By STEVE MENZIES
It was a special time at the Pat Gallagher Netball Centre on Friday night and Saturday.
The Alice Springs Netball Association celebrated 50 years of the sport being played in the town.
Players and officials past, present and future gathered for the unveiling of the history of the sport.
This included an honour wall trophy cabinet, history banner plus pictures and stories from the clubs.
ASNA president John Gaynor said that the display was “an enduring acknowledgement of the proud ASNA history”.
He thanked everyone who had contributed to event especially Robyn Donnelly and her sub-committee.
Others included ASNA manager Jay Scott-Hunter, Saint Philip’s College and the Alice Springs Hospital Drovers.
Saturday was game day with a full program of games including some a couple of exhibitions, highlighted by a replay of the 2020 KFC A-Grade grand final for the inaugural Mayoral Cup between premier Federal Club Eastside and Rovers Complete Construction.
The game was to showcase the talent of the players in the town.
It was everything it was meant to be with the ball zipping around the court.
Rovers took the early advantage and led by eight goals at quarter time.
But Federal lifted and the remainder of the game was virtually goal-for-goal with Rovers running out 53-47 victors.
While the new Rovers shooting combination of Wendy Stafford (30 goals) and Molly Southam (23) were impressive, coach Leanne Southam stressed that it took seven players to make a team.
“It was a whole team effort and they all played well,” she said.
“Wendy and Molly are different in the attack and combined well.
“But we had to get the ball into them and the centre court and defence players did well.
“While it was nice to win another cup, it was really just another game in a long season.
“The important game to win is in September.”
There were good performances in the 17-and-under Division 1 where Federal Red and Giants Bark’n’Bath both scored more than 50 goals to show there are good players coming through for the future.
The 50-year celebration wound down with a dinner on Saturday where the full gathering exchanged more tales of the days gone by.
Steve. What a great report on the netball. And great to see you reporting on sport. Not that I’m a great sport follower. But I know you did an “Amazing” job in sports reporting with the Advocate. Great. Keep it up.