As the long running alumni football competition prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary, organisers of the annual Braggin’ Rights tournament are planning to expand into multiple sports after already giving back more than $500 000 to participating schools.
According to chairman of the organising committee Cranston Kirton, if all goes according to plan, in addition to football, participants will be competing in a variety of other sports in the coming years.
“So we started out with football and eventually branched off into netball, but due to the netball stadium being renovated and stuff, we did not have a tournament over the last few years.
“However we are looking to expand into netball and also either cricket or hockey, to assist those fraternities in giving back to their schools through the sport they love,” Kirton revealed.
Fans are likely to see at least one more sport being contested by next year.
“So for netball since we’ve done it before we’re looking at that sport for 2027. We will try to get that back into our calendar of events for at least two years before moving on to another sport, which will probably be cricket, followed by hockey a bit further down the road, “ Kirton added.
Kirton’s comments come ahead of this year’s competition, which will kick off with Soccerama, a Health and Wellness Fair at the Empire Playing Field in Bank Hall on Sunday August 9.
“Fourteen teams will contest the socceramma including defending champions St George Lions who will be hoping they can fend off the competition. All of the teams have been training regularly and having a lot of practice games. The defending champions of the Over-35 division, St Leonard’s Upper Fifth, will be aiming to win that title for a fourth consecutive year.
“Among the Over-47’s Coleridge and Parry won last year, but we also have two new entrants in the form of St Lucy Secondary and Harrison College,” Kirton continued.
Having staged the competition for well over a decade Kirton says the organising committee has faced its share of challenges, but is always on the lookout for additional corporate sponsors and partners.
“As a charitable tournament, all of the prizes go back to the schools, so the winning teams have an avenue to give back,” he added.
According to Kirton, over the last 15 years, such partnerships have allowed the organisers to provide more than half a million dollars in prizes, which in turn have benefitted the schools. With this in mind, he’s urging more entities to come on board so the competition can eventually give back to every school with an alumni team involved in the tournament.
This year’s Braggin’ Rights will feature 21 teams in the over 35 category and 10 teams in the over 47.
(KH)
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