Wednesday, February 12, 2025

2025 Lakoseljac Cup and State-wide Cup draws, and cup final referees

The draw for the opening Round of 32 and Round of 16 the 2025 Lakoseljac Cup was conducted by Football Tasmania today.

The preliminary round (Knock-out Round)), involving just three games, will be played on the weekend of 7-10 March 2025.

The three games are (home team first):

Hobart United v Taroona

New Town White Eagles v Somerset Sharks

Burnie United v Olympia Warriors

Byes have been awarded in this round to Barnstoneworth United, Metro, Hobart City and University.

The Round of 16 draw, to be played on the weekend of 28-30 March, is:

Metro v Clarence Zebras

New Town White Eagles or Somerset Sharks v Hobart United or Taroona

South Hobart v Barnstoneworth United

Launceston United v Kingborough Lions United

Glenorchy Knights v Devonport Strikers

University v Launceston City

South East United v Hobart City

Riverside Olympic v Burnie United or Olympia Warriors

 

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The draw for the Women’s State-wide Cup to be played on the weekend of 28-30 March is:

Launceston United v Kingborough Lions United

Ulverstone v South Hobart

Olympia Warriors v Devonport Strikers

Riverside Olympic v Taroona

Burnie United v Glenorchy Knights

Byes have been awarded to University, New Town White Eagles and Launceston City.

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The Men’s Under-21 Statewide Cup has just one game in the preliminary round and that is between Riverside Olympic and South East United.

Launceston United, Launceston City, Kingborough Lions United, Devonport Strikers, Glenorchy Knights, Clarence Zebras and South Hobart all have byes.

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This is the 25th year of the Lakosejac Cup.

Football Tasmania asked me to look through my records and notebooks and see if I could find out who refereed the finals from 2000 to 2015 as they already had the referees’ names for the finals from 2016 to 2024.

This is what I came up with:

2000     Michael Sprod

2001     Paul Jones

2002     Kim Barker

2003     Owen Laing

2004     Craig Phillips

2005     Michael Sprod

2006     Kim Barker

2007     ?

2008     Kim Barker

2009     Kim Barker

2010     Kim Barker

2011     Kim Barker

2012     Kim Barker

2013     Brenton Kopra

2014     Brenton Kopra

2015     Kim Barker

If anyone can fill in the three gaps, I would be very grateful.

 

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Pre-season scrimmages and pennants

There were a couple of pre-season practice matches in the past two days.

Yesterday, Kingborough Lions United’s NPL side beat Southern Championship outfit New Town White Eagles 3-2 at Lightwood Park.

On Friday night at KGV Park, Glenorchy Knights took on Southern Championship side South East United in three 30-minute thirds.

It was a bit of experiment for both clubs and as well as senior sides it included Under-21s as well.

South East United were under-strength and missing several key players.

Overall, the hit-out ended in a 7-6 win for Knights.

Knights won one of the thirds 6-0 while South East United won another of the thirds 7-0.

I guess such things are designed to give coaches a look at what players they have available rather than any coherent game plan or serious match strategies.

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Photo:  South Hobart Under-17 pennant from 1973, courtesy of Ray Carroll. 

Former player and coach Ray Carroll, who came to Hobart from the UK and Sydney and played for South Hobart, Caledonian and Dnipro, recently sent me an old South Hobart Under-17 pennant from 1973 that he’d found around the house after many years.

There are some notable names on that pennant.

That led me to dig up an old Metro Claremont pennant from 1980. 

Photo:  Metro Claremont pennant from 1980 senior side. 

There are some interesting names on that as well.

Do clubs still produce such pennants these days, I wonder? 

Photo:   Metro-Claremont Under-14 Colts pennant from 1993.

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By the way, Launceston City beat Ulverstone 2-0 in Ulverstone last weekend.

City are playing in Queensland this weekend.


Monday, February 3, 2025

Pre-season friendlies on weekend of 1 and 2 February 2025

Photo:  Action from Knights v Clarence Zebras Under-21s. [PlessPix] 

Visiting Victorian NPL 1 side Bulleen Lions beat Glenorchy Knights 4-0 at KGV Park on Saturday in a pre-season friendly.

In an Under-21 game, Glenorchy Knights beat Clarence Zebras 3-0.

South Hobart travelled to Victoria on Saturday to take on Western United.

Western United won 5-1 against South Hobart’s NPL side.

No-one can tell me how South Hobart’s Under-21s fared against Western United’s Under-23s, but I understand it was a convincing win for Western United.

South Hobarts‘s Under-21s went down 6-2 against Green Gully on the Sunday.

Photo:  A Knights defender clears as South Hobart's Laura Davis tackles. [PlessPix] 

In a Women’s Super League series of friendlies at Kelvedon Park on Sunday, South Hobart drew 1-1 with Taroona, South Hobart beat Glenorchy Knights 2-0, and Taroona drew 0-0 with Glenorchy Knights.

Photo:  Action from the Taroona v Glenorchy Knights game. [PlessPix]

Photo:  Glenorchy Knights hit the Taroona crossbar. [PlessPix]

Photo:  South Hobart coaches Ken Morton and Craig Westwood and Taroona coach Riley Pitchford. [PlessPix]

Photo:  Knights in possession in midfield against Taroona. [PlessPix]