The annual Barossa, Light and Gawler umpires association, who are proudly sponsored by the Herald, had their annual dinner last Wednesday night .

Former Gawler Central, Central District, South Australian and Eudunda champion Sonny Morey and AFL/SANFL umpire Tim Pfeiffer were guest speakers.

Pfeiffer spoke first, then aboriginal statesman and Williamstown resident Morey captivated the audience with his experiences in life and football.

Morey relayed stories about his experiences with Eudunda when they were in the B&L competition and when a member of the crowd Steve Rohde paid him the ultimate compliment by thanking him for the opportunity to play under his coaching.

President Robin Nobby Symes suggested Morey’s entertaining chat was among the best he’s ever experienced, expressing his only disappoint was a couple of clubs were not represented at the night.

BL&G Football

After collecting SANFL league footballer Shaun Childs last round, another interesting signing for the Donnybrooks is Jamie Phillips.

A talented utility who can provide plenty of run, a previous leader at Gepps Cross, Phillips could add to the strength of the mid-field rotations, if he can recover from his ailments.

meanwhile the Tanunda Football Club has decided to offer the club that has a bye free entry to the Tanunda home game of that week.

This week Angaston have the bye, so all Angaston Football Club members need to do is show their members ticket at the gate for free entry.

Next week it will be Kapunda, July 5 - Willaston, July 26 - Nuriootpa, August 9 - Gawler Central.

Cricket

Trent Burge has returned to league cricket in England playing for Mistley, in East Anglia.

His start of the season has been sensational with 52, 110 not out and 67, in his first three outings.

The local press called his century against Brightlingsea, “a truly majestic innings and a pleasure to watch”.

The Northern Jets cricketer, and son of a handy winemaker top-scored in each match and was a key player in all these wins.

Burge is currently averaging 114.5 for Mistley.

Rep Football

n last Saturday’s inter-league football contests.

It was the first time the Barossa, Light and Gawler football won all three games on the day.

With the exciting two point Under 15 win, it was the first time the BL&G lifted the James Brothers Cup and the first Mark Pitman medal was presented to Tanunda’s left-footed mid-fielder Ben Newberry.

It was also the first time in 15 fixtures across five years, when a team was keep scoreless during a quarter of football, when the Hills football league failed to register anything during the opening term of the A grade match.

Significantly it was the first time Scott Leal has coached from the boundary line, further enhancing his credentials to coach in the SANFL in the future.

Golf

the last critical round of the A2 Metro Pennant Golf season, played at the Gawler golf course last Sunday, decided the grand finalists for 2008.

“Tea Tree Gully was assured of one final spot and the other to be decided between the Lower North Team and The Vines Club,” team manager Peter Trenorden explained.

“For our local Lower North team to make the final, we had to make up two games on The Vines, who played Mt Lofty - this meant that, if we won seven games to nil against Mt Osmond - MtLofty needed to win at least two of their seven games.

“At the start, this result seemed unlikely, as Mt Lofty were missing three of their top players.”

The Lower North boys duly did the job winning seven-nil, and it was left to Mt Lofty to do the right thing in a following match.

“While we waited in the club house, the Mt Lofty number seven had won, the numbers six, five, four, three and two had all lost in that order, and their number one had a real battle,” Trenorden continued.

Then a birdie on the last hole gave him the victory ‘two up’ and the path for the Lower North into the Grand Final.

The performances for the Lower North were all strong. Richard Nairn won his match - 3/2, Darren Salter had a comfortable 7/5 victory, John Nairn secured his match - 6/4, Mark Watkins was two up after 18, Rhys Lyons won 3/1, Paul Pridham collect a 5/3 result and Damien Noack was dominant in a 9/7 win.

This has been a remarkable result for the Lower North Golf team in their debut season in an elite competition.

Underdogs going in the final, if they can engineer a victory - they move into the prestigious Simpson Cup competition.

The venue for next Sunday’s final against Tea Tree Gully is yet to be decided.

AFL Football

It has been a long road back to AFL football for former South Gawler lad Sam Butler.

His last game at the top level, before the Eagles dramatic loss to modern day rivals was the 2006 Grand Final against the same foe.

Since the ’06 premiership glory, Butler has had to

deal with a myriad of

injuries.

Leading for the majority of the game, the Eagles lost to Sydney by five points in another thriller between these modern day rivals.

Butler played just

under three-quarters of the contest in his return match, collecting 17 disposals, half of

them contested

My say

WHAT are they thinking?

With the state’s top cricket side, the Redbacks are on the edge of the abyss.

It was amazing former Australian under 19s player and local cricket talent Isaiah Borgas couldn’t even get a rookie contract for 2008-09.

Borgas has captained the state under 17s to a title and performed at SACA district A grade level.

He has also shown a temperament which has been lacking by a lot of players in the senior team for South Australia.

To Mark Sorrell and the SACA management - shame, shame, shame.

A case could also be make for Greg Bain and Kirk Pascoe to also have SACA Redbacks rookie contracts as well.