Polocrosse carnival in Narrabri

All roads led to Narrabri on the weekend for polocrosse players from the district and across Australia, plus teams from New Zealand and South Africa.

The occasion was the annual Narrabri Polocrosse Carnival with the under 21 Trans-Tasman Challenge and junior and under 16 competitions on the agenda.

The big event hosted by Narrabri Polocrosse Club saw 70 teams comprising 420 players take the field for two days of competition including games under lights on Saturday night. The venue was the nine polocrosse field complex at Narrabri Showground.

The successful event again confirmed Narrabri’s centrality for major events and its polocrosse fields as among the best in country Australia.

President of the sport’s national body, Polocrosse Australia, Mick Templeton was impressed and paid tribute to the Narrabri Polocrosse Club’s initiative in staging the event.

“The potential at Narrabri is fantastic,” he said. “Narrabri has the proven capability of being a major Eastern Australia polocrosse competition venue alongside Warwick,” Mr Templeton said.

“And apart from the great benefits to the sport, the economic flow on to a regional centre like Narrabri is significant – some 1500 to 2000 people, the players, their family members and friends have passed through over the duration of the carnival.”

The weekend’s polocrosse carnival in Narrabri brought a vital and strong focus on to junior players, the president of polocrosse Australia Mick Templeton said.

“This Narrabri polocrosse initiative to develop the juniors is great.

“The juniors’ tournament is going from strength to strength.

“It is developing the juniors, who are the future of the sport.

“Hats off to Narrabri for this initiative”.

Mr Templeton emphasised the benefits to the local economy the Narrabri tournaments bring.

“It is bringing revenue to the town.

“Narrabri Shire Council has recognised this and supported this tournament with a $10,000 investment in infrastructure at the ground,” he said.

“The potential for this level of tournament in Narrabri is massive.

“The ground lends itself to major competition events – we can play up to nine fields concurrently and run through a major tournament in a short time. To have a venue like this is fantastic,” Mr Templeton said.

“The facilities are comparable to Warwick,” he added.

“The opportunities for the sport and Narrabri are endless.”

Participants at the weekend’s polocrosse carnival echoed Mr Templeton’s comments.

“Warwick is a well established polocrosse centre at the northern end and Narrabri sits nicely further south to host big tournaments,” one commented to The Courier.