Sports report
Provided by Peter Todd (Director of Activities - St Joseph's Nudgee College)

Story Added : July 2006

Some idea of the intensity of the sporting and cultural activities program is provided by this description of the week at Nudgee which led up to the Round 1 clash with ‘Churchie’. Peter Todd described it as follows:-

What a week this was. It was a short one but we ran an Interhouse Cross Country, held a GPS Invitational Cross Country Meet, GPS Music Day took place, GPS Sailing was hosted at TSS and we had staff and boys in Rockhampton for Beef Week 2006. We had our Soccer Dinner, a winter Spirit Launch in the grandstand and our First XV, XI and IV were presented at a special assembly and played their first round of competition. Over 900 boys are involved in Rugby, Football, Chess, Preseason Gymnastics and Cross Country in our GPS program. The report which follows gives brief accounts of some of the activities – most highly successful which occurred during this term.

Rugby & Football
The first round of competition was against ‘Churchie’ and was an away game. In Rugby we competed in almost 30 matches. We hoped to win up to 60% of these matches. However, we won 80% of them including a courageous comeback in the First XV to win 21-17.

Likewise in Football, a successful day followed the Presentation Dinner the night before. We won 8 from 10 games and our young First XI won 2-1.

Rugby and Football
A wonderful day against traditional, friendly rivals, Gregory Terrace saw us win 18 from 28 matches. It was a struggle in Yr 8 with perhaps Terrace’s Primary School Rugby Program seeing them have the wood on us in Year 8 Rugby. However, after the U/13s we very much dominated the day particularly in U/16s and Open where we won every match. Our First XV won a nail biting match 24-23. It was a day played in wonderful spirit overall.

Chess
The Gregory Terrace Chess clash produced excellent and very close competition. The Premiers and the Open A team each won (3-1) and the Senior teams drew and the Open B lost (1-3).

Cross Country
Nineteen Nudgee athletes attended the round two competition of the GPS Cross Country Shield held at ‘Churchie’. The team was led by a powerful display of running by the Open age group who totally dominated the event. U/15s, U/16s and U/14s performed well but if Nudgee is to successfully defend its GPS crown this year, more is needed from the U/13s. Round three will take place next, hosted by Gregory Terrace.
Week Ending May 20 [B.S.H.S]

Rugby and Football
When you play BSHS you know that their A teams in particular and Firsts will be very strong. This was the case this year. Nudgee dominated the day overall in Rugby but our courageous First team went down in a nail biter. With the scores locked at 17-11 in BSHS favour, Nudgee maul pushed over the line near the posts. The ref called ‘held up’ and blew full time.

In Football, BSHS dominated the day overall, but our First XI played above themselves to go down 1 nil. It was a great day with excellent competitive spirit being displayed.

Chess
This was characterized by fierce competition particularly for the Premier and Senior teams. The Premier team won (21/2- 1/12) and the senior team played a draw. Unfortunately, the other teams lost but our players fought very hard and deserve congratulations for the spirit in which they played.

Rodeo Club
A special mention is presented of an activity uniquely part of the Nudgee program. The Rodeo Club -the boys from the bush - headed out to the Brookfield Show on May 19 for the show rodeo in which they participated. Prior to Brookfield the boys had competed at the Samford Rodeo. Some tough stock however ensured their rides finished before the eight seconds. Just before Easter the boys travelled to Toowoomba for the Junior Show Rodeo. Here a number of Year 8 students joined the more experienced riders and all acquitted
themselves well.

Rugby and Football
On June 3, Nudgee played IGS in 17 rugby matches, winning all of them. It was a dominant day with the highlight a strong win against IGS First XV 27-10. Previously IGS had been undefeated. That meant that IGS, BSHS and NC had to that point in the season sustained one loss each and were on top of the table. NC has played all of the top teams while the others have to play each other before seasons end.

In Football IGS were dominant. We were only successful in one match on the day despite scores being quite close. Coaching Co-ordinator, Paul Edwards said the scores were a shame as our lads played some of the best football of the season and he is happy with our overall development and style of play. IGS were just too good.

Chess
On Friday June 2, Nudgee hosted Ipswich Grammar School. The evening was quite successful as we won three games out of five. The Premier, the Senior and the Open A teams won [4-0]. We must congratulate all the players in these teams. The Junior and the Open B teams lost [11⁄2 -21⁄2 ]. A chess player who deserves congratulations is Jo Kanai as he has won all his games since the beginning of the season. Well done!

GPS Cross Country Championships
On May 31, Round 4 of the G.P.S. X-Country Shield competition was held at the Minnippi Parklands, B.S.H.S. A pleasing number of Nudgee athletes made the effort to come and compete at the event. The thirty- six athletes were putting their best foot forward to help maintain the push by the Nudgee team to defend the G.P.S. title won last year. This title defence is now only 8 weeks away.

Rugby and Football
If you saw the controversial Super 14 final between Canterbury and Hurricanes played under a cloud of fog in which the crowd couldn’t see the field – well that is what conditions were like in Toowoomba. It was quite eerie.

However, despite the tough conditions Nudgee dominated the day in both codes. We won 17 from 21 matches in rugby and in Football we won 9 and drew 2. A wonderful set of results given it is always tough up ‘on the mountain’. Our First XI won 2 nil after two early goals and our rugby Firsts XV were probably ultimately lucky to come with a 10-9 decision.

Chess
On June 9, Nudgee went to T.G.S. for Round 6. The games were very interesting to watch as the players were equally matched. However, we only had two winning teams: the Senior and the Open A teams winning [21⁄2 - 11⁄2] and [3-1] respectively. We also had one draw - the Open B Team; and unfortunately the Premier and the Junior Teams lost [3-1] and [21⁄2-11⁄2] respectively.

The chess player who deserves great applause is Daniel Lumby from the Senior Team who like Jo Kanai has won all his games since the beginning of the season. Well done!

Rugby and Football
It was a beautiful day at Southport and very successful one in rugby and football. We played 35 matches in rugby on Saturday, 22 against TSS. In those matches we won 16, drew 3 and lost 3. Our 80% winning record continues.

In the First XV we were dominated by an excellent TSS forward pack and they ran away with the game 29-12. In Football we put out 14 teams and played TSS in six games. We won five of those including an 11-1 win the 13/As and our First XI won 3 nil. We look forward to a break in play to rejuvenate before our final two rounds against BGS and BBC. Just to inform people in advance, the rugby round v BBC will be a split round with games at Nudgee and BBC. This is because the grounds at Toowong High School which BBC usually uses are out due to redevelopment.

Chess
On June 16, Nudgee played their last games of Term 1 against TSS. The results were as follows:
Premier (2-2), Junior (1-3), Senior (21⁄2 -11⁄2), Open A (1-3), Open B (1-3).

Cross Country
Cross Country training continues as normal but it has been punctuated by the Metropolitan North Trials and also the Queensland All Schools Cross Country Championships.

The Nudgee team went to the 2006 Met. North trials as the defending boys school Northside Champions. The thirty-five athletes who represented Nudgee in this years championships were able to repeat last years achievement in a decisive way with three age group team wins in U/16s, U/17s and U/19s and three second places for the U/13s, U/14s and U/15s teams. This was a great result in the face of some intense competition from the Gregory Terrace and Brisbane Grammar teams.

Overall Nudgee had 13 runners selected into the Met.North team and one other reserve. To be chosen into
the team, athletes had to finish in the top six places in their respective events. Special congratulations must go to the athletes Jamie Laverty, Josh Amberger and Nick Toohey who won their events on the day, which is a notable achievement.

  1. We have the most teams in G.P.S.
  2. We have the best win/ loss record in G.P.S. - winning percentage in G.P.S. matches in the high 70%.
  3. Our First XV are top of the table with BSHS and IGS - they have to play each other.
  4. We have had very few send offs given 600 players - fewer than 10 in over 200 matches played.
  5. We have 2 boys who have started their student - ref journey with Paul Daly.
  6. A number of staff are reffing each week.
  7. We have good support despite it being the quiet year in terms of our home-away games.
  8. We have had no unsavory incidents this season.
  9. 95% of teams have had 100% of matches despite playing 2 schools who have half as many teams as us.
  10. We are going on our first tour in 25 years - see story in ‘Nudgee Stories’

As a very successful Semester 1 draws to a close, can I draw Old Boys’ attention to Nudgee’s Activities in Semester 2.

  • Africa Rugby Tour 29th June – 14th July
  • GPS Cross-Country Saturday 5th August
  • Interhouse Athletics 18th August

In August, Spring Activities Commence. These include:-

  • Non GPS AFL
  • NonGPS U15 Rugby League
  • Non GPS Touch
  • Tennis
  • Basketball
  • Athletics
  • Gymnastics warm up meets
  • Cattle Club at Ekka and Theatre sports.

Like the old Barne Auto Advertisement said - Nudgee Never Sleeps.