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Tuesday, 22 January 2008
The U14 National Championships that were meant to be held in early January were unfortunately cancelled. The weather in northern NSW did not allow the boys to even throw a pitch.
Doncaster had 6 representatives on the two Victorian teams, Daniel McGrath, Ryan Lea, Baden Smith, Andrew Reeves, Mitchell Ellis and Lewis Thorpe. What a disappointment for our boys. They trained so hard over the past 6 months and went through the selection process and did not get the chance of representing their State at the Nationals. See photos below of the ground they were meant to play on in Lismore.
The ABF is currently trying to organize another tournament and the new CEO, John May has sent out a proposal to the various states, looking for their feedback. We will be looking for sponsors to assist with the rescheduled tournament. The parents have already paid a significant amount of money and because the boys were actually flown up to Lismore (only to sit in a hotel room for 4 days), there is not much money left to help fund another tournament. It is estimated that the parents of the 128 players have already spent in excess of $500,000.
If any of you know of someone that would be interested in sponsoring the event, please contact Dale McGrath. The tournament will probably be held in Victoria or NSW to ease the travel costs. There are 128 kids from all over the country that will participate in the tournament – so the sponsors would get some great coverage. The ABF is costing out the tournament – but we welcome sponsors from all amounts. We hope the ABF will have a more firm proposal by the end of the week to present to potential sponsors.
Dale McGrath
(H) 9846 3341
(M) 0408 564 866
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