Northern triumph

FLGOFF Jordan Coates, of the the Northern NSW team, brings his foot up to the ball as CPL Jay Moriarty, of the South Australia team, moves to smother it. Looking on are FLTLT Paul Rutherford, SGT Paul Bonner and LAC Geoff Gillard.

Photo by AB Yuri Ramsey

LAC Amied Shadmann, of Northern NSW, keeps his balance on one leg against South Australian CPL Nick McKenzie.

NORTHERN NSW has won the inaugural RAAF National Men’s Soccer Carnival.

The championship decider between Northern NSW and South Australia up until half-time was a nil-all affair. Northern NSW finally made a difference on the scoreboard after the break when Flight Lieutenant Troy Anderson broke the deadlock. The team went on to beat a gallant South Australia 5-0.

The best game of the tournament was left until the last day when Queensland battled South Australia for the runner-up position. It was a great game with plenty of skill.

Queensland took the early lead. They held on to it until one of their players was sent off for handling the ball on the line. Although the penalty was missed, it meant Queensland had to play 60 minutes with only 10 players.

South Australia soon equalised and, despite chances for both sides, the match finished level at 1-1. South Australia was declared the runner-up because it had scored more goals in the tournament.

One-sided games featured throughout the week of competition. In the opening game between South Australia and NSW, South Australia were up 5-0 by half-time. They faced a more spirited effort from NSW in the second-half, before winning 7-2. Corporal Wayne Orchard scored four goals in the match.

The second game pitted Queensland and Northern NSW and it was the latter that took control early with two first-half goals from Leading Aircraftman Geoff Gillard before the score was doubled in the second half, 4-0.

Northern NSW, the eventual competition winners, crushed their NSW metro counterparts 6-0. Queensland finished metro NSW’s campaign with a 5-1 win, despite NSW taking the lead early in the first-half and then having a goal disallowed.

The player of the tournament was LAC Gillard. CPL Orchard won the Golden Boot for the most goals in the tournament. Flying Officer Anthony Lee refereed the games.

The Air Force national men’s team announced after the tournament was LAC Gillard, CPL Orchard, Corporal Tony Law, Leading Aircraftman Steven Lowe, Leading Aircraftman Amied Shadmaan, Leading Aircraftman Mark Sweeney, Leading Aircraftman Joseph Slater, Flight Lieutenant Troy Anderson, Flying Officer Jordan Coates, Sergeant Matt Stacey, Sergeant Paul Bonnar, Leading Aircraftman Bradley Moore, Corporal Michael Krollig, Leading Aircraftman Andrew Hall, Leading Aircraftman Ryan Hodges and Flight Lieutenant Matthew Nunn. As reported in the last edition of Air Force News, the side lost to Navy in the finals of the nationals, 2-1.

.