By Ron Lane
As the old saying goes, behind every cloud there is a silver lining.
For the Noosa Pirates Rugby League Football Club, the 2021 season would have to be a classic example for, despite the problems and shortcomings that occurred as a result of the Covid-19, the club, with its players, sponsors and supporters, rallied together and stood firm in what would have to be one of its most promising and loyal seasons ever. In a flyer released by club general manager Brett Winkler addressed the year in review and covered all aspects of club life in an open and positive manner.
‘’It has been another successful year for the Pirates Rugby League Football Club. With a fair degree of uncertainty amongst the numerous challenges associated with the ongoing pandemic backdrop, the club still managed to register another successful year, both on and off the field. Despite not being able to host its major club fundraiser, with the annual Noosa Rodeo being cancelled at the start of the year, we still had a number of great events: apart from our regular junior and senior teams home gains. These included the ISC State League trial game, between the Sunshine Coast Falcons and the eventual ISC Premiers, Norths Devils, and having the privilege of hosting the West Tigers for an NRL open training session.
Then in the second half of the season, NRL heavy weights Melbourne Storm, trained at Pirate Park for three months during their Queenslandd sabbatical, as the NRL competition moved north to our state. Our final season home game, on a Sunday afternoon, an epic semi- final against the Swans, proved to be our biggest and most well attended game of the year. Add to this a number of the victorious Qld Women’s State of Origin visiting our Cooroy facility to work with our boys and girls’ junior teams, we managed to deliver plenty off the field as well.
On the football front the Pirates managed to field a total of 22 teams across the club, 18 in our junior competition, plus four teams in the senior ranks. Our U/13 and U/15 teams tasted footy finals while our U/12 and U/13 went on tour to play carnivals in Gladstone and Tannum Sands. Our U/15 squad headed south to Brisbane for our junior development camp. This was capped off by watching an NRL game involving the Broncos. For the senior teams, it was great to get back on to the paddock after the disappointment of not playing at all in 2020. The club was particularly buoyed by the registrations in our division 2 squad: our division 1 team edged up the ladder again and came in third in the regular season, while our women’s team played finals footy for the first time in their history: our U/18 team were grand finalists at Sunshine Coast Stadium. Season 2021 was another improvement in every regard for our senior teams.”
It was indeed encouraging to note in the flyer that the ongoing proposed community hub redevelopment at Pirate Park continues to move forward with the hope it will become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
“Our Tewantin venue continues to host a number of significant regional events with the Noosa Enduro and Noosa Classic cycling event drawcards taking place during the year. Pirates also hosted a number of NRL and community events at both our Tewantin and Cooroy facilities. The Cooroy facility continues to be an important and pivotal part in our training and game day venue for our junior teams. This was capped off with just under 1000 mini players descending on Christensen Oval for the Richie Johnston Memorial Gala Day. Also at Cooroy, our annual NRL grand final luncheon, was once again another great day. Amongst the many highlights it gave us the opportunity to get up close and personal to our guest, the great Queenslander himself, Billy Moore.”
In closing, the general manager extended a big vote of thanks to all club committees, volunteers, sponsors, supporters, parents and carers who continue to make the Pirates club great.
“Without the range of help, services and support from the community partners, including Noosa Council and our State and Federal MPs, we would have found 2021 another incredibly tough season after what we had already endured in 2020. The Pirates continue to go from strength to strength and we look forward to another stella season in 2022.Thank you Noosa.”
It is indeed pleasing to note the similarities between the Pirates Rugby League and the Dolphins Rugby Union clubs. In their attitude toward promoting, not only their codes, but also what we in Noosa have at our fingertips to offer as an international sporting venue, reminds me of what our late guru of international triathlons,(godfather of the triathlon in Australia and former member of the Noosa Heads SLSC) Garth Prowd once said, “With the right people running this town, it could easily become the sporting capital of Australia.”
Boxing
Boxing tournaments that had been set for regions in and around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast have once again been cancelled. This was indeed disappointing to several of our boxing teams in both amateur and professional ranks. However, it has not been all doom and gloom for the regional amateur championships, North Queensland vs Southern Queensland, set for Mackay this coming weekend, will go ahead as planned. Add to this the other good news is that three of our local amateur fighters have been selected to represent Southern Queensland.
The three selected, all from Impact Boxing Academy in Cooroy, are Page Robinson, Cohen Robinson and Keana Welsh. Mark Evans, head coach and owner of the Impact club, has been appointed head coach of the team. There will be some 18 bouts on the program, with the winners of each division championship receiving a championship belt. We wish them well.
It is hoped that the bronze medal, won by Australian Harry Garside, our first for 33 years at the Olympics, will gain more respect for the sport. The big crowd that packed into the Noosa Villa to watch the recent heavyweight championship of the world title fight shows there are still a lot of boxing fans in our community. This, plus the big membership of both our local boxing clubs, the NBO (Noosa Box Office: coach Israel Kani) and Impact Academy, speaks for itself.
