Narrabri Junior Soccer hosts 2021 Graeme Sunderland Memorial Carnival

Narrabri Junior Soccer’s annual carnival will be forever known as the Graeme Sunderland Memorial Carnival, in honour of the late Sunderland who sadly died last year.

Sunderland was one of the driving forces behind Narrabri Junior Soccer for the 15 years he spent on the committee.

He held many different positions, including president for seven of those 15 years, and he was also a well-respected coach and referee.

Current Narrabri Junior Soccer president Danny Laws told The Courier that is was an honour to work alongside Sunderland on the committee and said that it was fitting that the carnival would always be played in his memory.

“It was our first carnival without Graeme after his passing 12 months ago,” Laws said.

“We decided to name the carnival after him to honour his contribution to Narrabri Junior Soccer during the 15 plus years he was there.

“It was an honour to work alongside Graeme and I just hope we ran this year’s carnival as well as he would have done it.

“It’s special to our committee and a lot of people involved in junior soccer that the carnival is now played in his memory.”

Sixty-six teams entered to compete at the carnival but four of those pulled out so 62 played across the day, with more than 400 players in action at Gately Fields on Sunday.

Laws said that he thought the carnival ran smoothly.

“Times are obviously uncertain at the moment but we followed all of the guidelines, COVID protocols and our COVID-safe plan to run the carnival safely,” Laws said.

“It ran smoothly and there were no complaints.

“For most of the committee it was their first or second time running a carnival, or being involved in a lot more duties at a carnival.

“It was a learning curve for us all but it was a real credit to them how well it went.”

Laws said that he was impressed with the attitudes and skill level of the juniors who competed at the carnival across the day.

“All games were played in great spirits and were very competitive across all age groups,” he said.

There were nine age groups at the carnival and 15 Narrabri teams competed across those.

Teams also came from Wee Waa, Moree, Gunnedah, Inverell, Quirindi, Coonabarabran, and Tamworth to compete.

The home club finished runners-up in three age groups – in under-7s, under-9s and under-14-16s.

Laws congratulated those three sides, and added that he was proud of all 15 Narrabri sides for the way they conducted themselves on the day.