England's under 16s boys and girls squad will be playing against Gibraltar selections from 2-5 Jan 2009. Gibraltar has hosted GB teams and other representative teams from the UK. This particular training camp is for hot weather although there hasn't been that much around in Gib recently. Let's keep our fingers crossed that things brighten up in early January.
Click here to see the players selected to represent England
His Worship the Mayor, Solomon Levy MBE,ED,JP hosted an Official Reception on Wednesday 10 December 2008 at the City Hall, in honour of the 50th Anniversary of the Commonwealth Games Association.
The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada where 11 countries sent 400 athletes to take part in 6 sports and 59 events. Bobby Robinson, a major influence within athletics in Canada at.... the time, finally implemented the event that had been talked about amongst Commonwealth nations for over thirty years with the City of Hamilton providing $30,000 to help cover travelling costs of the participating nations.
Since then, the Games have been conducted every four years (except for 1942 and 1946 due to World War II) and the event has seen many changes, not least in its name. From 1930 to 1950 the Games were known as the British Empire Games, from 1954 until 1966 the British Empire and Commonwealth Games and from 1970 to 1974 they took on the title of British Commonwealth Games. It was the 1978 Games in Edmonton that saw this unique, world class, multi-sports event change its name to the Commonwealth Games.
Often referred to as the ‘Friendly Games’ only single competition sports had been on the programme from 1930 up to and including the 1994 Games in Victoria. The 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur saw the introduction of team sports with nations taking part in cricket (50 over game), hockey (men and women), netball (women) and rugby 7's (men). In Manchester in 2002 hockey, netball and rugby 7's graced the programme again and at the 2006 Games in Melbourne basketball accompanied hockey, netball and rugby 7's on the programme. In Delhi in 2010 hockey, netball and rugby 7’s will again feature.
The 2002 Games in Manchester also saw for the first time, indeed at any multi-sport event in the world, a limited number of full medal events for elite athletes with a disability (EAD) in a fully inclusive sports programme. This continued in Melbourne where EAD athletes took part in athletics, swimming, table tennis and powerlifting.
In the year 2000 the CGF took on the added responsibility of the Commonwealth Youth Games, open to athletes 18 years of age and under the Youth Games provide an excellent opportunity for aspiring young athletes from the Commonwealth with a taste of what the Commonwealth Games has in store for them in the future. The inaugural Games were in Edinburgh with the last edition being hosted in 2004 in Bendigo, Australia with Pune in India in 2008 hosting the 3rd edition. In such a short space of time the Youth Games has grown in stature and this is evidenced by award of the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games to the Isle of Man.
The story of the Games evolved yet again on the 9th November 2007 when Glasgow (Scotland) was awarded the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The last few weeks have seen four ‘houses’ from two Year Groups of St.Anne’s school take part in cricket festivals at Victoria Stadium. 12 teams of mixed boys and girls took part, playing games for the whole of their afternoon and putting into practice the skills that they have been learning this term. With the second astro given over to make three crick... et pitches in the winter sunshine and Bayside playing on the main pitch you might have been forgiven for thinking that the season was still in mid-flow! ; Many of the pupils have been watching cricket on TV and to answer the question ‘how fast do they really bowl?’ the event started with a demonstration of the bowling machine before each ‘house’ was divided up into three teams. Europa took on Carmel in Year Six and Lourdes took on Fatima in Year Seven, all on a League basis and the games were very competitive indeed!
With 8-a-side ‘pairs’ cricket everyone bowls, keeps wicket and bats so the game is fun, fast and no-one sits around for very long waiting for something to do. The improvement in the skill levels on show has been very impressive. All 96 pupils who took part have been working hard and to see the enjoyment each player got from the event was very rewarding.
Aside from the basic skills of the game, it was particularly pleasing to see that so many pupils were able to apply their skills tactically, looking to ‘gap’ the ball and hit into spaces. One or two leading candidates for future captaincy have been identified by taking charge and setting fields, displaying sound game awareness. Throughout, the ‘team spirit’ so essential to the game of cricket was very much in evidence and it is a tribute to the school that ‘Spirit of Cricket’ was foremost throughout both events.
Several of the players who took part will be invited into the ‘district’ system after showing a real aptitude for the game. This system is set above junior club level and is intended to allow those who show talent to have access to a more advanced coaching programme and take part in indoor games next term as well as a full schedule of outdoor 20 over games in the summer.
Thanks go to Mr.Cortez for allowing us to have the extra time for the festival. Also to Mssrs.Perez, Martinez, Felice, Miss Rodriguez and Mrs.Montegriffo for acting as Umpires and Scorers. The fact that so many teachers were willing and able to man the event is very pleasing and we hope to continue this process with the festivals in the coming terms.
Carmel ‘B’ in Year Six won two of their games and were the most successful team on Day One. Lourdes ‘B’ in Year Seven won all three of their games on Day Two. However, I’m sure that the other teams will be looking forward to gaining their revenge when they take part in the next festival!
This type of event is something that the Gibraltar Cricket Association will be looking to extend to the other schools in the area. Once we have more participation it isn’t beyond the imagination to expect a Summer ‘inter school’ competition where Year Group cricketers come together to establish a sustainable and meaningful tournament that will see the very best crowned ‘Gibraltar Schools Champions!’ Gibraltar Cricket Association Extraordinary General Meeting.
The Gibraltar Cricket Association duly held its Extraordinary General Meeting on Wednesday following the annual presentation of trophies at the Senior Citizens Club in Naval Hospital Road.
Hon. Secretary, Bob Lomax, introduced the first Motion, asking the membership to approve a change in the Association’s financial year from April to March to January to December to bring it line with ICC and ECC practice. The Motion was passed unanimously. Chairman, Tom Finlayson, then explained the practicalities of such a move, saying that the Association would be calling an AGM in January, 2009, at which a Financial Report would be tabled for the period April to December, 2008. At that same Meeting the membership would be asked whether it wished to elect a new Committee or sanction the continuance of the current Committee until January 2010. The general feeling favoured the latter proposal.
The second motion before the floor asked for the Committee to be given powers to investigate the possibilities of altering the Association’s status to that of a corporate entity. In answer to questions from the floor it was made clear that no final decision would be taken in this respect without the approval of the membership at the January 2009 AGM. The Committee were then given the go-ahead to proceed along these lines. The meeting closed with a brief presentation by Cricket Development Manager, Richard Askew, who reviewed the work of the past twelve months and appraised the membership of what lay in store in 2009.
Prior to this Meeting, the annual presentation of prizes was held. Mediterranean CC took the Wiggins/Benrimoj Shield, Calpe CC the Senior League, and GCC the Murto Cup. Trafalgar Pirates should have picked up the twenty overs league shield and Stan James CC the twenty overs cup but unfortunately representatives of these clubs did not attend.
The individual prizes went as follows: Top Senior batsman: Mark Bacarese. Top Senior bowler: Chris Phillips. Top Junior batsman: Scott Chipolina. Top Junior bowler: Karan Sadhwani. Most improved young player [the Eddie Ellul Memorial Trophy): Julian Freyone.
The Gibraltar Taekwondo Association on behalf of it's instructors and members would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous New Year.
With four scared turkeys up for grabs, the GDA hosted its annual Turkey Shoot Xmas competition to mark the final event of 2008. All four finalists received a fattened up turkey as the main prize.
This competition traditionally played in a blind pairs format (pair selection drawn at random; so its luck of the draw) makes it both interesting and anybody’s game, which bides well with the cheerful nature of the event.
To allow for more games it was played like in previous years with a winners’ and losers bracket (yet another format successfully adopted by the GDA). We had a healthy 20 participants considering all the Xmas parties & work do’s so we congratulate all those who attended for making it such an enjoyable evening. Commiserations to the runners up: Harry Parody & Justin Stagno (pictured right) and congratulations to the winners: Adrian Monteverde & Dylan Duo (pictured left).
The Gibraltar Darts Association wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.
Under 17s received another boost this week with the arrival of their new kit kindly sponsored by Volker Stevins, who have taken the boys under their wing. The new kit is in the Gibraltar colours of red and white and looks brilliant. The boys will wear them and their sponsor’s logo with pride.
The year has gone well for junior rugby with two tournaments being held in Baysideschool. Years 8 and 9 played a 7s tournament and over 160 boys, many who haven’t played rugby before and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There are two visiting teams from UK already booked to come out next year and not only will they be playing the Gibraltar dragons, we may be able to field a Bayside school team which certainly would be a first for Gibraltar. This opens rugby up to those who want to play on a social basis here in Gibraltar.
The tag rugby course that was held earlier this year is starting to come to fruition with Tag rugby being put on the syllabus of several schools with hopefully ainterschool’s league or tournament being held early April or may, watch this space.
In the league the boys are playing well, but as we anticipated, the second year is always harder as the teams opposing them now know what to expect. However, undaunted, the boys are enjoying it and looking forward to the second part of their season. Unfortunately due to elements beyond our control, the first concentration for the under 13s, 11s and 9s became impossible to attend due to transport issues. The federation was late in confirming the day of the match to us and by the time we knew, coaches in Spain and Gib were already pre booked for the Christmas rush. However, onwards and upwards.
As stated earlier we already have two visiting teams booked for April and May next season. This is an element we will be developing, with the eventual idea of hopefully having a Gibraltar Tournament for junior rugby here in Gibraltar.
The Gibraltar Dragons calendar is now on sale, available in all newsagents, sky shop and Morrisons. The pictures are brilliant and it’s all about what we have been up to throughout the year.
We wish all the boys and Parents a very happy Christmas and new year.
And may we take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported the boys, especially our main sponsors who are:
Saturday 20th December saw over 350 kayakers turn up in Seville for the last race of the year. It was bright and sunny but a little bit gusty making little wavelets on the otherwise flat calm river. Alexandra’s race was the last one of the day. Due to the wind pushing the participants forward across the starting line by the time the start was given she had been squeezed into a very tight spot and had to back paddle before going forward. Although this had initially put her at a disadvantage she paddled hard, and very quickly started overtaking her fellow paddlers. By the time they reached the bottom turn and with 750m to go, the field was pretty spread out and Alexandra was catching up with the leading pack. Now, with the wind against them you could see it was going to be hard work. Slowly but surely Alexandra caught the leading three and with less than ten metres to go, managed to claw herself into 2nd position yet again, finishing in a time of 9min 52 seconds.
At the end of the races she was also presented with a trophy for coming 2nd in the Andalucian Flat Water Racing Championship.
The GCA will be holding a number of flat water races in the new year, and hopefully be able to send a few more paddlers to the Andalucian Championship for next season. For further information please contact Arturo Asquez on 54025033.
Great news for rugby in Gibraltar as it is involved in the Iberian Peninsula's most adventurous project - to take rugby in this area to new heights.
It has only been a rumor thus far, but just two days ago, Fermín de la Calle confirms in his blog that the Liga Superiberica will kick off on 24 April, 2009.
The first professional rugby union tournament in the history of Spanish rugby union will have a franchise system similar to the American ones. There will be 5 Spanish teams, 4 Portuguese and 10th one from Gibraltar. It will run from 24 April to 28 June.
Many details are yet to be confirmed, but in any case, this is a quantum leap for the game in Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal.
The finer details fo the event have not been released yet but apparently a £4,000 capacity stadium will be required. It is supposed that at such short notice an option will be saught in Spain as Gibraltar has no grass facilities let alone a rugby stadium. It is hoped that with the rocketing popularity of the game in Gibraltar a pitch will be constructed for this purpose. The article reads in Spanish as follows:
Ya hay fecha de arranque para la edición inaugural de la primera competición profesional de la historia del rugby español, la Superibérica, que sigue quemando etapas en los meses previos a su nacimiento. Arrancará el 24 de abril y la fecha prevista para la disputa de la final de la Superibérica 2009 es el 28 de junio.
En un post anterior os informaba sobre las jornadas de trabajo celebradas el pasado fin de semana por las franquicias en Madrid. En las mismas participaron El Salvador, CRC, Santboiana, Bera Bera y la de Sevilla, con Alejandro Aguilera a la cabeza. Además de Benfica y Os Belenenses en representación de las franquicias portuguesas y Charlie Cruz por Gibraltar. Y de estas jornadas salieron varias decisiones noticiables. La primera, las fechas de competición: el torneo arrancará el viernes 24 de abril, una semana después de acabar la División de Honor (el 19), mientras que está previsto que finalice el domingo 28 de junio. Con ello se cumple el compromiso adquirido por Robinson con el presidente de la Federación Española, Alfonso Mandado, para evitar el solapamiento de fechas de ambas competiciones. Sin embargo, el calendario de la Superibérica sí coincidirá con la disputa de la Copa del Rey, en la que siguen en liza cuatro de los clubes involucrados en la Superibérica (Cetransa, CRC, Santboiana y Bera Bera). Para evitar conflictos, se ha llegado a un acuerdo por el cual se flexibilizarán las fechas de las jornadas en las que haya Copa para que estos equipos no vean afectadas sus plantillas en la disputa de ésta última. Acuerdo que fue refrendado unánimamente por los interesados. La segunda noticia y no menos trascendental, es la decisión unánime de las franquicias de NO PARTICIPAR en la Taça Ibérica, competición que no reconocen como oficial. De hecho, en el calendario portugués, ni siquiera aparece.
Por tanto, el panorama comienza a tomar cuerpo. El rugby español tendrá un calendario de competición de nueves meses. Un primer y segundo trimestre dominados por la División de Honor y los partidos de la Selección, y un tercer trimestre del calendario protagonizado por la Superibérica y la Copa del Rey, ambas compatibles y necesarias para el desarrollo de nuestro rugby. Y después todos a disfrutar de los Seven. En las jornadas, posteriormente se habló de temas logísticos como estadios, número de jugadores en plantillas, obligación de un cupo de seleccionables, de Sub-23, infraestructura... La próxima reunión se producirá a principios de enero en Portugal y unas semanas más tarde se realizará la presentación. En estos momentos ya hay cerrados varios patrocinadores, además de un acuerdo con una cadena de televisión y se trabaja en la firma de otros acuerdos con empresas interesadas en estar involucradas en este proyecto. Las franquicias ya conocen los plazos de la Superibérica, el pasado fin de semana fueron informados de ellos. El 24 de abril arranca esto.
Amanda Carreras ranked (557) in the world. The Gibraltar born Carreras competed at the $10,000 event in Benicarlo, Spain and went into the event as the seventh seed. However, she fell at the first hurdle losing 6-2 6-4 to Ximena Hermoso of Mexico.
SG HAMBROS TROPHY A very exciting finale to a great competition; thoroughly enjoyed by all teams. The men’s competition was in fact decided on the last match on the last day when Collegian Vets defeated a depleted Grammarian Oldies team by 8 – 4 and thus top the table. In the ladies final Eagle ladies completely demolished the Hawks Ladies by 5-0, quite a surprising result after earlier thrilling encounters in the group stages (see final table). The committee will shortly issue the new fixtures for the league & cup competitions to be held after the xmas festivities (see final table below)
BARCLAYS WEALTH JUNIOR HOCKEY Our Youth Hockey programme still continues every Monday & Wednesday. Our last session of this term was held yesterday Monday 15th Dec & will commence on Monday 12th January 2009. During the month of January we will once again draft all juniors into teams and then start the ever popular junior leagues. (see above under 7’s photo) Our juniors will once again be travelling this Christmas. On the 29th December we will be fielding both an Under 10 & under 16 boys teams for the Seville Christmas Hockey Tournament. After Xmas our boys & girls teams will commence their travels to Cadiz , Malaga & Jaen . As mentioned in the past, the possibility of competing in a junior league with Andalucian teams now looking more of a possibility. Watch this space.
Another event that will soon feature (early February) is the new Under 16 leagues where each of the local first division sides will be asked to field a team (boys & girls) to compete under their club name and to be held mid-week.
SG HAMBROS LADIES / DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE So as to further enhance competition both for our developing youngsters and our two surviving ladies teams the GHA is contemplating a competition which will feature 2 ladies & 2 youth teams in a four team competition which we hope will serve to (a) Give the ladies teams a chance to field their young girls, (b) ensure everyone plays at least one game every weekend and (c) The developing teams will now be further motivated as they will compete in an official capacity and be able to win the competition. The highest ranking ladies team will obviously decide which ladies team Represent’s us in Europe . Further ideas are currently being juggled with, including the running of a development scheme for umpires which will hopefully be run in conjunction with this competition and the boys under 16 league. GHA MEN'S SENIOR SIDE Preparation of the men’s national side for next year’s nation’s trophy in Slovakia is well under way. This past Sunday 14thsaw the final training camp of 2008. The squad were put through a gruelling session based both on physical preparation and tactical awareness, ending with a session for 3 of the 5 hopeful keepers who are competing for the 2 available goalkeeper slots.(see photo)
From the 2nd to the 6th January 2009 we will once again play host to the England training camp for their boys & girls Youth Squads. The GHA will use this opportunity to field two varied men’s squads and test some of under 21’s and other players hoping to make the final men’s selection. All of our top senior players will obviously not be fielded for these games. The following schedule has been prepared for them, in case anyone wants to pop down and see them :
Saturday 3rd Jan 2009 Training on Main pitch from 9.30 am to 2.30pm 2.30 pm : England Girls v GHA Ladies 4.00 pm : England Boys v GHA Men’s X1
Sunday 4th Jan 2009 Training on Main pitch from 9.30 am to 4.00pm 4.00 pm : England Boys v GHA Men’s X1
Monday 5th Jan 2009 Training on Main pitch (full size) - 9.30 am to 4.00 pm
The Minister for Sport and Leisure, The Hon Edwin Reyes has sent a message to Charles Zammit from the Gibraltar Down’s Syndrome Support Group who won a gold medal in the 25 metre freestyle at the World Down’s Syndrome Swimming Championships held in Portugal last Saturday. The message read as follows :- “I am extremely pleased to learn that you obtained “Gold” in the 25 metre freestyle at the World Down’s Syndrome Swimming Championships last Saturday. On behalf of everyone in Gibraltar I congratulate you for the sporting spirit in which you participated at the Games and, above all, rejoice in your achievement.
I take this opportunity to wish you all the very best in today’s challenge when you compete in the 25 metre breaststroke. I am certain everyone in Gibraltar will be cheering for you. You are proving yourself to be a fantastic ambassador for Gibraltar, keep up the good work.”
The Juan Chipol 5 aside Ladies Tournament, For the past 4 years Manchester United Ladies (pictured) have been the winners of the 5 aside tournaments.
This tournament is played annually in respect of the late Mr Juan Chipol, who did more than what people can think of towards Ladies Football in Gibraltar. The tournament has been organised to take place on Saturday 3rd January at the New Tercentenary Sports Hall. Hopefully after this event the 11 aside league can commence.
Below are the results of last year's 11 a side league:
02-12-07 6.00pm Man Utd 2 v 2 Gib Utd 02-12-07 7.10pm Gib Yellow 0 v 5 St Josephs 09-12-07 6.00pm Man Utd 3 v 0 Gib Yellow 09-12-07 7.10pm St Josephs 1 v 1 Gib Utd 16-12-07 6.00pm Man Utd 2 v 0 St Josephs 16-12-07 7.10pm Gib Utd 3 v 1 Gib Yellow
13-01-08 6.00pm Gib Utd 1 v 2 Man Utd 13-01-08 7.10pm St Josephs 2 v 0 Gib Yellow 20-01-08 6.00pm Gib Yellow 0 v 1 Man Utd 20-01-08 7.10pm Gib Utd 1 v 1 St Josephs 27-01-08 6.00pm Mixed Team Training for Selection
03-02-08 6.00pm St Josephs 2 v 1 Man Utd 03-02-08 7.10pm Gib Yellow 2 v 3 Gib Utd 10-02-08 6.00pm Gib Utd 0 v 2 Man Utd 10-02-08 7.10pm Gib Yellow 2 v 3 St Josephs 17-02-08 6.00pm Man Utd cancelled Gib Yellow 17-02-08 7.10pm St Josephs cancelled Gib Utd 24-02-08 6.00pm Man Utd 1 v 0 St Josephs 24-02-08 7.10pm Gib Utd 3 v 1 Gib Yellow
02-03-08 6.00pm St Josephs 2 v 1 Man Utd 09-03-08 6.00pm Man Utd 4 v 0 Gib Utd 09-03-08 7.10pm St Josephs 5 v 0 Gib Yellow 16-03-08 6.00pm Gib Yellow 1 v 2 Man Utd 16-03-08 7.10pm Gib Utd 1 v 1 St Josephs 23-03-08 6.00pm Gib Yellow w/o v Gib Utd 30-03-08 6.00pm Man Utd 2 v 1 Gib Yellow (rescheduled) 30-03-08 7.10pm St Josephs 1 v 1 Gib Utd (rescheduled)
STANDINGS
1st - MANCHESTER UNITED 2nd - ST JOSEPHS 3rd - GIBRALTAR UNITED 4th - GIB YELLOW
The Gibraltar National Day 5 aside Ladies Tournament: had been organised in previous years although the cup was lost and therefore was not held for several years. The Chairwoman of the Gibraltar Football Association (Ladies), Mrs Lesley Jackson, got it running again this year and hopefully it will continue as an annual event. A special mention of thanks to Mr Richard Manning and Lesley for refereeing the matches.
The 2008 tournament showed that after winning the Juan Chipol 5 aside tournament and the 2007-08 11 aside league the Manchester United Ladies were just as strong even though they had to be split up into 2 teams, by taking the 1st and 2nd position.
Winners 2008 - Manchester United (White) Nicola Asquez, Christine Dean-Penfold, Claire Nunez, Sadie Fa, Olivia Sargent, Victoria Dominguez-Cantos, Gynaika Mena, Nadine Carreras
Runners Up 2008 - Manchester United (Red) Joelle Moreno, Maximm Lopez, Leila Asquez, Sammy Machin, Lenise Danino, Nicole Lopez, Zoe Asquez, Megan Martinez
3rd - Gibraltar United 4th St Josephs 5th - Gibraltar Utd
Over 100 hundred yr 8 pupils gathered on Wednesday to contest the first ever Three Owls Sevens trophy. Two leagues of five teams competed playing four matches each. The top four teams played a crossover set of games to determine the final placing from first to eighth place. The bottom team in each league were placed equal ninth. After an hour and a half of continuous play Red X emerged victorious over the other league winners Blue Y by two tries to nil. Both winning tries scored by Jamie Horne. The boys enjoyed immensely their first experience of rugby and word has it that they want another tournament in the New Year. Four boys from year 10 and 11 plus the ever youthful Allan Sparks refereed with enthusiasm and also indicated their desire to have another go at officiating.
P.O.H travelled across the globe to compete in the 50th Anniversary New York Sevens in the club level competition representing Gibraltar in the international field. In an unbelievable tournament featuring 106 teams in total P.O.H were grouped with Sherbrooke Abenakis 1st’s of Canada, White Plains, the New York state champions, and Brantford Harlequins, the winners from 2007 and a team that included two Canada A players. P.O.H were victorious against Sherbrooke 35-7 with some open and expansive sevens which involved little contact against a physically bigger side. In the second game against White Plains P.O.H turned up the intensity on a much narrower pitch and came away 54-7 winners the quote of the game being from the opposition captain who told us that our kit was so amazing we should be on a catwalk and not a rugby pitch....key. The final group game was the decider against Brantford who had beaten the other two teams by similar scores to P.O.H. Needing a win to progress to the cup competition the stakes were high but the tone was set early on by Mark piston Garcia who scored a great solo try, fending off both Brantford and P.O.H players in the process. The intensity was kept to the maximum for the full 14 mins and the Brantford team were unable to deal with the pressure. P.O.H went on the win the game 24-7 and progress. It should be noted that Sherbrooke went on to win the Bowl, and Brantford to win the plate so P.O.H had faired extremely well to come through such a strong group, and well prepared for the next few crunch games.With only the group winners going through to the Cup, P.O.H went straight into the semi final slot and came up against another strong team from Long Island who we had identified earlier as one of the better pure sevens teams in the competition. Another high intensity games and two very good tries from captain Joey Garcia started the ball rolling well for P.O.H who characteristically got off to a strong start. P.O.H were 12 -5 up at half time but two late tries secured the victory and a place in the Cup final. In the final which took place on the main stadium pitch under floodlights P.O.H were faced with very strong opposition from Baltimore in the shape of the ‘Flagrant Fouls.’ A team made up of fully professional players from the US. From the outset it was clear that this would be a hard fought game with some huge tackles from Steve Ebbett and Charlie Lamb in particular. Good work and a nice inside ball from Jakey Coates set Mark Garcia away to score and take an early 7-0 lead. A long period of intense defence then followed and the drills from coach supreme Luke Stack clearly paid off. One moment in particular had the Flagrant Foul captain racing away to score before a final lunging tap tackle from Focker brought him down, followed by some unbelievable scramble defence. Eventually the pressure told and FF went through to score the equaliser bringing the score to 7-7 at the end of normal time.
Sudden death ensued and high pressure defence kept P.O.H in the game on multiple occasions. FF had one kick at goal in the first half of sudden death to win the match but the kick went thankfully wide and P.O.H continued to slog it out. In the second half of sudden death the P.O.H confidence started to come back and various breaks and could have produced winning scores. FF also had breaks of their own and the game was in a fine balance. With minutes to go, Rob Cottrell who had come on to replace his injured brother Gooch offered himself to the bench for some fresh legs in the way of Mark Breen, the babyfaced assasin. A kick from FF which could have ended the game (on the last play of the match before a coin toss) was caught by Jakey Coates who put Breen away on the wing from within his 22. Mark was tackled well, and in desperation threw the ball back to keep the play alive. The ball travelled through various sets of hands before Mark Garcia picked out his brother Joey Garcia who was drifting off the larger FF player in the middle of the field. Joey was away and with only a sweeper to beat stepped both ways before taking an inside line past the defender and running towards the posts. With nothing in the tank and while tackled by the scrambling defenders Joey found Mark Breen, aka Ole Gunner Breen on his inside and Ole was able to race away from the defenders and score a brilliant winning try. madness and tears followed the famous moment which will never be forgotten by all the players involved on that day. Well done everyone. A famous famous victory which meant P.O.H breaking it’s duck in the best way possible. YES WE CAN
Last Tuesday night saw the Fosters Cup final being held at the Calpe Rowing Club between the Hound Dogs, league champions two years ago, and last year’s double winners, the FEC Stars. The match was a very tight affair with first one team then the other gaining the upper hand. The FEC S tars finally emerging victorious by 5 frames to 3.The Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank Alf Ferrer for organising the tournament, he did a great job in what was his first time organizing an event of this nature; the Calpe Rowing Club and all their staff for providing an excellent venue, Saccone and Speed for their continued support in sponsoring this tournament and finally the players and referee for a great match and at all times playing with an excellent sporting attitude. Well done everybody. Frame 1: Jonathan Collado v Michael Jones With Jonathan winning the lag, he quickly established an early lead and with him covering both top pockets with his colours, he was a clear favourite for the frame. This situation gave him a chance to clear which he did, before missing a hard black to the top right corner. This left Michael to pot the five remaining yellows and black to snatch the frame. Unfortunately he could not do this and Jonathan potted a very easy black to make it 1 – 0 to the Stars. Frame 2: Justin Collado v Gerry Kelly When Gerry broke and did not pot a ball, Justin saw his chance and started potting yellow after yellow, unfortunately in doing so, he left himself no shot on the black and had to ‘play safe’, or so he thought as Gerry raced through his colours before potting a great black down the rail under extreme pressure to make it all square again, 1- 1. Frame 3: Kevin Dalli v Gary Chant With Kevin fouling off the break, Gary potted a number of yellows before coming a cropper in the end and missing a relatively easy black in the top right corner. Kevin then seized his chance by potting all his colours and the black. What a clearance! 2 – 1 to the Stars. Frame 4: Jonathan Victory v Jimmy Rudder While the first three frames were all out attack, this frame was a scrappier affair with Jonathan in particular missing a couple of shots to the middle pockets. This last miss gave Jimmy the chance to snooker Jonathan and although he managed to clip his red, this left Jimmy a clearance which he managed to complete with a straight black to the bottom right corner. All Square again, 2 – 2. Frame 5: Francis Becerra v Allan Browne This frame again proved to be a scrappy affair with both players missing shots, including one from Francis where he tried to screw back too much and only managed to chip the white ball for a foul. A one in a million shot, which unfortunately proved fatal as Allan cleared his remaining colours before potting a simple black to the left middle. 3 – 2 to the Hound Dogs. Frame 6: Ernest Clinton v Maggie Rudder With Maggie breaking and not potting, the play took on a very tactical affair. Just when Maggie thought she had got the better of Ernest, she missed a fairly easy black to the top left corner which would have made it 4 – 2 to the Hound Dogs. This turned out to be the turning point of the entire match as Ernest first snookered Maggie, and when she just missed the black, Ernest cleared to make it 3 – 3. Frame 7: Jonathan Collado/Justin Collado v Gary Chant/Allan Browne The pressure started to show for both teams, as they both missed a number of shots of varying degrees of difficulty. The frame and the match finally swung in the Stars favour when Justin snookered Gary and he in turn could not ‘get out’ of the snooker. This left a routine clearance for Jonathan which he duly completed to make it 4 – 3 to the Stars. Frame 8: Francis Becerra/Jonathan Victory v Gerry Kelly/Maggie Rudder A must win game for the Dogs; unfortunately it was not to be. They got off to a great start but could not bring it home and this gave Jonathan the chance to snooker Maggie. She managed to hit her yellow only to then see the white go ‘in-off’. Francis proceeded to pot his colours with aplomb before inexplicably missing an easy black to give the Stars the win. This left Gerry with a longish yellow to save the game, unfortunately he just missed and Jonathan, who incidentally potted the winning black last year, made no mistake again to hand the FEC Stars their second consecutive Fosters Cup.
Liberal and Democrat (ALDE) Members of the European Parliament played a football match against a team representing the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) at the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar on Thursday 13th November 2008. The aim of the match was to drive home the point that the MEPs are more than happy to play against the GFA even though Europe's governing body of football UEFA continues to ban Gibraltar's participation in European competition.
Interview: Watson, MEP for Gibraltar and the South West.
Gibraltar applied to join FIFA in the late 1990s only for Spain to threaten to pull its national and club teams out of every international competition.
UEFA could not let that happen so they changed their entry criteria so that all new members had to be in the United Nations.
FIFA found a different reason and cited the 3,000 capacity Victoria Stadium, which is situated on an isthmus of land between the British colony and the Spanish border town of La Linea.
That isthmus also accommodates the territory’s airport, which opened to international flights from Spain for the first time in 2007. FIFA though, claim the stadium cannot host international football because the ownership has never been decided.
The pitch at the stadium is the only one in Gibraltar and used all-day long by schoolchildren then the local leagues so the Gibraltar Football Association laid an artificial surface years ago. Bizarrely, that third generation pitch is a FIFA approved playing surface.
This was done years ago through the English FA as the GFA was an affiliate until falling out with the motherland as the row with FIFA and UEFA over membership progressed.
At least Gibraltar has a stadium as many of the lands that FIFA has forgotten cannot even play at home.
In Monaco, the amateur national side is not allowed to play in the 20,000 capacity Stade Louis II stadium, which is home to the only club in Monaco, ASM.
ASM compete in the French league and the government is concerned that if the Fédération Monégasque de Football joined UEFA then ASM may have to leave the French league so the FMF are tacitly accepted but officially unrecognized.
And if Monaco’s national team did play a match at the Stade Louis II stadium against the likes of Northern Cyprus, then ASM could face sanctions from FIFA.
In 2006, the TRNC journeyed to southern France to take on a side representing speakers of the ancient language of Occitània in a run-down council stadium in Vendargues as this was the only ground that could host the tie without FIFA sanctions.
That is also why the 5,000 capacity Vanlose Stadium in Denmark hosted Tibet’s first match in 2001.
A team of exiled players from the Himalayan kingdom, which was invaded by China in 1950, journeyed to Copenhagen to take on Greenland but no clubs would host the game for fear of FIFA sanctions.
The Greenlanders have even more problems playing as the season in their Arctic island is just three months long and all the pitches are sand. As a result, all Greenland’s international matches are away games but the Greenlandic FA are aiming to change that situation.
Rejected by FIFA in the late 1990s, Greenland hope to lay an artificial surface and host a four-team tournament as part of a campaign to encourage tourists to the island.
Greenland is semi-autonomous from Denmark but the cost of laying the pitch would be four times more than in Western Europe with only one air route between Copenhagen and Nuuk.
Despite this, the Greenlanders are confident of laying the surface to host a four-team event in three to four years time then adding stands later on. Greenland want to show that being forgotten by FIFA is no obstacle to playing international football.
"Outcasts!", which was shortlisted for the National Sporting Club football book of the year award in 2008 and is published by Know The Score Books.
The Gibraltar Amateur Basketball Association will be organising a mini basketball tournament on Saturday 7th December at the Bayside Sports Centre. Approximately 120 children and young persons will be participating. As part of its objective to foster healthier lifestyles for the young, the Government’s Drug Strategy will sponsor the event.
The Drug Strategy Co-ordinator and members of the Crime Prevention and Reduction Unit of the RGP will be operating a stand where literature and information on the risks of drugs will be available. The tournament will commence at 9 am and will conclude at approximately 12.30pm.
This event comes at the end of a particularly busy week for the Drug Strategy, having delivered drugs awareness workshops to approximately 600 students at Bayside Comprehensive School. The Drug Strategy Co-ordinator wishes to thank all those who participated in these sessions, especially the invited speakers. Already, the feedback received from pupils, teachers and parents has been extremely positive.
Although the adult cricket season may have finished in early October there has been an enormous amount of youth activity over the last few months. As well as making senior cricket more accessible for our Twenty20 cricketers and those unable to commit to regular Saturday games, it has been clearly identified that increasing the numbers of young players is a key objective in developing Gibraltar cricket.
Many of our schools have already taken advantage of a rolling program of six week cricket sessions that have enabled pupils to try the sport, increase their skills and take part in competitive games. Other schools will be coming onboard in the New Year and it is anticipated that hundreds of young people will have tried cricket by the time the summer comes around.
In the week before Christmas Bayside School will be holding their Christmas Cricket festival for those Year 8 boys that have been training and playing this term. With 8 teams taking part for a whole afternoon and their classmates cheering on from the sidelines this promises to be great entertainment and we hope that it will carry through to other Year groups next term. There is also interest in inter-house leagues throughout the year groups next term.
Similarly, St.Anne’s School will hold a festival for teams from both Years 6 and 7 who have been playing this term. Again, around 8 teams will be taking part and we intend to repeat the competition in the Spring term with the extra classes who will start their cricket next year.
Bayside’s cricket nets on Friday lunchtimes have proved popular, so much so that we may have to split the players into several groups and hold these practices over three sessions! The fact that so many boys are adapting to the challenges of the hard ball game is very promising in terms of the selections to be made for the Under 15 Championships, to be held in Italy in 2009.
This year we will also have district cricket for the first time. The system is designed to allow the more enthusiastic and talented players from their junior club sides to play indoor league games and then progress to an outdoor league at Under 11, 13 and 15 age groups.
The district set-up is intended to accelerate players into representative junior cricket at an earlier age and into adult cricket when they are ready and feel comfortable to do so. Players taking part in the training program have tackled basic skills and drills before moving into applying those skills in game situations. They are currently adapting to the hard ball they will be using in the league and the improvements they are making are very impressive indeed.
In the New Year we will be restarting our Girl’s cricket program with curriculum sessions in Westside School and the after-school club as last year. Running along similar lines to the Bayside scheme we will be looking to establish inter-house leagues and get girls ready for a summer league program of hard ball cricket.
This is one of the most exciting aspects of Gibraltar’s development program as the opportunities for girls and their coaches to take part in European cricket has never been better and the groundwork that we put in now to build on the enthusiasm shown last year will be crucial to allow them to play to the best of their abilities.
All-in-all, these have been a very busy few months and, with the extra schools joining in next year, the workload will only increase. Cricket is a fantastic sport for offering anyone taking part some kind of satisfaction and a great deal of enjoyment, whatever their level of ability or skill.
It may seem to those passing the Victoria Stadium grounds that on any given day during daylight hours there is a game of cricket going on. When you consider the other schools involved this is very definitely true and it often carries on into the evening with the indoor practices for district squads! By harnessing natural athleticism and a competitive nature to a sound development program, many young people are improving as players and having great fun all at the same time.
A new initiative sponsored by Bassadone Automotive Group was launched yesterday at Bayside Comprehensive School. The Group will be working in partnership with the Bayside Comprehensive School Sports Department to give two young people and one teacher the opportunity to win the prize of attending the 2012 Olympics for a full week, experiencing the games, watching the competitions and being part of the atmosphere.
Young People from year 8 (academic year 2008/2009) and all teachers at Bayside School will be invited to register for the ‘Gibraltar Olympic Inspiration 2012’ at a series of introductory sessions that are being organised to take place in January 2009. Bayside students from years 8 and teachers will be invited to take part in the competition which will run for a three and a half year period from January 2009 to Easter 2012.The initiative is the brain child of Head of PE, Graham Hawkins, whose intention is to motivate students to get involved in sports at whatever level.
Bayside headmaster Albert Danino explained the project will run until 2012 and will involve the current year eights students who started at Bayside in September 2008. Mr Hawkins approached him with the idea and then contacted Ken Jones at Bassadone Motors to seek the funding. The aim of Gibraltar Olympics Inspiration is to encourage young people not only to compete in sport inside and outside of school, but also to support the organisation, leadership, refereeing and officiating of junior sport in Gibraltar. The teacher’s competition has similar aims and will reward commitment to developing sport in school and the community.
GIBRALTAR OLYMPIC INSPIRATION 2012 COMPETITION CRITERIA Section one: Entrants to record sporting participation in the school environment. This section will involve entrants recording all of their extra curricular sporting participation including representing their house in competitions and attending extra curricular sporting activities on an ongoing basis.Section Two: Entrants to record their participation in out of school sport – Recording community sports, whereby youngsters train at least 2 hours per week and participate in competition at least once a month.Section Three: Officiating, refereeing and leading sporting activities.
Bayside School – Supporting inter house, interclass or extra curricular competitions as a referee, scorer, timekeeper or recognised official.
Link schools – Supporting Playground games, International Fun & Team Athletics and or Middle/First school sports days. When entrants reach years 10 and 11 they will continue to record the above but will also have the opportunity to take part in the following initiative that will be credited towards the overall competition.Section four: Supporting and recording link school sporting initiatives, either during lunchtimes or after school. These could include the following: Leading, refereeing, and officiating. Playground Games initiatives. International Fun & Team Athletics. Bayside School after school sports clubs. Middle school after school sports clubs. Bayside, Middle and or first school sports days. GibSports Athletics sports day. Summer Sports & Leisure Programme.Section five: Leadership & officiating education. Taking part and completing all elements of the British Sport Trusts ‘Junior Sports Leadership Award’. Taking part and completing certificated umpiring and officiating awards. Section Six: Community based voluntary work supporting junior activities and the organisation of events.
The criteria for teachers will be based on the following: Supporting extra curricular sporting activities. Refereeing/officiating at inter house, interclass leagues and competitions held in lunchtimes and after school. Supporting the organisation, officiating and or refereeing of middle school competitions after school. Supporting Community sports development. Coaching, refereeing and or recognised officiating. Taking part in coach education activities in own time.For further information on ‘Gibraltar Olympic Inspiration’ contact Graham Hawkins, Head of PE at Bayside School on ghawkeye@gibtelecom.net
