New Junior
League Competition

The Jimboomba area will have its own junior rugby league competition in 2004 and local hero?s Corey Parker and Andrew Gee will be the Ambassadors. The new club and competition will kick off with a public meeting and family fun day on Sunday 12th October at Hills International School playing fields from 10.00am.

The Queensland Rugby league Southern Division in conjunction with the Australian Rugby League Foundation, Brisbane Broncos and local residents have set about establishing a new junior rugby league club and competition for the area in time for the 2004 winter sports season.

?The aim is to provide local girls and boys with an opportunity to play the extremely safe ?Mini Footy? version of the game within close proximity to home each weekend? local school teacher and driving force behind the competition Greg Driese said.

?We are initially looking to start with kids in the 5-10 year old age brackets and hope to get enough players to form three grades of competition. Whilst it will be a localised competition we also aim to be involved in visits to other clubs and areas every 4-5 weeks for variety?.

Driese said the ?The QRL are really eager to see the game move forward in our area and is right behind what we are doing. They are providing plenty of support and resources to ensure the club and the new competitions kick off for next year.?

Whilst some may think that the potential player pool to be too small to get it going QRL Southern Division Executive Officer Troy Morton disagrees ?I think there are plenty of parents out there who would love to have their sons & daughters playing and training within their own area each week. The old system of travelling all over the country side to play junior sport does not have long term future as travel costs increase and non physical leisure time pursuits become more prevalent. We will provide parents and kids with a fun, safe and well organised junior sport experience within their own area each weekend and I have no doubt parents will appreciate it?.

A similar system was trialled in Kyogle (northern NSW ? population 3900) during 2003 with the area experiencing a massive boost in numbers in these age groups enabling individual competitions to be formed and played in the town each weekend. The concept provided junior league with many positives in Kyogle other than the increased numbers including greater parental interaction within the club, increased revenue from canteen facilities and higher rates of volunteerism.

The new competition will closely follow the QRL Southern Division ?Junior League Just For The Fun Of It? program which aims to educate parents, players, coaches and spectators on the importance of appropriate behaviour at junior league fixtures, make the child?s sporting experience more fun for both the child and parent and to provide parents with greater value for money.

Junior League Just For The Fun Of It was introduced in 2003 and includes:

?gradual introduction of rules over first 8-10 weeks for under 7 & 8?s

?humanising referees ? ?meet the ref? and game debriefings

?a parent information package explaining rules, their implementation and the difference between junior league and televised NRL matches

.parent information sessions at fixtures

?extended matches each weekend to give players more time on field

?standard Code of Conduct

For more information contact Troy Morton (0412008669) or Greg Driese on 55460214 / 0416104004.