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Friday 12 August 2022
United in spirit of football
Football united: The Nelson Special Olympics Football Team (blue shirts) pose with players from Golden Bay Association Football Club. Photo: Jo Richards. JO RICHARDS
Players, regardless of age, gender or ability, united in the spirit of football at Tākaka’s Rec Park last Sunday. During an action-packed day, Golden Bay Association Football Club (GBAFC) challenged teams from Richmond AFC to a series of matches – all in a good cause. While the footie was clearly fun, it also raised funds and awareness for three charities: the youth-mentoring Big Brother, Big Sister Nelson-Tasman; the young person mental health support charity I Am Hope; and the Nelson Special Olympics Football Team. Following last year’s inaugural charity game, the event is now an established annual fixture. “It’s one of the biggest days in our football calendar,” said GBAFC president Phil Smith. The games kicked off at 10.30am with a mixed Golden Bay team taking on Richmond Athletic AFC – a match the Bay won 3-1. Then came the big moment for Nelson Special Olympics Football Team, aka The Firebirds, as they stepped onto the pitch for their debut game against a mixed home side. Firebirds manager Stu Reid explained that, while his team of registered Special Olympics athletes has “been going for about three years”
as part of Richmond AFC, one of the biggest challenges is finding suitable opponents. “We don’t have anyone to play against,” said Stu, who was understandably excited for his squad. “This is their first real game, and only the second time they’ve worn the strip.” It may have been their first proper match, but The Firebirds soon warmed up, clearly enjoyed themselves and, at the final whistle, reckoned they’d won, although no-one appeared to be keeping score. The final match, a battle between Golden Bay’s Women’s Division 1 team the Shield Maidens and Men’s Division 4 side Richmond Bogans, was a genuine game of two halves. For the first period, the league teams lined up for a regulation 11-a-side contest, while, after the break, squad players were joined by a gaggle of youngsters, who almost doubled the number of players on the pitch, for 45 minutes of multigenerational, fun football. Sunday’s fun day was the focal point of some serious fundraising by GBAFC which, over the past three months, has raised around $17,000. “I’m stoked with the amount we’ve made,” said Phil before explaining how it would be distributed. “$5,000 is going to Big Brother Big
Sister, $5,000 to I Am Hope; and $7,000 to the Special Olympics team.” Speaking to The GB Weekly on Monday, Phil shared his thoughts on the inter-club fundraiser. “The one thing that I took away from this is the smiles. Everyone had so much fun and the spirit of football was embraced. “The highlight was the Nelson Special Olympics team, The Firebirds. They are a great team and we are happy to have them as part of our football whānau. They have been made official friends of GBAFC and we will arrange more games with them.” Referring to the donation destined for I Am Hope, Phil put the value of the event into perspective. “To potentially save lives just from playing some games of football really hits home how the smallest thing actually makes a difference.” Making a difference is perhaps the most important goal GBAFC aims to score. “The club has really made an effort this year to give back to our community and I feel that we are achieving this,” said Phil adding, “I absolutely love Golden Bay, the people and the sense of community spirit.” More photos on page 9
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Inside: Hempcrete Saving soil Movie review Netball WordFest New kindy THE GB WEEKLY, FRIDAY 12 AUGUST 2022
JO RICHARDS
The opening karakia at the monthly Golden Bay Community Board meeting is usually followed by Public Forum, but no speakers showed up on Tuesday – either in-person or online. The board chair Abbie Langford consequently moved swiftly onto the next agenda item. Chair’s Report Mohua 2042: At last month’s meeting, the board received a presentation on the Mohua 2042 Sustainability Strategy along with a request for an endorsement of the document (GBW, 15/7). Abbie noted that, as several board m e m b e r s w e r e fo r m a l l y l i s t e d a s contributors to the document, there was a potential conflict of interest. TDC’s group manager environmental assurance Kim Drummond questioned whether the strategy could be taken as representative of the whole Golden Bay community. LGNZ Conference: Councillor Chris Hill provided a report on her recent attendance as a delegate to the Local Government New Zealand Conference. Chris explained that the theme of the event was the future – including the difficulty of “making generational decisions when we don’t know what things will be like in 20 years’ time”. A discussion around the board table referred to the “big shifts” associated with the Three Waters programme and the reform of the Resource Management Act, and the unknown implications for local government. Chris said the conference covered other aspects of the future of local government which are more tangible. “Councils need to look and sound like their communities.” GB Youth Council: Jess Jacquier of GBYC explained that feedback from its recent Youth Habitat survey of Golden Bay youth was being used to formulate actions. “We are deciding what realistically we can do.” Jess mentioned three “ideas” currently being explored: daily transport between Collingwood and Tākaka; organising fundraisers to enable Youth Habitat to put on events; and wellness support through social media. A subsequent discussion widened to include how council could communicate better with the younger demographic. Jess said that “no-one is interested in Facebook,” and “TDC’s Instagram is terrible”. It was agreed that the board would suggest to TDC that its Instagram presence... Continued on page 4
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