March 27, 2017
The first round of the South Burnett’s 2017 soccer competition kicked into life on Saturday, and it promises to be a very interesting season.
This year’s season will be played over 15 rounds before the major and minor semi-finals in late August, and the preliminary and grand finals in early September.
It will be one round shorter than last year’s competition to avoid conflicts with cricket sign-ons in Spring.
As usual, the season will feature a President’s Cup clash between each division’s top two teams after the first six rounds.
This year’s Presidents Cup is scheduled for May 27.
But an exciting innovation will be three Super Saturdays, where all of the region’s four teams will play at one venue rather than being spread across two.
Apart from providing spectators with a long, jam-packed day of football action, Super Saturdays will let them compare the form of all the region’s teams together.
The first Super Saturday will be held next Saturday, April 1 at Tom Alford Oval.
Others have been scheduled for the Wondai soccer grounds on June 24 and Nanango’s Burnett Street soccer grounds on July 8.
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On Saturday this season’s teams lined up for their first 2017 competition games, with the Barambah Bears taking on the Nanango Panthers in Wondai, while Kingaroy’s Wests and Gunners faced off at their joint home ground, Tom Alford Oval.
Bears fans will be happy to hear the player shortfall which forced many 2nd Division players to double up for 1st Division games last year appears to have come to an end.
Bears players won big kudos – but very few points – for 2016’s effort, but this year enough new players have joined the squads to prevent a repeat.
This means the South Burnett’s other teams can no longer count on an easy 1st Division win from taking on exhausted northerners this year, and the end result should be much more exciting matches for spectators, too.
Meanwhile, Nanango’s Panthers will be trying for their sixth straight win in the 1st Division competition, and the ferocious lady Panthers will be hoping to make it five out of six after being narrowly pipped by Wests in the 2014 Grand Final.
Panthers chief coach Lauren Mangan was nominated for Coach Of The Year at this year’s South Burnett Australia Day Awards, and may win it next year if her 1st Division charges make it through to the Grand Finals once again.
On Saturday, Barambah started their 2017 season with a convincing win in 2nd Division, with the Bears’ battle-hardened players trouncing Panthers 5-nil to take the year’s first points.
In the Women’s Division, though, the lady Panthers reversed that with a 6-nil thumping of their own against the lady Bears.
And in 1st Division, Panthers maintained their momentum with a 2-nil victory to make it two wins, one loss for the big cats at the end of the day.
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In Kingaroy, Wests and Gunners will both be planning on a better season this year, too.
Both sides are sporting new players along with mainstays who have played effectively for years.
The Gunnettes, in particular, will be looking for better times after running last in the 2016 Women’s Division competition as they blooded new players moving up from Cadets.
On Saturday in the 2nd Division clash, Wests proved they were only narrowly better than their home ground rivals when they secured a slim 4-3 victory over Gunners.
This was followed by a Women’s Division match which saw the teams share the points in a 1-all draw.
Wests enjoyed a lot of the possession in the match but were unable to capitalise on the opportunities this gave them, shooting for (and missing) the Gunnettes goal far too often.
The result would have been a disappointment for Wests, who played other aspects of the game fairly well, but a heart-starter for the Gunnettes who were starved of points last year.
The 1st Division game was also a point-sharer, ending in a 2-all draw between the teams after a see-sawing match.
Both 1st Division squads are full of very talented players – Gunners have been Grand Final runners-up on several occasions over the past five years – but Saturday showed both sides will need some more outings on the park before their real talents emerge.
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One feature of Saturday’s matches in Kingaroy that drew a lot of positive comment was the state of the grounds.
After summer’s record-breaking temperatures, Tom Alford Oval was lush and green, and grounds keeper Mick North admitted it was probably in the best shape it had ever been for this time of year.
The reason – which also applies to the neighbouring T.J. O’Neill rugby league oval and the Kingaroy Cricket Club’s grounds – is the introduction of recycled water from Kingaroy’s new waste water treatment plant.
Mick said the Kingaroy soccer club swapped from bore water to the recycled water last December when the South Burnett Regional Council laid new pipes from the River Road plant to the Bjelke-Petersen Recreation Reserve.
“We started using it as soon as we could, and you can see the result,” Mick said, proudly gesturing at the oval.
“If we hadn’t had this, the summer heatwave would have made the bore run dry and killed all the grass, and we’d be playing on dirt today.
“I’m absolutely delighted, and I think that would go for everyone else, too.”
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Round 1 Results:
- 1st Division: Nanango 2 – Barambah 0
- 2nd Division: Barambah 5 – Nanango 0
- Women’s Division: Nanango 6 – Barambah 0
In Kingaroy:
- 1st Division: Gunners 2 – Wests 2
- 2nd Division: Wests 4 – Gunners 3
- Women’s Division: Wests 1 – Gunnettes 1
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Next Week:
South Burnett Football’s next match will be a Super Saturday game at Tom Alford Oval in Oliver Bond Street, Kingaroy on Saturday, April 1.
Games will kick off at 11:00am with Wests v Nanango in 2nd Division, followed by Gunners v Barambah at 12:30pm.
In the Women’s Division, Wests will play Nanango at 2:00pm, and then Gunnettes will play Barambah at 3:30pm.
This will be followed by 1st Division games between Wests and Nanango at 5:00pm, and Gunners and Barambah at 7:00pm.
A canteen will be operating on the grounds, admission is free and spectators are very welcome.
