A Grade: 2015 Premiers

A message from the President:

Now that the dust has settled, I can now gather my thoughts on the last few weeks and begin to acknowledge the work of our members in making the A Grade Grand Final event such a huge success.

At a committee meeting prior to the A Grade Semi Finals, the opportunity of hosting the Grand Final was discussed, should we be successful in defeating Noosa in the first final. There were no illusions that it would require a monumental effort to make this event happen, and the general consensus was that it would be too much for us to manage as well as a costly one when it come to fencing the event as well as the other costs that go along with it, and to be unsure of how this would result for the club financially.

I was not happy to pass up the opportunity to host the Grand Final if we were given the chance, so did a lot of work with Blake McMillan to figure out how we could keep costs to a minimum in order to make it a viable proposition.

The days leading up to the Semi Final I confirmed to SCRU that should we be successful in the Semi, then we would host the Grand Final. What a great moment when Noosa were defeated by Our boys in the dying minutes of the game to progress straight through to the Grand Final, which would now host on our turf.

I was very quickly given a check list from Blake for the organising, a number of our Senior group as well as some involved more with the Juniors went to work and made it happen. I must say it was probably the busiest 2 weeks of my life to get this done, but without the help we had it would never have happened. We don’t usually think there is that much to organise, but behind the scenes it is a massive job to get everything to happen at the one time and to make it OUR event.

During this time, Steve Scotland was busy preparing his team for a massive challenge in defeating Noosa again. He was also helping drive the volunteers to get everything done for the day.

The day prior to the event saw a huge roll out of our volunteers at the fields from lunch time right through to the night and had to use the field lights to continue set up. What a magnificent job they all did to prepare for what was about to unfold.

In the mean time Rob Barrett was rallying the Juniors to be at the event and to be a part of the clubs history on the day. Organising this in itself was a huge task.

On the completion of our A Grade’s warm up on field 2, they walked back to the dressing sheds through a sea of Juniors mobbing them like rock stars, but also there with the Juniors was Aiden McComisky who was allowed to leave Lady Cilento hospital in Brisbane to cheer on his own U13 team in the Semi Final earlier that day as well as come and support his A Grade side in the GF.

Then after the final pre game talks, the team took the hands of all our Juniors to lead them onto the field to share the moment with these young kids and make them all a part of it, through a tunnell of not only Green, but all the Caloundra team that had just defeated Noosa in Reserve Grade. To see our club united standing before the club was truly the best moment for me as President, and to sing the National Anthem with the club before me was truly amazing.

Noosa had already been beaten.

What we all then witnessed was a team that were very well prepared, and no doubt full of emotion, literally tore the Noosa team to pieces. The game we played was simply brilliant and we could do no wrong. To win the game the way they did is inspirational, and to share this with our Junior community they way it was, really is something this club can be proud of.

To all the Juniors, you were out there with the players on the field that day, on the chest emblem that says USC Barbarians Rugby Club. You helped to drive them and you all need to be very proud of what this team achieved that day because you all contributed.

What a fairytale ending for those players that are now hanging up their boots, and also to Steve Scotland who has been a fantastic coach and leader for this group of men. Well done on the achievements of you all.

I need to acknowledge so many people for their contribution, but am unable to name you all individually, you know who you are. Thankyou.

We all need to turn our focus now to our U12 team that have been successful in securing a Grand Final place this Sunday at Sunshine Coast Stadium – kick-off 8am. This is our only Junior team that will be playing on Sunday and it is very important that we all get there to support them just like we all did for our Seniors. These boys are coached by a founding member of our club Darryl Tineti, and he has done a magnificent job getting them to where they are today. Please be there to support them.

Our Rugby season is almost finished, but I would really like to thank everyone for a magnificent year, and really hope to see every one of you back next season, which is our club’s 20th year. There will be a lot going on next year around our 20th year celebrations, and I really look forward to sharing that with you all.

Again, Thankyou for helping make this year a special one for the club.

Phil Knight

President

USC Barbarians Rugby Club