It was miserably cold and wet on Saturday, but the netball girls and the lads in the Great Southern Football League soldiered on. They helped their mates so much at Encounter Bay Oval that the Eagles had 19 men on the field against Goolwa-Port Elliot when the field umpire was asked to call for a count.
Side-by-side the players lined-up to confirm there were 19 Eagles players on the ground.
However, because it was less than a minute into the third quarter, and the ball had not left the centre square, common sense prevailed and the umpire adhered to the GSFL rules by awarding a free kick and a 50-metre penalty to the Magpies. Encounter Bay was expected to be fined.
This was the fourth time in three GSFL seasons a player count had been called, but this time it didn’t matter because the Magpies still won, by nine points to continue their rise on the ladder.
Strathalbyn remains the team to beat having lost only one game to be two wins clear of reigning premier Encounter Bay and Langhorne Creek.
The conditions weren’t kind Saturday, but nowhere could have been colder than at Myponga where Mount Compass strengthened its top-five chances with a 24-point win over Myponga-Sellicks, which lived up to its nickname of the Mudlarks.
There are no club games this weekend because the GSFL and the Southern Football League are combining to form the Southern Districts in the SA Country Championships in Kadina.
GSFL fixtures
July 5: Country Championships, Kadina
Round 12, Saturday, July 12
Langhorne Creek v Strathalbyn
Victor Harbor v Encounter Bay
Yankalilla v Willunga
Goolwa-Port Elliot v Myponga-Sellicks
Mount Compass v McLaren
Round 13, Saturday, July 19
Langhorne Creek v Victor Harbor
Strathalbyn v Myponga-Sellicks
Encounter Bay v Yankalilla
Mount Compass v Goolwa-Port Elliot
Sunday 20
Willunga v McLaren
Round 14, Saturday, July 26
Victor Harbor v Willunga
Goolwa-Port Elliot v Strathalbyn
Yankalilla v Mount Compass
McLaren v Encounter Bay
Myponga-Sellicks v Langhorne Creek