September 24, 2014
Four South Burnett soccer teams were training hard at Tom Alford Oval in Kingaroy on Wednesday night in preparation for a stab at the World Cup … or at least, a miniature version of it.
The teams will be travelling to Inverell in northern NSW at the weekend to take part in one of the most unusual soccer events in Australia.
They’ll be competing in the Joey’s Mini World Cup, an annual week-long soccer tournament created five years ago by Inverell’s Heinrich Haussler to encourage young players and their parents to visit the town.
From a humble start with just 16 teams in 2009, this year the cup has grown to attract 40 teams from all over south-east Queensland and northern NSW, along with visiting teams from New Zealand, Tonga and Germany.
It’s become on of the biggest events in the town – so big that when Toowoomba and Tamworth both expressed interest in hosting it earlier this year, the Inverell Chamber Of Commerce formed a special committee to help keep it anchored to the town.
The competition follows the format of the World Cup, with teams playing in pools and everyone taking a day off in the middle of the competition to rest, relax and take in the delights of the Inverell area.
All teams draw a country and then play as that country throughout the competition.
The countries are those that competed in the most recent World Cup, so this year the South Burnett’s teams will be playing as Germany, Australia and Costa Rica.
Apart from a fun week of sport, one of the other big attractions of the Mini World Cup is that players and their parents can win a share of the $40,000 prize-money the tournament offers.
The top prizes for players are two fully paid, 30-day playing and coaching trips to Germany for the best male and female field players, and a three-week trip for the tournament’s best goal-keeper to visit Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona.
Parents can share in a $14,000 prize pool that offers adventure tours, kayaks, tents and fishing gear.
This year the Mini World Cup will run from September 29 through until Friday, October 3.
The South Burnett will be fielding teams in the U13s, U15s and U17s as well as an Open Women’s squad.
Players in each team have been drawn from all the region’s soccer clubs (Barambah United, Wests, Gunners and Panthers) and now the 2014 season is over, competitive urges have been replaced by the happy camaraderie the sport is noted for.
“We’re sending some really good players to the Cup this year,” Kingaroy Wests coach Jamie Neil said.
“They come from all our teams, but they’re happy to play together to represent the South Burnett.”
