Almost 2,000 people brought a sea of swags, tents and caravans to Charleville Showgrounds for a major junior rugby league carnival last weekend.
Jill Wilkie made the 1,000-kilometre round trip to the annual Adrian Vowles Cup from Longreach for the Central West Rugby League team.
The mother of two said she was spending thousands of dollars each year on her kids’ sporting commitments.
“I think it’s becoming more expensive with rising costs in general,” Ms Wilkie said.
She drove in along the Landsborough Highway from the north and her teenage sons travelled about 750km from the coastal town of Yeppoon where they attend boarding school.
Jill Wilkie spends thousands a year on her children’s sporting commitments. (ABC Western Qld: Peter Quattrocelli)
Ms Wilkie said the costs of travel, accommodation, equipment and club fees were all part of playing junior sports in the bush.
“It would be in the thousands, but it’s not about the money,” she said.
“It’s about seeing their faces when they’re playing with their mates.”
Data from AusPlay indicates more than 10 per cent of Queensland children – about 32,000 – are not playing sport due to the cost.
The Mount Isa team travelled for two days to get to Charleville. (ABC Western Qld: Peter Quattrocelli)
‘It’s a lot of travel’
After travelling for two days, 17 kids from Mount Isa arrived in south-west Queensland to play footy.
They travelled more than 1,100km each way — further than any of the other 58 teams in the carnival.
“We don’t have a lot of home games at the moment, so carnivals are the way that these boys are getting to play some footy,” team manager and parent Kellie Wilson said.
Grassroots rugby league is a large part of Ms Wilson’s life — her husband coaches the side and her parents made the trip to Charleville to help out.
Kellie Wilson travelled with 17 junior players from Mount Isa for the carnival in Charleville. (ABC Western Qld: Peter Quattrocelli)
She said the team would also head to carnivals in Sarina, Townsville and Mackay this year.
The 2,400km round trip to Mackay from Mount Isa takes more than 25 hours.
“It’s a lot of travel … even the coach travels from Dajarra each week for training, which is a 300km round trip,” Ms Wilson said.
“Without our sponsors it would be a few thousand dollars per kid, but we managed to try and keep the cost down by cooking group meals and things like that, so it’s probably around $400 each.”
Russell McDonald and Jason Goulding (right) say all the effort and money is worth it. (ABC Western Qld: Peter Quattrocelli)
‘Really important’
The Redcliffe Dolphins Rugby League Club is one of the largest junior clubs that regularly attend the carnival.
Dolphins junior pathways coordinator Jason Goulding said that alongside the 46 players, parents, sports trainers, coaches, team managers and league safety representatives travelled to the event.
“It’s quite a convoy when we leave Redcliffe — most of the families are probably up around 4am,” he said.
Fifty-eight junior rugby league teams travelled to Charleville for the cup this year. (ABC Western Qld: Peter Quattrocelli)
Mr Goulding said the club had been competing at Charleville for a decade.
“It’s really important for us to support a small country town, to experience a different environment and just to play in the carnival because there isn’t many of them left in the state,” he said.
Mr Goulding said it would likely end up costing the club close to $30,000 to play in the two-day carnival.
“It’s not a cheap exercise, but we’re lucky to have some great sponsors and volunteers,” he said.
Charleville’s population doubles when the Adrian Vowles Cup is on. (ABC Western Qld: Peter Quattrocelli)
Dolphins volunteer coach Russell McDonald said he loved the opportunity to participate in the sport with his children.
“It’s pretty crazy in my household. I’ll have my kids at footy every single night,” he said.
“It’s a solid 20 hours each week, if not more.”
Mr McDonald said he didn’t think too much about what he was investing financially into the sport.
“It’s probably getting more expensive, but everything is at the same time and it’s worth it,” he said.
“I’d do anything for them.”
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-02-27 20:51:22
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