Dorset dominates Country Gold
• Country Gold football winners: Back: Adrian a’Court (Coach), Deagen Young, Ryan Saunders, Blake Hopkins, Jackson Beard, Chaice Oliver, Tom Hadley, Charlie McKean, Sophie Morice, Leila-Jane Atkins, Hayley Heazlewood (Manager). Front: Lenny Duffy, Matthew Rattray, Eli Jones, Joe Reid, Haydan Auton, Xavier Nicholls, Jamieson Nunn, Andy Heazlewood and Zac Sheehan.
• Division 1 and 2 winning netball teams. Back: Maddy Fletcher, Logan Miller, Molly Fletcher, Beau Styles, Lily Waters, Fergus Stewart, Lexi Oliver, Charli Hall, Iszabella Barry, and Alani Nichols. Front: Maddie Sarich, Blake Hall, Tara Lette, Sienna Madden, Tori Hall, Rhianna Lette, Maverick Wood and Abby Samec.
By Taylor Clyne
September 23, 2020
The Country Gold Carnival has been a significant event in the North-East primary schools’ sporting calendar for many decades with many aspiring young sports people exhibiting for their school.
Players are selected to represent sports including hockey, soccer, cricket, netball and football with students spanning all four North-Eastern schools to make-up teams together.
The carnival is held in Launceston each year, with teams travelling from as far as Circular Head, Bicheno and the Midlands.
This year’s tournament will go down as one of the greatest with both the netball and football teams dominating the field to walk away respective grand final winners.
Football coach Adrian a’Court said the win was particularly exciting for the North-East with it being the first time in 25 years Dorset had prevailed.
The grand final was played against Northern Midlands West with scores remaining tight until three quarter time.
“Our team soaked up a lot of pressure at the beginning of the third quarter where much of the game was spent in our backline however we managed to hold onto a four-point lead going into the last quarter,” Mr a’Court said.
“Our consistent pressure during stoppages and our ability to quickly clear the ball from congestion opened up the game for our attack and we were able to kick five goals to zero in the last quarter, winning 10-9-69 to 5-5-35.”
Netball coach Carol Stingel said she was thrilled to see Dorset take out the double with a grand final win in division one and two.
“Division one after coming fourth on day one managed to play good strong netball on the Friday,” she said.
“They scraped into the final on percentage and then after a nail-biting game against Northern Midlands West we won by one goal – 22: 21 in our favour.
“Division two went through undefeated and won convincingly 23: one against Northern Midlands West.”
The two day competition gave many talented local sports people the opportunity to shine in a larger playing field with each team gaining personal goals and representing their schools well.