JMF school gala days

June was a busy month for John Moriarty Football’s (JMF) coaching teams hosting successful gala days in Dubbo (NSW), Elliott (NT) and Cairns (QLD).

The aim of school gala days is to improve access to football and its benefits for Indigenous students, provide more competitive sporting opportunities, allow participants to learn and demonstrate the JMF values of resilience, teamwork, leadership, respect and sportsmanship, as well as support their health and wellbeing.

Tiger Park in Cairns was the venue for our first of three school gala days, seeing 43 young JMF footballers from Yarrabah State School, Cairns West State School, Gordonvale State School and Mossman State School enjoying a fantastic day of football.

A big thank you to the seven seniors from Kuranda District State College displaying their leadership in supporting the JMF team in the coordination of the event, as part of their Certificate in Sports and Recreation.

JMF Dubbo hosted its school gala day on 19 June at Lady Cutler Oval where 100 participants gathered for an 8-team round-robin tournament. This included three teams each from Dubbo West Public School and Dubbo Public School, and two teams from Wellington Public School. The day was tightly contested with the Dubbo West Willays facing off against the Dubbo Gugubarras in the final. The Gugubarras ran out eventual winners with a 3-0 win in the final.

Also on 19 June, the JMF team from Tennant Creek held a school gala day at Elliott Oval, in the remote NT community of Elliott, with three teams participating in the round-robin tournament including Elliott School and two teams from Tennant Creek Primary School.

Over 80 young people were involved on the day including an additional 45 young people who participated in small group games and  cheered on their Elliot School peers. Elliott School played Tennant Creek School team 1 in the final, with Elliott School winning the match 3-1. The JMF Shield was presented to the winning team – with big smiles all round.

Congratulations to all the teams, staff and schools for some great days of football!