously untroubled Rebels went down to Ballina 37-20. Ballina's scrum-half Matt Temby ran a royal commission of inquiry through the South Grafton defence, unrelentingly probing for every weakness.

The Seagulls had three goals on the board in a twinkling, running to an 18-point lead before the Rebels finally scored just before the break.

Marist Brothers had their second big win of the season over Mullumbimby when they overwhelmed them on their home turf 34-0. In their first encounter Mullumbimby were in the match up until the final twenty minutes. Both teams swapped tries until that point in their first game. On this occasion the Marist Brothers defence, which saw them through to the Country Cup semi-finals this year, was superb, forcing their opponents into handling errors and making it difficult for them to complete their sets of six tackles.

One of the stand-out performances for the Brethren was that of winger Adrian Gooley, who crossed for four tries. Gooley was deputising for Brett Spears who injured his ankle during training mid-week.

Byron Bay have had a disappointing season to date, but a few positional changes by coach Phil Economides turned their fortunes around against Kyogle. The contest was very tight in the first half with only two points separating the combatants. They ran away with the game in the end to win 36-20. Keeping the match in perspective, the contest had many of the hallmarks of a battle for the wooden spoon.

Lower Clarence lifted itself from the ruck by defeating Grafton Ghosts 166-14 in a nail biter. Grafton were trailing 16-nil but came home with an almighty rush. The ball was deep in the Lower Clarence half when the ref finally blew the whistle to call an end to proceedings.

The top four teams will all be playing lower ranked opposition this Sunday. The divide on the ladder between the upper echelon and the 2003 also-rans could widen to eight points by 5pm Sunday.

Golden Boot Awards

The Northern Rivers Echo Golden Boot award will reward the player in Soccer FNC's Premier Division (men) and First Division (women) that scores the most goals in the 2003 home and away season. The winners will receive packages from Trevor Oram's Living Entertainment worth $750.

Troy Matthews knocked in a hat-trick against SCU to race up to thiord place on the Premier League Golden Boot rankings.

10 - Kent Juhl (Thistles)

8 - Wayne Mortimer (Stars),

7 - Troy Matthews (Rovers)

6 - Grant Nielson (Maclean), Steve Morrisey Workers)

In the FNC Women's First Division Workers Kim Wraight joined the leading pack by scoring one of Workers seven goals against Thistles on Friday night.

8 - Tracey Want (Thistles); 6 - Kiley Zelner (SCU).

5 - Leanne Shipman (Thistles), Kim Wraight (Lismore Workers).

Gibson on a roll

Lismore's NSW Junior Golf team member, Rhein Gibson, has just started a month of competition against some of the best juniors in the country.

He has just come off winning his match in the victorious NSW teams match against ACT, but it won't end there for the promising junior.

Over the next few weeks his golf bag will be asked to travel hundreds of kilometres. His next event will see him playing for the Catholic Schools team against Combined High Schools at Yamba, followed by the Camden Futures Event - an invitation only tournament over three days. To finish off a busy month he will then travel to Tuggerah Lakes for the Jack Newton Golf Foundation State Age event.

Breakaways confirm top spot

SCU Terra Rats find themselves first to the ball in their recent game against Breakaways. This Saturday will see an all-SCU affair, with the Terra Rats taking on the Lab Rats.

Rous was beaten again on Saturday following on from their shock loss to Daleys Tribes the previous week. Facing Daleys, the competition leaders, they again found the speed of the transitional plays was leaving them flat footed. The 32-25 loss means that Rous has fallen from a share of top place to third in the past fortnight.

All Saints registered a rare win this season by knocking over SCU terra Rats 29-17. Unfortunately the effort of the victory, and insufficient player reserves forced All Saints to forfeit their catch-up match with Breakaways. The two sides are also due to line up against each other this Saturday.

Daleys White put in an enormous effort against SCU Lab Rats in their crucial fixture. With Daleys Tribes losing to Breakaways the winner of the game would take fourth place on the table. In the end it came down to just three goals with Daleys White winning 40-37.

Breakaways had a double win this weekend with their on-court 38-23 victory over Tribes followed by a forfeit victory over All Saints from their game held over from the first round. This places the undefeated Breakaways on top of the ladder. It is hard to see their all-court superiority being challenged at this stage of the season.

SCU Terra Rats and SCU Lab Rats will fight out the University bragging rights on Saturday, although the argument is already over looking at the Terra Rats lack of form to date.

Daleys Tribes, after two very hard rounds, against Rous and then Breakaways now line up against the other member of 'the big three', Daleys, on Saturday. Tribes got the points against Rous showing that on their day they can mix it with the best.

Rous will be looking to return to the winner's circle in their game against Daleys White. White have the added incentive of moving a further rung up the ladder if they win as both teams are locked together with 19 competition points, Rous having the advantage on goal difference.