21/11/2024
Well the sun has set on another year of the Boot!
Another fantastic day made all the while better with good spirits, great comradery and the perfect mix of rain and sunshine.
The carnival kicked off in great style on Tuesday night at the newly opened Bidgee Hotel. Great tunes matched equally with Booters taking to the dancefloor until the calls for 'one more song' fell on deaf ears and all were quickly ushered out on to the very moist East Street and home to bed (for some).
Wednesday morning saw all greeted with grey skies and light precipitation and the usual messages of "is the Golden Boot still on". The naysayers nayed, but in all my time there has never been a Boot cancelled as a result of the stuff falling from the sky. As sure as the 'bidgee flows through Narrandera, the sun came out and so did the humid conditions we have become accustomed to over many years.
Games were played under the watchful eye of the Golden Boot Patron Douglas Kristian looking for and adjudicating on teams who played in the spirit of what the day is intended for. Early on the Griffith and local Eastern Cluster teams were identified as meeting the criteria for the Nyholm Spirit Award, and awarded free passage to the quarter finals.
The lunch break saw the traditional mascots race with the Canobolas Thunder gnome take the honours. A mascots game then followed along the lines of people vs animals. Warren the Wookie was a standout taking the hard carries. Chicken Little was solid in defence, albeit getting a little high on occasions. The Pink Fairy seemed confused about where they should be and Fireman Sam led from the front.
Finals time saw some close matches and ultimately the local NDA's Most Wanted up against crowd favourites, the Wagga Wookies. Unfortunately for the Wookies in the second consecutive year, they fell short in the final.
Well done to Malek and his crew - the first non service team to drink from the Boot, albeit only four of you were eligible to!
Although team numbers were down on the previous year, Wednesday night was another cracker....thanks again to Aaron Oldaker's Live Music for keeping us entertained and the Narrandera Imperial Football - Netball Senior and Junior Club for keeping us hydrated.
Marty and Jeff from Police Association of NSW and Boyd at Police Bank for their continued sponsorship and recognition of the importance this day has for many people in and our of this job.
Pleased to report with everyones effort $12,500 was raised which will go a long way to helping young James and his family on his road to recovery.
A couple of thank you's for the day:
- Dean and the PTI's from NSW PCOS, not many injuries this year will be attributed to the warm up that went for longer than the trip to Narrandera.
- Abby and Active Health Riverina for supporting us with treatments and strapping for those used the service
- Loz, Mila and Ivie for helping in the canteen and selling all the raffle tickets
- Anyone who refereed, its a tough gig and one no one wants to do.
- My good mates Adam Levo the Prince of Narrandera for coordinating everything local and Tom Karey for making the trip down and helping out as needed.
- And finally Douglas Kristian - we got you down here against your will and you had a ball. This day doesn't have the same energy without you and going forward it'll have a different feel without you. There's always time for 'one more year' Douglas.
Over and out for me, its been a good decade or so but the reins have been passed over to Rhys 'the Money Man' Hanley. 🤟
See y'all next year - 12 November.
For christ's sake put it in your unavailables now!
