Sports News

Hooks and Slices

with Stan Bendall

NRDGA

Ballina's Neil Bullen performed well in the Northern regional championships held in Tamworth over the weekend, but found Tamworth's Simon Furneaux too hot on his home course. Furneaux, a scratch marker, shot an outstanding 6 under par.

Sandy Kurceba will get the Lismore Workers Golf Clubs 100th celebrations started with a demonstration of his world famous trick shots at 4.15pm on Saturday.

The Pro Am dinner, with guests US PGA champion Wayne Grady and Greg Norman's coach Charlie Earp, will follow at the Workers Club on Saturday night. The feature golf event of the week will be the Sunday bringing the $20,000 Professional Investment Services– Lismore Workers Club Pro Am featuring Wayne Grady.

See the main feature for more details.

Ballina

Saturday will be a backmarker stableford for the men with the ladies to contest a single stableford. Brownies golfers will be playing in Murwillumbah on Sunday. Sean Haysom won the monthly medal with Adam Hough taking out A grade and Garry Paton winning B grade.

Casino

Saturday will be "Thommo's Day" with the men travelling to Ballina for the first round of the Bardwell-Ellis trophy. John Riggall won the monthly medal and A grade on Saturday with Mick Green taking out B grade and Ken Tradd victorious in C grade.

Coraki

Saturday's event will be a 4BBB with the first round of the club championship to be played the following week. Sunday will be the Motor Traders charity golf day. New club captain, Mick McInnes and his wife Sue took out the club mixed foursomes title with Roy and Nancy Crutty taking out the nett.

Lismore

Blake Jamieson won A grade and the monthly medal on Saturday. The 900-2LM charity day has now been set down for October 12. Put your name down early as the field will fill up quickly.

Centenary memorabilia is now available through the club, including caps, buggy towels and shirts.

Woodburn Evans Head

A single stableford will be played on Saturday. Willis Sneesby won A grade and the monthly medal last Saturday with Irene Crampton taking out the ladies.

Hook, Line and Sinker

with Lindsay Doust - Suffolks Sports Store

Lindsay Doust holds a copy of the Cape Byron Marine Park discussion paper, issued by the Marine Parks Authority of NSW.

The big issue at the moment is the Cape Byron Marine Park and recreational anglers are reminded to be sure they have their submission in prior to the September 26 deadline.

Serious meetings are under way concerning the proposals that have been published in the discussion paper. The government established the Marine Park and the boundaries have already been set.

Submissions are now being called for the activities that will be allowed within the Park. Various zones will be declared, such as sanctuary zones, habitat protection, special purpose and others.

Most responsible groups have accepted the establishment of the Park and its boundaries and are negotiating with the Park Authority regarding these zones. That is, where they will be and what they will allow.

The conservation movement, both by way of a submission and through media pressure are seeking to have the Park boundaries extended north and south and to close up to 50% of the area to fishing. This would mean even closing areas of the Richmond River.

Every angler in the Richmond Valley should take careful note of this and attend the meeting on Thursday September 18, to be held at 7pm in the Ballina Angling Club. At this meeting, a submission favourable to recreational anglers will be available for signature and as a basis for personal submissions. Local tackle shops will also have details.

Overall support in the community for the conservation option is about that which the Greens could expect to get at election time. This means at least 80% of the population will have no part of their extreme position. Recreational anglers in the Richmond Valley area have set up a fighting fund and donations can be left at any tackle shop. Recreational anglers concede that some areas within the park will become sanctuary zones, i.e. no fishing allowed. The problem at this stage is that the areas proposed are where most of the serious angling takes place.

It's on - Rams v Rebels Mark 4

Group One Rugby League Grand Final

The much-anticipated grand final between the Marist Brothers Rams and the South Grafton Rebels has eventuated after an emotion-wrenching 40-32 win by South Grafton over Ballina in the preliminary final on Sunday.

Their final round match four weeks ago drew one of the largest Group One crowds of the season.

A fortnight ago, thanks to a strong travelling contingent from South Grafton, the stands were packed at Oakes Oval for their major semi final clash. Now they will line up at Oakes Oval with Marist Brothers holding home advantage and a 3-nil record over the Rebels in 2003.

Fans on the day will be in for a special treat with the reserve grade grand final also pitting Marist Brothers against South Grafton. In the under 18's Mullumbimby will face Ballina.

Keeping in mind the large numbers of red-bedecked South Grafton fans that have travelled to Lismore for their two most recent games, Marist Brothers have arranged for 'Brothers Army' tee-shirts to be sold on the day for only $5 and for face painting artists to be on hand to make sure that every fan can show their true colours.

Brothers are in the Grand Final for the eighth year in succession, having won the first six and then dropping the title last year to Grafton Ghosts.

South Grafton, after spending a large part of the season sitting on top of the ladder were pipped at the post for the minor premiership by Brothers in the last game of the regular season.

Their two most recent encounters have been rugged yet enthralling affairs with the game still in the balance well into the second half.

The obvious contest of the day will see the brilliance of the South Grafton scrum base and halves pitted against one of the most organised defensive outfits to grace the competition. The real decider is likely to be the South Grafton ability to deal with the Brothers backline. Kraus, Latta, Sivewright and company are also no slouches when it comes to talent and they have the ability to construct a try from seemingly nothing.

The emotional preliminary final saw South Grafton star Don Walker take the field, dedicating his performance to his late daughter Monique. Monique passed away only days before the final.

Ballina, in a repeat of their qualifying final against the Rebels took the early lead with two very smart tries to Justin Bolt and Tyler Iverson. By half time the Rebels had gained the lead 26-22 and extended it to a 12-point lead prior to a try to Ballina in the last minute left the scored 40-32 in favour of the Rebels.

Gold Rats make (it by) a point - Rugby Union

Southern Cross University has turned around its poor form of August with its second one point final victory in two weeks.

Their most recent victims, the Wollongbar Alstonville Pioneers, were riding high only three weeks ago and were vying for the minor premiership. Now they have finished their season with a dull thud. The Pioneers spent most of the season as a likely grand final opponent for Ballina they will now sit out the final two weeks of the season as spectators.

After losing their qualifying final the previous week against Lismore, the Pioneers faced up to Southern Cross University in the minor semi final at Lyle Park, Wollongbar.

The game was a replay of the 2002 grand final with the result going the same way, although in completely different circumstances.

SCU pulled of a stunning victory by winning 15-14, following on from their one-point victory over Casino the previous week in the elimination final.

All throughout the game it appeared as though Wollongbar were on the verge of breaking the game apart. In fact they did. The only thing they didn't complete successfully was scoring points. They may have played the better of the two teams but the game is decided on the scoreboard.

Lismore has found rare form in recent weeks and booked a place in the grand final with a 22-5 win over minor premiers Ballina.

Lismore are now undefeated since their loss to Ballina on July 5, giving them the best record in the competition in the second half of the season.

The preliminary final will be played at Crozier Field, Lismore on Saturday.

Ballina will have three teams running out on to the park with their reserve and third grade teams looking for passage into the grand final against Lismore and Lennox Head respectively. The Under 19's will see Lismore take on Wollongbar for the right to meet Colleges in the final.

Stars through to grand final - Soccer FNC

Italo Stars are hot favourites to finish the season with the minor and major premiership double after cruising into the Far North Coast premier Division grand final on the back of a 2-1 victory over Byron Bay.

Played at Stars Barrow Lane ground the home side quickly put themselves in front through a Max Latimer penalty in the fifth minute. Both goalkeepers withstood a torrid time during the remainder of the half but Trent Battistuzzi (Stars) and Kai Connell (Byron) were equal to their task.

Not long into the second half Stars' Rick Austen was sent off. His brother, Jamie Austen, who had been responsible for drawing the foul that resulted in the penalty, dropped back into defense to cover the hole left in defence.

Although they were forced into a defensive mode Italo Stars were still taking the opportunity to push forward and were rewarded with another penalty for – well, who knows, no one in the crowd could tell. None-the-less Max Latimer stepped up to the dot and duly made the scoreline read 2-nil.

A last gasp goal by Byron was too late to threaten Stars lead and ultimate victory.

Byron will now have to face Ballina in the preliminary final to decide who goes on to meet Italo Stars in the grand final.

Ballina ensured that they survived for another week by downing the reigning major premiers, Richmond Rovers 2-nil.

After a resurgent second half to the season Rovers were unable to keep their run going, with their every game over the past month and a half being a virtual final for them. They struggled at the outset of the season and only secured a finals place in the final round. Once in the finals they knocked off Workers and looked set to cut a swathe through the other finalists, but they simply did not have enough tricks in the bag against Ballina.

Favourites go down in extra time - Netball

It's all eyes to the sky as Breakaways and Daleys clashed in the Premier Division major semi on Saturday. Daleys got up 51-48 after extra time.

It was a weekend of upsets in both Premier and First Divisions as the finals got underway.

In the Premier Division major semi final, undefeated Breakaways, sporting their new uniform for the first time this season played Daleys for a place in the grand final. In an exciting encounter Daleys continued to keep the pressure up to Breakaways and ended the game with the scores tied at 41-all. This is the second time this season that the teams have ended regular time tied. This time extra time was called for and Daleys completed their upset win running away for a 51-48 victory.

Daley's White pulled off a stunning 41-29 upset over Rous in the first semi final of Premier Division on Saturday. After a relatively even first quarter White went into overdrive to race to a 30-21 lead after three quarters.

The game was played at a hectic pace which favoured the faster Daleys White team. Their defence was miserable, choking off Rous' raids continuously.

At the other end Daleys White's crisp passing and positional play kept the goals flowing.

Breakaways will now face Daleys White for a place in the grand final.

In first Division All Saints provided the upset in the major semi, winning 40-39 in extra time after scores were tied at 34-all. SCU Lab Rats won the minor final against stable mates SCU Terra rats 32-24.

Demons knock out Ballina - Aussie Rules

The Nimbin Demons outstanding season just keeps getting better. After a mid-season run in which they beat every team in the competition in consecutive matches they finished the season in third place.

Then on Saturday they lined up against the Ballina Bombers, the reigning premiers, in the knockout first semi final at Casino and pulled off a rousing victory, winning 13-14-92 to 10-5-65.

Ballina were first out of the blocks and led after both the first and second quarters. Nimbin were struggling to get the ball into attack until late in the first half. Late goals saw them draw to within four points of the Bombers at the break.

Cameron Hatty and Blair Patterson, the second and third place-getters in the SAFL's Mason Medal for the season's best and fairest player, joined with Daniel Bruce to give the Demons continuous service from the centre in the third quarter. They helped the Demons pile on six goals to jump to a healthy lead that Ballina couldn't peg back in the final term.

Their opponents in the preliminary final at Fripp Oval in Ballina on Saturday will be the Lismore Swans. Lismore went down to the Byron Shire Magpies 13-10-88 to 9-7-61.

Lismore have had a poor second half to their year and may struggle against an inspired Nimbin outfit.

Byron now goes directly into the grand final, to be played at Casino on Saturday week, for their fifth consecutive appearance in the decider.

Marist Brothers take Minor Premiership - Baseball

The final weekend of the regular season saw Marist Brothers needing to win to confirm the minor premiership that had looked like a formality only a few weeks ago.

Workers were almost assured of a victory against Easts, leaving brothers with only one option ñ win against Norths or lose the automatic grand final slot that comes with the minor title.

With bat and ball the Marist Brothers were determined not to let the title slip from their grasp.

They scored five runs in the first innings, and three runs in each of the second, fourth and fifth innings with a reply from Norths. Matt Gahan was pitching with great control, as did his replacement Andrew Buckley, giving Workers few opportunities to take the offence.

Norths finally got on the board through a two RBI hit by Paul Latta in the sixth, but another run to Brothers in the seventh closed out the game under the mercy rule at 14-2.

Workers duly completed their win against Easts Redbirds 20-5.

This weekend will see Workers and Norths play a three game series on Friday and Saturday at Albert Park to decide the Grand Final opponent for Marist Brothers.

Alstonville takes Silver Fern title

Alstonville High School has emerged as the leading rugby union school on the north coast after taking out the 2003 Under 17 Silver Fern Cup.

Alstonville had previously won the cup in 1996.

After having qualified for the finals in Coffs Harbour the Alstonville team had to face Chatham High, Maclean High and John Paul College of Coffs Harbour.

Their last game, against John Paul College was, in effect, a final as they were the only teams that could take out the Cup.

Alstonville outplayed JPC winning 15-nil and completing the tournament without conceding in a solitary point.

Lismore High under 15's also qualified for the finals with their best result being a 5-all draw with equal third placed Melville High with Kingscliff winning the title for the second year running.

Alstonville's results in the finals: Alstonville d Chatham 26-0, Alstonville d Maclean 3-0, Alstonville d JPC 15-0.

A century of memories

It was in 1901, the year of Australian Federation, that the Lismore Golf Club was founded.

It all began with a meeting at Wightman's Hotel on May 25 that year from which a sub-committee was formed to find a location for "a suitable links".

Only 30 days later on June 24, golf was played on a three-hole course that spanned Uralba Street near Lismore Square. One hole ran along the boggy sides of Brown's Creek.

Thus only the second golf club between Sydney and Brisbane was formed.

The club went through a brief sojourn at Rifle Range Road in East Lismore, but this fell out of favour due to its distance from town and the club moved to the current tennis courts at Lismore Park, where the first clubhouse was built.

By 1924 this arrangement became too congested for players and neighbours alike. A parcel of land was granted to the club for 'permissive occupancy' by the Lands Department from the eastern portion of Albert Park.

This was a time when the greens featured barbed wire fences. Security issues in those days surrounded keeping the cattle from grazing on the putting surface.

The course was extended from a 9 to 12-hole course in 1934 with the land that is now the 6th, 7th and 18th holes.

Construction of the brick clubhouse that is the core of the current building began. The first 18 hole rounds being played on December 15, 1939.

But the heart and soul of a club is the people.

One of the most important people associated with the club over the past 100 years was greenkeeper Jack Stagg. When Jack first started with the club as an assistant greenkeeper the club was still operating out of a wooden clubhouse on the current car park site and there were only nine holes. Ten years later he took over as head greenkeeper and saw in the introduction of the 18-hole course. His retirement in 1979 marked a half a century of service to the club.

The club would not be a shadow of its current glory without the hard work of its early administrators including Charlie Dalzeill and Dick Trevan.

Two families have had an outstanding influence upon the club, with both providing, across generations, club presidents plus men's and ladies club champions.

The McIntosh family was led by Mr and Mrs J.C. McIntosh Snr, each spending over two decades at the helm of the club, and associates club, respectively. Their son J.C. jnr. was president four times and club champion 13 times while his sister Jean won the ladies title five times.

The Mancell family provided two-time club president Les whose children gained great credit on the course.

Judy won the ladies club title five times and represented NSW and Australia as an amateur and has served a long term as NSW selector. She also won both the Australian (1967 and 1970) and New Zealand Amateur titles. Glen won the club championship ten times and held the course record for some time, as did Dianne, winner of five ladies titles. Another leading golfer from the club was Harvey Wilson, the winner of the second World Championship for left handed golfers in 1981.

In recent years the younger set of players have been gaining al of the headlines, most notably Kane Webber, who shot a 59 the day after his father's funeral in an emotion packed round that finished with a large gallery of friends and relatives. Even before he graduates the next generation has put up its hand with the likes of junior Rhein Gibson attaining state team selection this year.

Grady heads strong Pro-Am field

1990 US PGA champion Wayne Grady, to play in the $20,000 Pro Am celebrating 100 years of the Lismore Workers Golf Club

Tournament winners and leading performers from all the major tours of the world will descend upon Lismore this Sunday, September 13.. They will be here to play in the Lismore Workers Golf Club's feature centenary-year event, the $20,000 Professional Investment Services–Lismore Workers Club Pro Am.

Leading the list will be 1990 US PGA winner and British Open runner-up, Wayne Grady. Grady, who also boasts two Australian PGA titles (1988 and 1991) will tee-off at 7am in a shotgun start that also boasts international tournament winners Richard Backwell, Anthony Gilligan, Tony Carolan and Scott Head.

Gilligan also won a memorable Greg Norman Holden Classic. Fellow Japanese tour player Brad Andrews will join them in the field.

Carolan and Head have both tasted success on the Canadian tour and are reported to be in very good form.

Other leading professionals include Australasian tour players Stuart Bouvier, a former South Australian Open winner, Andrew Bonhomme, Grant Dodd, Matthew Ecob, Jonathan Riley and New Zealand's debutante to Australia Alistar Sidford. Sidford has just come off a victory on the Troppo tour.

Brace of dinners for week of celebration

A special Pro Am dinner on Saturday night will give patrons the opportunity to rub shoulders with the visiting touring-professionals. The $35 per head event will start the weeklong centenary celebrations of the Lismore Workers Golf Club.

The week will end with the $27 per head Centenary Dinner, also in the Regency, on Saturday September 20. This will be a memorable night during which many a missed putt will finally be recalled to have dropped in, and a few handicaps might just lose a few pegs before the night is through.

Bookings for both events can be made through the golf club during business hours.