Penalty ends Army’s run at nationals
Volume 11, No. 57, November 30, 2006
By Barry Rollings

Head for football: Sgt Paul Fleming in action against the NSW police team. Photo by Bill Cunneen

THE FINAL LADDER Men: Army 5 b NSWES 1, Air Force 5 b Navy 0, Air Force 1 drew with NSWES 1, Army 3 b Navy 0, Navy 2 drew with NSWES 2, Air Force 1 b Army 0. Women: Army 7 b NSW Emergency Services 0, Navy 4 b Air Force 2, RNZDF 4 b Army 1, Air Force 3 b NSWES 0 (on forfeit), Navy 3 b RNZDF 1, RNZDF 0 drew with NSWES 0, Navy 1 b Army 0, Air Force 4 b RNZDF 1, Navy 6 b NSWES 0, Army 3 b Air Force 0. OVER-30s: RAAF 2 b Army 1, Navy 3 b Army 2; Air Force 9 b Navy 3, ADF 5 b NSWES 1. Representative: ADF women 3 b RNZDF 0; Northern Tigers 3 b ADFFF men 0.

SERIOUS PLAYERS Players of the series: Men, LCpl Samuel Clarke; women, Erica Clementson, RNZDF; over-30s, Cpl Andy King (Air Force). Golden goal awards: Men, Cpl Geoff Gillard (Air Force); women, LACW Caryn Addie (RAAF Townsville); over-30s, WO Kevin Dolan (Army, Townsville). 0

ARMY personnel garnered two individual awards as Army men were left to ponder a costly 1-0 loss to Air Force at the ADF Football Federation’s (ADFFF’s) national championships from October 28 to November 3 in Sydney.

Air Force dominated with two titles and three individual awards at the Melita Eagles Stadium in Parramatta but not before a fierce battle with the Army men.

Air Force men took the inter-ervice cup and were named overall carnival winners and also won the over-30s crown, the Patron’s Shield, named in honour of the federation’s patron, the Deputy Chief of Joint Operations, RADM Rowan Moffitt.

The men’s game was played at an intense pace and was extremely physical, with the skills on both sides evenly matched until a penalty decision was converted by Air Force to seal the crown.

About 200 players and spectators attend each day of the titles, where Navy women won the inter-service cup and were declared overall carnival winners.

LCpl Samuel Clarke was named the men’s player of the series, while Sgt Kevin Dolan, of Townsville, landed the golden goal in the over-30s event.

ADFFF won the Test match against the Royal New Zealand Defence Force (RNZDF) in another outstanding encounter where the 3-0 score did not reflect the close, tight game. Both played very well, with NZ raising the bar with their tight marking of ADFFF opponents.

The Tasman Cup has been inaugurated for future matches between the ADFFF women and the RNZDF counterparts.

The ADFFF also has selected the core of its representative teams for its Asian tour in March based on efforts at the nationals.

The ADFFF men’s and women’s teams will tour Singapore, China and Malaysia for one-off games against their militaries.

The core players for squads of 18 players for the Asian tour have been selected, but those who could not make national or were overseas will still have a chance to make the team.

Positions in both squads are still available. A selection camp to fill those remaining positions will be held at Randwick in late January, most likely the Australia Day long weekend.

ADFFF men and women also will contest the Arafura Games in Darwin in May. ADFFF over-35s will hold selection trials for the Masters Games in Queensland with the prospect of touring to International Masters and over-35s competitions in Phuket in Thailand in October.

ADFFF president Leut-Cmdr Paul Denneny was pleased with the response to the inclusion of the over-30s section of the tournament this year and his organisation will look to that competition expanding to be an over-35s competition next year.