Category: Sport

ALBANY Vikings Masters Sporting Club was recognised for its commitment to mental health and sport earlier this year when it was awarded the WA Masters Club of the Year Award.

While the obligatory plaque hasn’t quite made its way through the post, club president Sean Maguire said the club was honoured to receive the award.

“It’s an amazing achievement for us,” he said.

“We’ve grown the club from something that used to have three or four blokes turning up to training, to 25.

“It’s amazing to see what we’ve made available to the community.”

Club secretary Ian Neil said the growth of the club hasn’t been centered primarily on the football club, but also on the development of basketball and netball teams, with soccer and cricket teams soon to follow.

“The focus of the club is fitness and fellowship,” he said.

“It’s about mental health wellness, community development and getting players to come down and get fit and make friends, for both men and women.”

With the core principle of raising mental health awareness for players and in the community, vice president Dave Larchet said the club was also family-orientated.

“It’s not just about coming down and playing footy, it’s bringing your family with you,” he said.

“We quite often get the young blokes come down with their dads on training night to have a run and kick a ball.

“The wives come down for game days to help out.

“Everyone gets involved.”

With the season open for the Vikings football side on April 21 against the Dalyellup Dinosaurs, Maguire said the club would love for people to come and get involved.

“We’ll be playing at the North Albany Football Club. It’s going to be a really good match,” he said.

“We’re not just looking for people to come play; we’re also looking for people to come and watch.”

To join any of the Albany Vikings Sporting Club’s teams, contact them via their Facebook page.

YOUNG people with autism will get the chance to feel the rush of what it’s like to surf when they spend the day at Ocean Beach this Sunday with Perth-based charity Ocean Heroes.

The group was started by keen surfers Luke Hallam and Sam Moyle two years ago and aims to enhance the lives of people on the autism spectrum through involvement in surfing.

Sunday’s event is their second trip to Denmark and they are optimistic of building on last year’s effort.

“It was a great day, but we just really didn’t have the numbers that we would have liked,” Mr Moyle said.

“I’m hoping that this year there will be more people registering since everyone had such a great time last year.

“Word of mouth spreads the message very quickly that we’re coming, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.”

Mr Moyle said Ocean Heroes was equipped to cater for a wide range of abilities.

“We get people of all sorts of abilities ranging from speaking to non-speaking as well as high and low mobility,” he said.

“Every participant is different and we make sure they all have lots of fun.”

An average session with the Ocean Heroes involves kids learning how to use a surfboard, catch a wave and eventually surf.

“We’ve got these big boards that the kids learn how to stand up on that we do on the sand,” he said.

“Every kid gets a wetsuit and a life jacket that we bring and they get to have an experience that not everyone gets.”

Sunday’s free event starts at 9am at Ocean Beach and registrations can be made via email at [email protected].

CENTENNIAL Stadium passed with flying colours when it came under the microscope last week ahead of the West Australian Football League’s clash between Claremont and South Fremantle on April 28.

WAFL Governance and Compliance Manager Luke Sanders spent last Thursday morning inspecting the stadium and its facilities with City of Albany staff and club representatives and said the match would go ahead as scheduled.

He said they spent a lot of time inspecting the turf to check it met WAFL standards.

“We check the hardness of the turf with a Clegg tester to make sure it’s all uniform in firmness,” he said.

“The turf can’t be too hard or too soft since we need to protect the players from injury.

“Albany doesn’t have an issue with the turf being too hard due to its high annual rainfall.

“I’m still waiting for the official test report, but the game will continue regardless.

Mr Sanders said he was impressed with the standard of the facilities.

“The playing surfaces, change rooms, coach boxes, spectator areas and bar facilities are all of a high standard,” he said.

He confirmed the City of Albany had dipped into its own pocket to host the match without WAFL grants for assistance.

“For them to host and cover costs is great for regional football and for the community,” he said.

The April 28 encounter between the Tigers and Bulldogs will only feature the league sides, but Claremont club members will be in Albany in the days leading up to the match to conduct a football masterclass.

RAILWAYS will head into Saturday’s Albany Cricket Association A-grade semi-final clash with Manypeaks as clear favourites following a dominating display with the ball on the weekend that saw them roll North County for just 83 runs.

The Tigers’ win brought a premature end to North County’s season, as the Bulldogs’ hopes of progressing into the finals hinged on defeating Railways and Denmark beating Collingwood Park.

In Saturday’s match, North County needed the recent form of veteran Craig Tonkin to continue if they were to pose a threat, but when he was dismissed for two runs and Michael Ferreira for six from the bowling of Mitchell Thomson, County’s heads were in their hands.

Fortunately, there were two more Ferreiras to offer resistance, with Matthew combining with his father Neil to rebuild the innings.

The pair took the total to 2-64, before Railways skipper Zane Marwick took control with the ball and started a collapse that saw County lose eight wickets for 18 runs.

Marwick claimed three wickets to get his eye in before the finals, but fell short with the bat when he was bowled for just seven as the Tigers began their brief chase of County’s 83-run total.

The Tigers are persisting with Tim Edmunds at the top of the order with his ability to slowly wear the shine off the new ball.

He fell just short of double figures, contributing nine runs before Nathan Crudeli and Matt Walters got the job done.

The pair each played patiently to see out the run chase, but punished anything that was off target from North County’s bowlers.

Crudeli brought up the winning runs on his way to 39 not out, while Walters looked solid, notching up 21 not out.

Manypeaks will no doubt be quick to shrug off their last-ball loss to Mount Barker on the weekend and refocus on a plan to conquer Railways’ batting depth and bowling attack.

They would have fancied their chances after dismissing the Bulls for 157 in Saturday’s match, with a four-wicket effort from Harry Broomhall the highlight from the spread of bowlers.

In their response to Mt Barker’s total, the loss of cheap wickets was offset by several key partnerships which kept Manypeaks in the game.

A 36-run stand from evergreen veteran Jeremy Stewart got them within striking distance of the Bulls’ total, but a calamitous fall of wickets, including one from the final delivery of the day, left them one run short at 9-156.

Despite underdog status in Saturday’s semi-final with Railways, Manypeaks at least got a preview of the pressure they need to absorb if they are to threaten Railways.

In the remaining A-grade match, Nathan Dovey and his bat blasted Collingwood Park into fourth place on the ladder and an unlikely finals berth, considering their slow start to the season.

Dovey made 67 as Park chased down Denmark’s respectable 212-run total, that was could have fallen short had it not been for 69 runs from Michael Pratt, batting at number seven.

Park will play Mt Barker in their semi-final and will need to get on top of the Bulls batting line-up early.