West Australian Football

It was a case of third time lucky for Sacred Heart College in the Cable Division grand final of the Belt Up Cup.

Played as the curtain-raiser to Fremantle versus Essendon game last weekend, and a replay of the last two grand finals, Sacred Heart defeated a gallant Clontarf Football Academy by three points, 7.5 (47) to 6.8 (44) to win the Cable Division for the first time in front of a crowd of 4,500.

the Belt up Cup competition is the largest upper secondary school football competition in WA, with over 2,500 students from 100 metropolitan and country schools competing this year.

In a high standard game, considering the greasy conditions, Sacred Heart started in ominous form, dominating play all over the ground and kicking the first three goals of the match. Predictably, Clontarf settled to kick four unanswered goals but wasted several opportunities kicking 4.7 for the term to lead by 12 points at half time.

Both coaches swung the changes at half-time with immediate impact. Sacred Heart started to dominate play all over and in particular through their clearances at the stoppages and up forward where key forwards Mitchell Brown and Jack Darling were outstanding.

With the game up for grabs Sacred Heart kicked four of the first five goals of the final term to edge clear and were able to continue to maintain the pressure they had demonstrated all day and although Clontarf continued to work hard Sacred Heart’s superior ball use enabled them to run out winners.

AFL and WA Hall of Fame inductee and competition patron Barry Cable was on hand to present the Belt Up Cup and medallions to schools, coaches and umpires as was Grant Speight, Human Resources Manager with the Insurance Commission of WA.

The Rhys Kampen Memorial Medal was awarded to Jacob Griffiths for his outstanding contributions throughout the competition with Sacred Heart.

"The West Australian Football Commission greatly appreciates the support received from the Insurance Commission of WA through the Road Safety Council for the sponsorship of the Belt Up Cup and on behalf of the Commission I would like to sincerely thank those teachers who gave up their time to coach a school football team in the 2008 Belt up Cup competition,” said Youth and Secondary School Manager Darren Davis.

Final Score

Sacred Heart 3.1 7.5 (47)

Clontarf 4.7 6.8 (44)

Best:
Sacred Heart – Ryan Neates, Mitchell Brown, Jack Darling, Kyle Millar.
Clontarf – Damien Crispin, Gerrick Wheedon, Shamus Smith, Cameron Kickett

Goals:
Sacred Heart – Brown 4, Darling 2, Clark 1.
Clontarf – Kickett 2, Stevens 2, Howard, Crispin 1. Rhys Kampen

Memorial Medal – Jacob Griffiths (Sacred Heart)