Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This time of year is always a terrific time of year because you have the crossover between the seasons of our summer sports of cricket and baseball and our winter sports of football, rugby league, AFL and rugby union. I want to give a shout-out today to the great sporting clubs in my electorate of Forde. I will start with the great cricket clubs Loganholme, Park Ridge, Beenleigh and the Springwood Suns and the Beenleigh Hawks Baseball Club and the terrific efforts they've made over this past season. They've got a few weeks to go yet, but it's an opportune time to give them a shout-out and congratulations for a terrific year.

On the flipside of that, I'd like to give a great shout-out to our football code clubs, and the men's, women's and junior teams in those clubs, for their upcoming season. The Logan Lightning FC women's NPL side start their season on Saturday night. To the Logan Lightning, Ormeau, Bethania Rams and Park Ridge Panthers soccer clubs: I wish you all the best for the coming season. I wish all the best also to the rugby league clubs Chambers Flat Mustangs, Waterford Demons, Beenleigh Pride, Beenleigh Juniors, Logan City Hawks and Ormeau Shearers, who will benefit this year from a $500,000 investment by the Commonwealth government through our community infrastructure grants.

All the best to the Yatala Rams rugby union club, who will play this year for the first time at their new grounds at Windaroo Valley State High School. I'd like to thank Logan City Council for their terrific support of the Yatala Rams to get these new facilities up and running and also Leonard McKeown, the principal at the Windaroo Valley State High School, for their support and encouragement of the club.

All the best to the AFL clubs. The Beenleigh Buffaloes were grand finalists last year but lost to one of my other great clubs, the Park Ridge Pirates. This year is their first season in division 1, and I'm sure that will be a terrific challenge for them. All the best also to the Ormeau Bulldogs AFL club.

All of these clubs, each and every year, are run by volunteers and community members for the interest and benefit of the senior men's and women's teams and, importantly, for our junior teams. It's the opportunity for kids in our communities to get out and play sport. There's no better thing for them to do than that, because it gets them away from the TV, the PlayStation and the Xbox and, importantly, teaches them the importance of teamwork, working together with others. You learn to lose. You learn to win gracefully. I think it's critically important. So my best to all the clubs involved, and thank you for your contribution to our great community.