THE West Australian Football League is pleased to announce The Movie Masters as the new sponsor of Little League matches at half time of WAFL League games.
WAFL Little League was first introduced to WA in 1970 by Mr Alex Panton, a tireless and dedicated servant to junior football in Western Australia for 30 years, who believed the concept of Little League would take off.
Now in its 40th year, Little League gives 12 year-old ‘stars of tomorrow’ the opportunity to play at half time in front of WAFL club crowds. Over the competition’s existence, more than 141,000 players have pulled on a WAFL jumper to represent their club.
With 160 junior players participating each week, that’s just over 3500 children per year for the entire program. This includes children from both Metropolitan and Country regions.
From 1970 to 1999, the competition was known as the Town and Country WAFL Little League, from 2000 to 2004, it became the ANZ WAFL Little League and from 2005 to 2008 the Downer EDI Works Little League. In 2010 the program will be known as “Movie Masters Little League.”
“Being a WA owned and operated company, we are more than thrilled to be supporting grass roots football in the Western Australian community throughout 2010,” said David Pye, Chairman and CEO of Ace Cinemas.
Grand Cinemas Managing Director Allan “Chubby” Stiles is also extremely proud to be supporting our footballers of the future, having played 150 games for the Perth Demons as a youngster. “Australian Rules Football not only encourages sportsmanship and social skills in a team environment but it builds self-esteem and leadership that can open doors to new opportunities in life,” he said.
During the WAFL final series, WAFL Little League teams play a round robin competition for the Alex Panton Memorial Cup. The Little League Shield, which acknowledges excellence in participation in the program, is presented along with the Memorial Cup at the WAFL Grand Final.
MOVIE MASTERS
The Movie Masters Cinema Group was formed in the mid 1990s as a co-operative initiative between the locally owned and operated WA cinema companies, Ace and Grand Cinemas. Both cinema companies are family owned businesses and have been operating in Western Australia for many years.
The goal of the Movie Masters is to create a competitive and sustainable WA owned exhibition group in the long term through joint operating and marketing initiatives under the one banner. The Movie Masters brand also allows the WA owned Ace and Grand Cinemas to effectively compete against the multi-national exhibition chains.
With 10 locations currently operating the Movie Masters group, an ever-growing marketing presence and the wonderful support of parochial West Australian movie goers, The Movie Masters are fast becoming one of the major players in the Western Australia exhibition market.
