Sports News

Hooks and Slices

with Stan Bendall

NRDGA

Two Northern Rivers rep teams will travel to The Longyard in Tamworth, this weekend, to contest the regional championships. The senior team is Steve Morrissey (Lismore club champ), Neil Bullen (Ballina club champ), Peter Scully (Ballina), Robert Penman (Murwillumbah), Brad Oliss (Mullumbimby club champ), Jeremy Harry, and Rheis McGovers (Coolangatta/Tweed Heads).

The junior team is Rhein Gibson (Lismore), Brad Mott (Mullumbimby), Ron Murphy (Murwillumbah) and Noel Tasker (Murwillumbah).

The Lismore Pro-Am on Sunday, September 14, is booked out with 90 pro golfers to take part in the $20,000 event, the biggest one day competition on the north coast with former U.S.P.G.A winner Wayne Grady to play in the morning section of the event. Saturday afternoon will see a 9-hole event with world trick shot artist Sandy Kurceba performing his fantastic trick golf shots - something not to miss!

Ballina

The members will play for the September monthly medal on Saturday. The ladies will also play for their monthly medal as well as the WGA Goodwill plate for the cancer appeal. Brownies golfers will play for the monthly mug on Sunday.

Casino

The club hosted Ballina on Saturday for the first round of the Bardwell -Ellis trophy. Casino currently lead by two points with the final two rounds to be played on September 20. Gary Coutts and John Bornholt carded the best scores for the visitors. This Saturday will be the first round of the Spring Cup.

Coraki

Saturday will be the September monthly mug and putts. The Mid-Richmond Open mixed fours will be played on Sunday, incorporating the club mixed fours championship. Gordon Dutton produced some fine shots last week to win the 2003 club championship from Rodney Davidson.

Lismore

On Saturday the September monthly medal will be played as a shootout round. Memorabilia for the centenary year is now on sale from the club. Lismore travelled to Kyogle for the second and final round of their inter-club match with Lismore regaining the shield. Ed Bennett and Stan Bendall recorded the best scores for Lismore on the day.

Woodburn Evans Head

Saturday will be the monthly mug, played as a single. The ladies Northern Rivers Classic Foursomes last weekend went to Irene Crampton and Faye Riddell. Kay Allan and Lyn Macklin took out the nett.

Stars set to shine over Bay - Soccer FNC

Byron Bay continued their fine second half to the season by winning their qualifying final against Ballina at Ballina 1-nil, giving them a place in the major semi-final against Italo Stars on Saturday. The winner of the match will get to fill the first place in the FNC Premier Division grand final.

Ballina, a challenger to Italo Stars' claims on the minor premiership until three weeks ago, now find themselves in a cut-throat minor semi-final against the fast improving Rovers.

Rovers faced Lismore Workers in the Elimination final and disposed of the Redmen 2-nil on the Bill Harris Field in East Lismore. Their goals came from a penalty to Troy Mathews, the co-winner of the Northern Rivers Echo/Trevor Oram's Golden Boot award for most goals in the Premier Division regular season, and Josh Saye.

For Workers this represented a very disappointing end to the season; a year that the highly placed club was able to snag the potent signature of international Paul Foster. Unfortunately it took too long for Workers to adapt to having such an experienced hand in their squad. Foster eventually found his home as a sweeper, but it was too late too make sufficient impact upon the Redmen's style of play. This contributed to them sliding down the ladder to the point where they almost missed out on the finals altogether.

Stars will host Byron Bay this Sunday in the major semi-final. The other match will see an eliminator between Ballina and the fast improving Richmond Rovers. Rovers are the reigning major premiers and have shown over the past month that they know when to put their best efforts on the field. If stars can dispose of Byron Bay on the weekend Rovers may end up posing the sterner question come grand final day.

Ballina, like Lismore Workers, have had a consistent season, but have been struggling over the past month.

See 'The Final Word' column for a full listing of finals, venues and times.

Breakaways look beyond draw - Netball

Lauren Stedman, goal shooter for SCU Terra Rats, reaches out to the ball just ahead of All Saints goalkeeper Kate Ives.

This Saturday the Premier Division of Lismore Netball separates into two divisions for the finals, with the top four teams playing off for the Premier Division title. The other four teams will be vying for the 1st Division premiership.

In the Premier division the major semi will see Breakaways seek to overcome the in-form Daleys. The last meeting between the two clubs resulted in a draw so this should be an enthralling encounter.

The Minor semi will pit Daleys White against Rous. Rous has been inconsistent this year, but their experience is likely to be a decisive advantage.

Results from Saturday's final round: Daleys White d SCU Lab Rats 38-16, Breakaways d Daleys Tribes 46-22, Daleys d Rous 55-13, All Saints d Terra Rats 50-21.

Greens stunning victory - Rugby Union

The Lismore Green has stormed into the major semi final on the back of a convincing 45-17 demolition of Wollongbar Alstonville. They will face a rested Ballina whose players earned a week off by claiming the minor premiership in the final round.

Southern Cross struggled to keep Casino at bay and just snuck home 12-11 to eliminate Casino on the same day that Casino's rugby league first grade team's season also ended.

The minor semi final between Wollongbar and Southern Cross University, at Wollongbar on Sunday, threatens to be a contest between the last players standing at each club as both have had their season disrupted by long term injuries to key players. Wollongbar will have three teams in action on the same day as their reserve grade and under 18's won their respective elimination finals against Casino (21-7) and Ballina (33-12).

Grafton, the host venue for this Saturday's major semi finals, still maintains a strong interest in the finals race compliments of their minor premiership title winning reserve grade. They will face up to Ballina after Ballina's 15-11 win over Lismore.

Kadina makes it two

The successful Kadina boy's softball squad with their state championship trophy Kadina High School has retained the NSW Schoolboys Softball title it won in 2002.

The team recently travelled to Newcastle for the final series after defeating Lismore High and Tweed River High in the Zone and North Coast area championships.

The boys defeated Dapto, Jamieson and Menai High Schools to advance to the final against Westfield's Sports High.

The final saw Kadina's Garon Clough, Brendan Shailes and Lucas Myers hit home runs.

Accurate pitching by Garon and skilful fielding by all players limited the scoring opportunities for Westfield's with Kadina winning 11-4.

Kadina finished the finals series with 42 runs for and only 12 against.

The winning team was Scott Campbell, Garon Clough, Adam Gray, Bill Latimer, Richard Marshall, Darren McClelland, Michael Munro, Lucas Myers, Aaron Perrett, Paul Rawson, Brendan Shailes and Mitch Spek.

Karate schools excel at Nationals

Two Lismore karate clubs have come back from the national championships, held at Jupiter's Casino on the Gold Coast, with an incredible haul of senior and junior titles.

Members of the Arjuken and Success schools won a total of sixteen individual medals (four gold, three silver and nine bronze).

This is far and away the best result for any region in Australia.

The quality of the local coaching is such that there has been a succession of Lismore-based athletes winning state, national and even regional and world titles over the past decade. Richard Marlin, the man behind Success Martial Arts in Union Street, South Lismore, was the instigator of the current boom bringing through a number of juniors to championship status. Dean Marshall pared off earlier this year to start a karate school in Goonellabah with great success. Marshall, the assistant Queensland coach, is assisted by three-time world junior champion Matt Walker.

While both clubs are completely separate, some athletes have been taking advantage of the two centres and training at both.

The winners of individual medals were Success' Joel Parrey (Male 14 years) and Ari Carr (Cadet Male under 75kg) and Arjuken's Tasman Wales (Cadet Male under 70 kg), Matthew Tickle (Male 13 years).

Jo Gardner-Marlin (Female 9 years) of Success won silver, as did Arjuken's Tyson Hussein (Boys 13 years) and Tim Pearson (Junior Male Under 60kg)

Bronze medals were won by Leah Hussein (Junior Female, over 60kg) Dean Marshall (Male under 60kg) Gavin Wood (Male under 75kg) Tim Short (Male under 65kg), all from Arjuken. From Success Martial Arts Alex Gardner-Marlin, (Female 13 years) Richard Morgan (Veterans), Marcus Duroux (Men's 65-70kg), Daniel Donovan (Men's 60-65kg) and Gavin Wood (Men's 70-75kg) also brought back bronze medals.

Dean Marshall, Russell Creighton, Ari Carr and Leah Hussein were all selected for the Australian team to compete internationally.

Trucks shine for charity

The Truck Show held in conjunction with the Lismore Turf Club on Saturday attracted a crowd of more than 2,000 and raised approximately $9,000 to be distributed to local charities.

On the morning of the race meeting shoppers and children in the CBD were serenaded by a symphony of air horns as more than 80 trucks and semi trailers paraded up and down Molesworth Street as a prelude to the show at the racecourse.

Brothers to host grand final

Marist Brothers have won their way through to the Group One grand final for the eighth year in succession after their 14-8 Major semi final win over South Grafton at Oakes Oval on Sunday.

After the controversy that surrounded their final round meeting two weeks earlier, the match between South Grafton and Marist Brothers was an exhibition of outstanding football between the two matches.

The only similarity was the sight of Brothers' Paul Latta lying unconscious on the ground in the second half. This time his injury was as a result of an accidental knock to his head as he was laying-on a tackle.

The first half started with South Grafton running to the northern end and taking the early initiative. The Rebels launched a number of fruitless raids, in which they threatened the line repeatedly, only to be held up by the Brothers defence at the critical moment. South Grafton put the first points on the board through a converted Mark Laurie try. Mark Sivewright then replied for Marist Brothers with a try down the left side. Paul Latta's conversion pulled the score back to 6-all, the half-time score.

One of South Grafton's outstanding pair of playmakers, five-eighth Cec Heron, limped off the field during the first half to play no further part in the game. His menacing companion, scrum half Dallas Waters, was threatening from dummy half, even from deep within his own territory, constantly testing the Brothers cover-defence with both his running and passing game.

Brothers came out from the break a far more organised outfit and with an intensity that seemed ready to break the South Grafton line. But it was South Grafton that edged ahead through a Dallas Waters penalty giving them an 8-6 edge. This was a wake up call for Brothers and they started to convert the opportunities that had earlier gone begging.

Paul Robinson, playing at halfback, pulled off an outstanding kick-through that left the South Grafton defence flatfooted and took the wind out of the visitors. The score came at the end of a play that had seen the ball travel well over 100 metres, at least 30 of them backwards.

Adam Mayes went over for another Brothers try close to the end, giving the Rams a 14-8 victory and a place in the 2003 grand final.

On Saturday Ballina brought Casino's season to an end with a less than convincing 32-20 win at Kingsford Smith Park, Ballina.

The Casino players were their own worst enemies, giving away possession in attacking positions only to see their opponents score on the rebound.

Although Ballina ran South Grafton to within a whisker in their meeting at McKittrick Park in the Qualifying final, it is difficult to see from where the required improvement will come.

Lennox named champions

Lennox Head Soccer Club was announced as the Champion Club in Far North Coast Soccer for 2003. The title goes to the club with the best record from its two leading men's and women's teams and its three top junior teams.

It is very rare for the award to be won by teams outside Lismore, with the bigger clubs dominating simply though weight of numbers.

Pictured are members of the club after having received the award (and many others) at the FNC Soccer Annual Dinner (l-r) front: Peter Taylor, David Greiner, Alison Parr; middle: Dave Oke, Christine Greiner; back: Cathy Hepworth, Danni Hoskin.

Workers Win in Heated Game - Baseball

The Workers and Brothers clash on Friday night was a heated affair.

Brothers were one win ahead of Workers prior to the encounter, and a win would have placed the Minor Premiership beyond all doubt.

Brothers found their feet quickly and looked to be heading towards a blowout after two runs in the first innings. By the middle of the second Workers had pegged back to tie it up at 2-all. Four more runs in the top of the third and Workers had the confidence to finish off the job.

Brothers responded with a single run from a Matt Buckley home run in the bottom of the innings, but found themselves stopped by a well-executed double play.

In the fourth, Workers and Brothers scored 2 runs apiece. Workers then moved ahead to 9-5 in the sixth when Knapp crossed the plate. In the seventh Brothers scored another two courtesy of a left field error that scored both Steve Egan and David Youngberry.

Brothers innings ended abruptly when the plate umpire called out a runner at home base. The call sparked an angry response from a number of Brothers players, resulting in the ejection of both Andrew and Matt Buckley.

The ejections resulted in a pitching change with disastrous results for Brothers. Workers scored a stunning 10 runs in the ninth taking the game 20-9.

Workers and Brothers now sit equal on the points table, with Brothers ahead on 'for and against'. The Minor Premiership will now be decided in the final game of the season between the clubs next weekend.

In the other game of the round Norths completed a 15-2 victory over Easts Redbirds. Redbirds struck first with two runs in the first, but failed to challenge the Bears for the remainder of the game. Norths scored freely in the second, fourth and seventh, handing the finalists a sweep against the Redbirds for the 2003 season.

FNC Baseball Points Table

Brothers 59
Workers 59
Norths 42
Easts 24

Silver to Sexton

Lismore's Karina Sexton has won a silver medal with the Australian Women's Baseball team in the Women's World Series III at Palm Meadows on the Gold Coast last week.

Australia hosted the 6-day tournament after the SARS scare in Japan forced the postponement and relocation of the event.

Australia went into the tournament as favourites following their stunning win over Japan in Tampa Bay last year. Australia took the initiative early in the tournament, winning their first four games, to top the table and obtain automatic entry into the final, where they met Japan.

The Japanese pitching staff kept the Australians quiet as their infield systematically shot down base runners at will. Australia fought back for a single run, but eventually conceded the game 4-1.

Karina Sexton played in the tournament as a relief pitcher and designated hitter for Australia. Karina put in a steely performance on the mound against the US in game two. She was brought into the game with bases loaded and one out, successfully shutting down the US batting to keep them scoreless and protect the Australian's 2-0 lead.

Aikman takes medal on finals eve - Aussie Rules

Casino Lions captain Seb Steenhuis and club president Stephen Wills laying out the challenge to find the longest kick of a 'Sherrin' on the north coast.

Ballina's Jeff Aikman was a double winner at the Summerland Australian Football League awards night on Monday. Aikman won the John Mason Medal for the Best and Fairest SAFL player for 2003 as voted for by the umpires. He was also co-winner, with Nimbin's Blair Patterson, of the 2LM Player of the Year award as voted for by the executives of the clubs after each match.

John Porritt of Byron won the award for the leading goal kicker in the league for the year with 49 goals from the 14 games he played.

The finals series of the SAFL gets underway at Casino on Saturday with a semi final double header. In the Minor semi Nimbin will face off against Ballina at midday while Byron and Lismore will be vying for a grand final place in the major semi from 2pm.

Nimbin finished the home and away season by defeating minor premiers Byron 10-6-66 to 7-15-57. In the other game Casino nearly pulled off a major upset by almost knocking off Lismore, going down 12-2-74 to 8-9-57. Casino were leading during the final term but lost the services of their captain Seb Steenhuis to the blood bin and missed three shots at goal in the final minutes to let the game slip out of reach.

Big Boot boast - or foot in mouth

The first week of semi final action in the Summerland League will be played at the Casino Lions home ground, Queen Elizabeth Park. First year club Casino will also be hosting the grand final on September 20.

This Saturday will be a gala day with under-12 exhibition matches before each of the semi finals and a "Big Boot" challenge. The Casino Lions are looking to find the biggest kicker on the north coast. They are challenging footballers from all codes to try their hand at kicking the bladder out of a genuine Sherrin Australian Football. The person who can kick the ball the longest will win $100 and $100 for their club. Members of the local Australian Football community, talking informally at the John Mason Medal count on Monday, expressed their doubts that players from soccer, rugby union or league could kick anywhere near the distance of an experience Australian Football player.

Heats will be held on both semi-final and grand final days.

The Aussie rules boys may have bitten off more that they can chew. Most of the other codes will have completed their competitions by September 20 and they could turn up en masse to lift the 'Big Boot' title and the bragging rights of being the biggest kick on the north coast.

There is also a charity match planned for grand final day, sponsored by Northern Rivers Group Training, to benefit Windarra Nursery and Jumbanna Pre-School and Early Intervention Centre.