The soggy ground is holding up and so is the weather. Day one of the Joey’s Mini World Cup saw all teams in the draw get through their games despite the tournament losing one field due to Sunday’s downpours.
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On Saturday, all the fields looked good but heavy showers on Sunday meant one of the fields was ruled out of contention on Monday.
Founder Heinrich Haussler paid tribute to the Inverell Council grounds staff who worked all day Sunday to get the fields ready.
A hole in the ground from a leaking sprinkler was discovered early Sunday during a ground inspection and the hot water system broke down in the canteen on Saturday. But Harvey Norman came to the rescue for the hot water and council came to the rescue with sand for the hole.
“The council grounds staff have done an absolutely terrific job led by Ian Spalding,’’ Mr Haussler said.
“It is all much much better than we could have expected four days ago. We started at 9am on Monday after a lot of concern about the fields being ready to play on.”
The mini world cup is in its sixth year after Mr Heussler found a way to up-skill regional Australia and tap into the world cup vibe. It runs through until Friday.
The cup will identify the best 15 year old, 17 year old, woman, and goal keeper, with these winners eligible to attend a four-week football tour and coaching clinics in Germany – the home of football.