1989 B.P North West Football Championships
played in Dampier
Two bad losses for the Broome Football Association
in the BP North West Championships earlier this month, has failed
to dampened the spirits of the team. In fact despite the two defeats
the team is raring to go for Next years's event. Broome Football
Association spokesman, Mike Wevers, said the Broome team did not
really know what it was up against when it played its first game
against the North Pilbara. Mr. Wevers said this team was made
up of the best players from South and Port Hedland, Karratha and
Dampier and was probably the best team in WA excluding the WAFL
teams. "They are professional players and ours are not -
that's the difference," he said. Broome was defeated by more
than 150 points in this match but narrowed the margin against
Newman by 25 points despite having five key players hospitalised
with various injuries.
Andrew James had a bad neck injury, Mitchell
Tigan suffered a dislocated shoulder and was unconscious for three
hours, assistant coach Chris Sampi was con cussed and badly cut
across the forehead and Jeremy Sorrell had a bruised back and
Graeme Squires had lost four teeth in an incident which caused
him to have stitches to his mouth. Mr. Wevers said the condition
of the oval was also different to the Broome Oval could have made
a difference to player performance. "It was rock hard - like
concrete". He said the players would have learnt a lot from
the championship and certainly know what to look for next time.
But probably the best news from the whole weekend was that concerning
four local players selected for the BP Super League team. They
were Wayne Edgar Bidyadanga, Rodney Wiggan, Andrew James, and
Phillip Sampi, all from Bardi. "It's great to think even
though we lost both games, we have four players good enough to
represent the north west of WA. We're all thrilled," said
Mr Wevers.
3/6/89
North Pilbara 25.20 (200) d Broome 6.7 (43)
Newman 12.16 (88) d Broome 9.8 (62)
(Courtesy of the Kimberley Echo)