OCLife20220714sp

SPORT

with ANTHONY BARBAGALLO

sport@oclife.com.au

Jake Martin’s footy journey — GROUP 10 TO WOODBRIDGE CUP

Cargo Heelers. But the 2017 season has to be one of my fondest memories with Cargo, as we qualified for the Grand Final.

Unfortunately, we fell short of winning the premiership after losing to Trundle.

Although I never lifted a title with Cargo, playing some classic bush footy was a great experience.

What’s been the toughest opponent you’ve faced in the Woodbridge Cup? The most difficult away trips have been in Manildra and Trundle. Games in Trundle don’t get any more outback than this. But it’s also the intensity that the Manildra Rhinos and Trundle Boomers put on display when you face them.

While Group 10 Rugby League is the pinnacle of bush footy beyond the Blue Mountains, it still gets plenty brutal in the underrated Woodbridge Cup. Jake Martin — one of Orange’s brightest rugby league players — currently plies his trade in the Woodbridge Cup with the CSU Mungoes. Also known as “Stumpy” on the field, the lock-forward started his senior career with Orange Hawks before making the move from Group 10 to the Woodbridge Cup. Orange City Life recently caught up with Jake to discuss his Woodbridge Cup experience with the Cargo Heelers, the differences between Group 10 and Woodbridge Cup footy, and how he is currently doing with his new club in the 2022 season.

So how long have you been playing in the Woodbridge Cup? I have played in this competition since 2016 after leaving the Hawks in Group 10. I played with the Cargo Heelers for six years before signing with CSU Mungoes earlier this year; the CSU Mungoes currently play in the Woodbridge Cup after merging into the competition for the 2022 season.

What are some differences between Group 10 footy and the Woodbridge Cup? The Woodbridge Cup is more of a country, bush-footy competition. The landscape settings in the small towns are vastly different to the large regional centres in the Central West.

When it comes to the style of footy, the game tends to be more physical in the Woodbridge Cup. The more grinding and physical nature often increase the chances of injury. The game is also slower, meaning there’s more time to react. In Group 10, it is a faster-paced game.

What were some of your best memories with the Cargo Heelers?

There were many enjoyable moments and ups and downs during my time with the

Strange story of the “Hyperthermia Cup”

In what ways did you adapt your playing style after making the switch to Woodbridge Cup? So, back when I was playing with Hawks in Group 10, it was crucial to have high fitness levels. While I still work on keeping fit in the Woodbridge Cup seasons, I have mainly focused on becoming a versatile player.

Because players tend to get thrown in different positions during this competition, I have tried to learn new skills to help overcome this challenge; one week, I could play in the front row, and the other, I could be operating from the halves.

Over the last three years, Barnstoneworth United FC has run a one-off footballing event called the “Hyperthermia Cup”. As its name implies, it’s a friendly game between two Barnstoneworth teams, Denley Moor Academicals and Brighouse.

Brighouse convincingly in the over 35’s competition. So in the Hyperthermia Cup, we mixed up the teams to make the contest fairer and more competitive. Denley, however, still secured the cup for the second year running,” Michael said.

In your opinion, which competition is more difficult?

Both Group 10 Rugby League and the Woodbridge Cup have unique styles. The Woodbridge Cup can sometimes be brutal on the body but, in my opinion, Group 10 is still the highest standard of rugby league around here.

Created in 2019 by two Barnies legends, Murray McCloskey and Michael Lewis, this social contest has been about promoting a close bond between Denley Moor and Brighouse. Again implied in its name, this unique game, is ideally played in freezing conditions, Michael Lewis said.

Last year’s edition was a night game, the cup’s first contest in the dark. A perfect underdog effort by Brighouse finally ended Denley’s two-year dominance, giving Brighouse its first silverware success in the Hyperthermia Cup.

Last year, you played soccer in Orange on top of your Rugby League schedule. How was this experience?

Yeah, I used to play soccer as a kid. So I returned to the sport last year and thought I would give it a go with Orange CSU in the local Orange and District Football B-Grade. Physically, it was quite demanding. But I could stay healthy for both sports with a good training and recovery program. Though playing soccer again was strange, it didn’t take me long to get used to the style and enjoy myself.

How is the 2022 season with CSU Mungoes tracking so far?

We are currently in seventh place out of 12 teams on the ladder. The CSU Mungoes can play some exciting footy but, sometimes we just lack that consistency.

Our goal this season, is to make the topfive playoffs and see what happens from there. I’m also just coming back from a slight hand injury, so I am excited to get back in action and make a positive impact on my side’s push towards the latter stages of the season.

“In 2019, Murray McCloskey was running Brighouse, and I was running Denley with Dan Rumbold. So, we decided to organise a friendly cup game between Brighouse and Denley in a bye week, playing in freezing conditions. At this stage, we still opted to play during the daylight,” said Michael.

The Hyperthermia Cup silverware is a “City of Orange” snow globe mounted on top of a wooden plaque base, giving it a festive feel and keeping in line with the competition’s theme. In 2019, team Denley took the snow globe home after winning the inaugural Hyperthermia Cup. After this success, Denley would go on to beat their friendly Barnstoneworth rivals the following year, including in the local ODFA Over 35’s competition. This is where the idea of mixing players from each side came into play during this friendly cup tradition.

“In 2020, Denley had already beaten

ORANGE CITY LIFE | JULY 14 — 20, 2022

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“It’s about friendship, clubmates, and having fun in the cold”, Michael said. “Each Hyperthermia Cup participant ranks it as the best match of the season, and this is what football should be about. This social contest was also the catalyst for me to create the new Dog FC side in Orange.”

But this year, the traditional contest between Denley and Brighouse changed slightly. With Brighouse folding before the start of the 2022 season and numerous Barnies players absent for last Friday’s event, this provided the opportunity for Dog FC and a mixed team of other Barnstoneworth players to continue the Hyperthermia Cup tradition.

But, the mixed Barnies side took on the Brighouse name, also donning the green-and-white jerseys during the action. It was Brighouse who beat Dog FC 8-5 in last Friday night’s game, keeping the Hyperthermia Cup still within Barnstoneworth’s name.

AROUNDTHEGROUNDS with ANTHONY BARBAGALLO

BARRACKER THE

SEE ALL YOU FOOTBALL FANS AT THE WORLD CUP, IN… QATAR?!

Though it’s wonderful for the Australian Socceroos to — seemingly against all odds — gain one of the last places in this year’s World Cup, wouldn’t it have been great, if the event was being held in Australia?

The local Federation in 2010, with a fair smattering of Federal Government money, made a long-shot but very credible bid for the world’s biggest sporting event pitted against the United States, South Korea, Japan, and the eventual winner as host of this year’s tournament, Qatar.

Led by long-term football supporter and business dynamo Frank Lowy (of the Westfields Group), we seemed to have all our ducks lined up in a row with support from most major business groups and all levels of government in Australia.

Even the rival sporting codes in Australia (with the notable exception of the AFL) all pledged to adjust their competition timetables and venues to meet the exacting ground-surface standards required for top-flight football.

Yet at the end of the voting process, Australia’s multi-million dollar bid, had only garnered one vote, that of German football legend Franz Beckenbauer, a personal friend of Lowy.

While our time-zone differences, geographic isolation from the world’s football centres of Europe and South America, and relatively small population, all conspired against our efforts, to only receive one solitary vote for our tireless ($43 million) efforts, was a bitter pill.

To then see an oil-rich principality like Qatar beat out sporting superpowers like the US and Japan, gave rise to suspicions, that merit is not the only criteria for World Cup hosting rights selection.

Qatar is not only a tiny country of a few million for which its vast petrodollars seemed the main criteria for its success, it is not even a traditional football-loving nation.

For this, and due to its desert climate, stadiums have had to be constructed from scratch with hugely expensive cooling systems installed

to ensure that world-class footballers worth tens of millions of dollars to their club teams, don’t suffer heat stress.

The society is also run on strictly conservative Muslim moral codes with consumption of alcohol frowned upon, adultery a crime, and homosexuality outright banned.

For a sport that prides itself on its tolerance and commitment to the environment, the huge construction costs and carbon footprint in creating self-cooled stadia in a desert society opposed to modern societal norms, seems a little incongruous.

Qatar is also a serious, and notaltogether benign player, in the intricate, shifting, and sometimes bloody politics of the region that has rivalries, alliances, and ethnic and religious feuds, going back generations.

Which of itself seems to not disqualify countries from bidding for major sports events.

While the call to “keep politics out of sport” has been a desperate and seemingly reasonable plea from administrators for decades, life is never quite that simple.

Look at the infamous 1936 Olympics, the last for 12 years due to World War II, which Hitler turned into a giant, two-week-long Nazi rally?

Or the Russian tennis players, many of whom have publicly declared against the war in Ukraine, being banned from Wimbledon this year?

The “Black Power” salute by two American runners at the 1968 Olympic Games, the 1972 Munich Games massacre, and the protests and eventual banning of South African sporting teams during the Apartheid era — all have been political intrusions into sport.

As the ancient Greek political leader, Pericles, might have said: “Sport may not take an interest in politics, doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in sport.”

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Western Premier League: Round 14 action

sport@oclife.com.au

two sides. The Emus may be way off the pace from the top, but they still remain in third spot with 29 points.

Orange CYMS record first win of the season Orange CYMS have finally picked up their first victory of the 2022 season. A 45th-minute goal proved the difference in their gritty 1-0 win over Mudgee Wolves.

After losing 8-1 to Bathurst ‘75 in Round 12, the green-and-golds were desperate for a win in their encounter with the struggling Mudgee side. Some exceptional defending and composed finishing by Wayne Bennett before halftime secured all three points for the home side.

This victory also sees CYMS, thankfully and finally escape last place, and jump Macquarie United in the standings.

Tahs’ attack runs rampant against Macquarie United Waratahs bounced back with an 8-1 win over bottom-side Macquarie United on Saturday evening.

It was an emphatic return to their winning ways, especially after the Sky Blues lost to Barnies in the local derby several weeks ago. It’s fair to say that the dangerous Waratahs are back, with their attack causing havoc in the final third once again.

Barnies cruise past Orana Spurs Barnstoneworth’s season keeps going from strength to strength. The red-andwhites recorded their fourth consecutive win after beating Orana Spurs 3-0 on Sunday at Jack Brabham Park.

This most-recent victory propels Barnies back into fourth spot with 23 points, a point ahead of Dubbo Bulls.

Rugby League: Peter McDonald Premiership action Orange Hawks charge home to beat Parkes Spacemen Orange Hawks are back on the boards after pulling off a vital 26-12 win over the Parkes Spacemen on Sunday at Wade Park.

With the Hawks having struggled in recent weeks, this match-up with Parkes couldn’t have been of greater importance for the two-blue’s finals footy aspirations. The Hawks welcomed some key players back into the starting line-up, boosting their confidence going into this Group10/11 crossover fixture.

Through their improved defence and aggressive attack, the two-blues were starting to play some impressive footy since the beginning of the campaign.

As a result, the Hawks ran away with a 14-point win, keeping them alive in the top-four race.

Rugby Union: Blowes Cup first-grade action Dubbo Roos inflict further pain on winless Orange City Orange City travelled to the Orana region last weekend, leaving with a painful 54-12 loss at the hands of fourth-placed Dubbo Roos. The Lions are winless in 11 rounds, a frustrating streak they are desperate to end.

Bulldogs too strong for brave Emus fight The Bathurst Bulldogs had some extra juice in the tank to down a stern Emus side 28-13 on Saturday at Endeavour Oval.

While the Emus have been missing some key players over the last couple of weeks, the men in green have still come toe-to-toe with the competition’s top-

ORANGE CITY LIFE | JULY 14 — 20, 2022

Basketball: Spalding Waratah 2 Youth Men Round 14 action Orange Eagles edge out a thriller against Macarthur Heat Orange Eagles picked up their third consecutive win in Pool B of the Spalding Waratah 2 Youth Men League, taking down Macarthur Heat 90-87 in a nail-biting affair.

The Eagles’ attack has been getting stronger as the 2022 season has progressed, helping them overcome some tough opposition in recent weeks.

With this latest victory, the Eagles have climbed to sixth in the standings, still keeping their finals hopes intact.

SPORTSCAM

with HENRY DEROOY

Orange Hawks charge home to beat Parkes Spacemen Orange Hawks are back on the boards after pulling off a vital 26-12 win over the Parkes Spacemen on Sunday at Wade Park.

With the Hawks having struggled in recent weeks, this match-up with Parkes couldn’t have been of greater importance for the two-blue’s finals footy aspirations. The Hawks welcomed some key players back into the starting line-up, boosting their confidence going into this Group10/11 crossover fixture.

Through their improved defence and aggressive attack, the two-blues were starting to play some impressive footy since the beginning of the campaign. As a result, the Hawks ran away with a 14-point win, keeping them alive in the top-four race.

ORANGE CITY LIFE | JULY 14 — 20, 2022

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SPORTSCAM

with STEVE COWLEY

A tough round in Dubbo for Orange City Orange City travelled to the Dubbo on the weekend, where the Fourthplaced Dubbo Roos proved too strong for the Lions who were defeated 54-12.

The Orange City’s Women’s squad also fell victim to the Roos, with the final score 41-5.

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ORANGE CITY LIFE | JULY 14 — 20, 2022

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