JUNIOR SPORT LIFTOUT
PICTURES AND RESULTS INSIDE
GEELONG’S gaelic football club has broken through the triple-figure barrier with junior numbers in its first season running the underage program.
About 110 kids have signed up to the Gaels Grasshoppers program, which has been running for the past six weeks.
“We’ve got about 110 kids registered from ages seven to 15 and we’re averaging 70 of these kids every Sunday,” Geelong Gaels president John Reaney said. “They’re amazing, fantastic numbers. This is our first attempt at it.
“We’re obviously looking to keep this going for the next few years.
“We’ll probably finish in the next couple of weeks before Christmas and then get back into it in the New Year.”
Meanwhile, gaelic footballers from across the country will descend on Geelong this Saturday for the second annual Australasian Regional Championships.
Teams from Melbourne and Christian College will take on the Gaels Grasshoppers, before Geelong’s men attempt to defend their title won in Tasmania last year against teams from Adelaide, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
Geelong will also field its first ever women’s gaelic team.
“We’re expecting 120 adults playing in the men’s and women’s after the juniors,” Reaney said.
“It’s our first attempt at our ladies team; our major goal is to kick off the ladies team, so hopefully they’re all keen and we can enter a team into the Victorian League (starting February) next year.
“We’ve already struck up a great relationship with the Geelong West Giants so the majority of girls are from the Giants.
“Maybe only four of the 14 girls on the team are Irish, so it’s amazing.”
The action starts at 8am at Stead Park, Corio on Sunday.