Sport ‘can help divert our young offenders’

A FAR Northern sports boss believes insurance companies should pump funding into sports programs aimed at juvenile offenders to help stop the damage the insurers are forced to pay for.

Fourteen children, aged from 11-15, have been charged over the past fortnight for vandalising two sports clubs at Edmonton and Gordonvale.

AFL club Pyramid Power Tweeddale said flying foxes were falling out of trees after last year’s heatwave and this year’s flooding.

“This is more of a starvation event than a heatwave-driven event,” she said. had an estimated damage bill of $100,000 while the Walker Rd sporting facility, which is home to soccer, cricket, baseball and softball, will likely cost $20,000 to repair.

Today marks a year since football clubs joined forces to host the Streets to Sports fun run event in an effort to get kids off the streets and into sport.

FNQ Football general manager Matt Kelso said sport was a well known vehicle for diverting juvenile offenders, but

“Usually, we see the bats come down at 41C … but they’re still recovering from the heatwave, the flood and this heatwave.”

Ms Tweeddale said carers were nursing about 15 bats that getting results required longevity and, therefore, longterm funding.

“They can be a bit hit and miss – they work for a while, but as soon as the money’s not there (the kids) revert back to their old behaviours,” he said.

“A lot of it is put back on volunteers so sustainability is a challenge.

“Government does contribute but can insurance companies who have to pay out, can councils, can businesses all work together? We need to cooperate had fallen from trees back to health, but 20 others had died.

Tropical Public Health Services Cairns’ director Dr Richard Gair said 10 people had been treated for bat bites or scratches so far this year. better so there’s sustainability, there’s legacy and there’s development of these kids who are doing these things.”

Gordonvale State High School youth support co-ordinator Rob Hodge, who organised the Streets to Sports event last year, said he was now working on a new program linking disengaged youth with the Gordonvale Men’s Shed.

He said youths were helping refurbish items such as furniture,

“They can bite through towels and even leather gloves so please leave it to the trained bat carers,” he said. white goods and bicycles, before giving them back to the community.

“If that gets runs on the board ... we’d look at expanding it to a rugby league club where these boys could play footy somewhere they may otherwise have been banned from,” he said.

Police said investigations into both club vandalisms had been completed and the youths would be dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act.