Eagle Stadium hosted the inaugural African Netball Challenge Cup on Sunday, March 9, as the West Eagles and East Stallions competed valiantly in the name of good will and collaboration.
In front of more than 150 families supporting from the stands, players from the South Sudanese communities of the western suburbs and south eastern suburbs played two games to decide who would be the first to score bragging rights.
The Challenge Cup was born from South Sudanese players in the Wyndham Netball Association, collaborating with Junubi Wyndham and the Wyndham Victory Netball Club to promote netball as a positive and supportive space for females.
The junior match was won by West Eagles Black 8 to 6 on the back of a last quarter comeback.
President of Wyndham Victory Netball Phil Morley said the standard of the juniors impressed coaches.
“Many of the kids had not participated in netball until training commenced eight weeks ago, so the coaches were just as excited as the players with the end result,” he said.
While the main match also was a win for the West Eagles, with a commanding 43-24 scoreline, the real victory was the friendships made and barriers broken.
Held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, the event organisers hoped that a positive showcase would boost sporting engagement for girls in the community across future years.
During the presentations, manager of Junubi Wyndham Poly Kiyaga and Phil Morley, made a commitment to work together to open up more opportunities for South Sudanese girls to get involved in netball.
Both teams are committed to making the African Netball Challenge an annual event to showcase their community through the sport of netball.
Jaidyn Kennedy
