Sport ëŕīëōşƱ ƱĶŕƆ ŔĕŕȜƆ żſĕŔĶĕſƆIJĶż īſëŕĎ Ǖŕëō Local footballer selected for Australian School Boys The Bangalow Bluedogs have won the 2023 premiership league football grand final with a 3–2 win over Byron Bay last Saturday afternoon in Bangalow. Byron Bay jumped out of the blocks, taking advantage of opportunities in the first half and went to the break with a 2–0 lead. ‘We didn’t take our chances in the first half, but they did. To be honest we were in shock,’ Bangalow coach Joel Rudgley said. ‘We used the break to reset and fix a few things, make sure we were doing the simple things well.’ Bangalow went on to score three unanswered goals and take the game. The second half from the Bangalow side ‘was as good as we’ve been all season. Byron didn’t have an answer,’ Joel said. ‘It was very satisfying as the coach and really good for the boys. Byron have been our nemesis over the last
Bangalow got the last laugh over Byron Bay winning the grand final 3–2 last weekend. Photo supplied few years, so to finally turn it around was very satisfying’. There was more bad news for the Byron Bay Football Club as their championship league side also lost their grand final, losing 4–3 to the Richmond Rovers.
Womens football The Lennox Head Football Club had teams competing in the grand finals of the top two grades of local women’s football. But the premiership
league side had to take on last year’s champions and this year’s minor premiers Alstonville, at Alstonvillle. It was a tough, close game and despite beating Alstonville two weeks ago, they couldn’t repeat the result. Alstonville won 1–0. But there was joy for Lennox Head in the women’s second grade where their minor premiership-winning side went on to dominate the grand final beating Dunoon United 3–0.
Ballina Coast High School student Jacob Carre has been selected to tour with the Australian School Boys side after a successful run at the All Schools National U/18 competition. Jacob was joined by Byron Bay High School’s Aaron Spry when they competed at the All Schools Nationals in Sydney during August. Both players are members of Byron Bay Football Club. In Sydney they represented the NSW Combined High School team that played games against Queensland, South Australia and the ACT. ‘The boys agreed, the skill level and intensity of playing against the best 18-year-olds in the country was something they will never forget,’ Aaron’s mum Michelle Spry said. ‘They learnt a lot about what it takes to compete at the highest level of schoolboy football’.
Aaron Spry (L) and Jacob Carre took on the country’s best U/18 footballers in Sydney last month. Photo supplied ‘Jacob is a striker and after scoring four goals over the tournament, was rewarded by being selected in the National School Boys U/18 Team to tour England and Ireland in 2024’. The journey started at the grass roots level with both players being selected to represent public schools, and then eventually in to the NSW Combined High School
team that included the best players from Catholic and independent schools as well. ‘Many of the players that competed at the Nationals are already tied to major clubs and have huge training schedules. Aaron and Jacob brought raw talent,’ Michelle said. ‘Jacob is obviously delighted and very excited,’ she said.
Basketballers head to the Cavanbah Centre for carnival
Calling all local cricketers
Byron Bay Basketball Association held their senior carnival at the Cavanbah Centre last weekend in preparation for hosting Sunshine Conference games this week. ‘It was a much smaller carnival this year, team numbers were down, but we still had players from Melbourne, Tasmania, Brisbane and the Sunny Coast,’ Byron Bay’s Jenny Ogle said. ‘They come to meet old friends every year and all teams went away saying they love coming to this carnival and will be back next year. ‘The winning women’s team was the Rimshots while the Rusty Trombones took out the men’s category. ‘The Rimshots won the carnival for the third year running. They played our less experienced Byron Beez
The start of a new cricket season is fast approaching so new and returning players are welcome at the Byron Bay, and other local, cricket clubs. Junior competition season is starting on Saturday 14 October. ‘We run a learning cricket program on Wednesday afternoons for beginners and also have an U/12 team in the Saturday morning competition,’ Byron Bay Cricket Club’s Jason Trisley said. ‘This season we are also hoping to field an U/11s team that will play after school games, home and away against local clubs,’ he said.
The Rimshots and the Byron Beez celebrate after their final. Photo supplied team who were playing for the first time together. ‘They showed a great team effort over the whole weekend winning three out of four games to get to the finals . ‘The Trombones once again showed up in numbers to support this event, taking the win from our local team the Spangled Drongos by a
winning margin of 44-32’. The major senior basketball competition in the Northern Rivers, the Sunshine Conference, got underway earlier this month. The Byron Bay team has won both of its opening games, beating the Valley Braves Black 94–75 and then taking a 88–87 victory over the Coffs Harbour Suns.
This weekend the men have a double header taking on the Valley Braves on Saturday and then the Ballina Breakers on Sunday. The Byron Bay women Beez have their first game of the season on Sunday at 11am against the Ballina Breakers. All the action is at the Cavanbah Centre.
Seniors Senior cricket competition across at least three grades
will start on 7 October. Players of all abilities are also welcome to join their local clubs that include Ballina, Byron Bay, Lennox Head, Ballina, East Tintenbar-Ballina, Alstonville and Mullumbimby-Brunswick Heads. For more information contact your local club via websites, Facebook or Jason directly on 0488 996166.
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