- Country Senior High Schools Carnival (Western Australia)
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Country Week or Country Senior High Schools Carnival is an annual multi-sport event carnival held in Perth, Western Australia between rural high schools from Western Australia. The carnival is organised by School Sport WA.
The carnival includes sports such as Australian rules football, hockey, soccer, netball, volleyball and basketball in a range of divisions.[1]
Non-sporting competitions in areas such as speech, debating and dance have also been added to the event schedule.
Country Week is recognised as being the biggest event of its kind in the southern hemisphere.[2] The event typically involves about 40 schools with around 3,000 students and over 200 teachers and support staff.
The carnival is held toward the end of the second school term in late June and early July and lasts for one week.
The Amanda Young Foundation has supported the event by donating water bottles to all participating students. The bottles carry messages about the dangers of sharing water bottles to prevent the spread of meningococcal disease.[3]
Contents
Venue
Country Week closing ceremony 2008 at Perry Lakes Stadium
The opening and closing ceremonies were held at Perry Lakes Stadium from 1962 to 2008. Perry Lakes Stadium was declared unsafe for use in 2009 and later demolished in 2010.
As a result the opening and closing ceremonies were held at Challenge Stadium in 2009 and scheduled to be held there again in 2010.
UWA sports park (commonly known as MacGillivray Oval) is the focal point of the tournament with football, soccer, touch rugby and many hockey games being played on the there.[4] The remainder of the hockey games are played on the nearby UWA hockey Club turf.
The volleyball fixtures are played at Challenge Stadium, while basketball fixtures were played at Perry Lakes Stadium up until 2009, in 2010 basketball fixture were relocated to the Western Australian Basketball Centre which is located next to the Western Australian Athletics Stadium which in turn is next to Challenge Stadium.
Netball Games were played at Henderson Park at the outddor Perth Netball Association Courts up until 2010. In 2010 netball fixtures were relocated to the indoor acrylic courts of Lords in Subiaco.
History
The first country week was held in Perth in 1924 and the only sport played was Australian rules football. At this time Perth schools were able to compete but Eastern Goldfields High School won the carnival. Perth Modern School won in the next carnival in 1925 with only football being played again. No competition was held for the next two years but resumed in 1928 with Bunbury High School winning.
No competitions were held between 1940 to 1950.
Countryweek recommenced in 1951 with Perth Modern School again winning the football shield.
By 1952, girls teams began to compete in the event in field hockey with Bunbury High School winning the first tournament and awarded the High School Superintendents trophy.
Netball became part of the carnival in 1954 with Northam High School winning the first Netball shield, known as the Commonwealth Jubilee Celebrations shield.
The first event not of a sporting nature was added to the carnival in 1974 with individuals speech. A Geraldton Senior High School student, Susan Shea, won the first event.
Girls basketball was added to the tournament in 1979 with Eastern Goldfields High School winning the first competition. The next sport to be added to the roster was boys hockey in 1982 with Collie Senior High School emerging triumphant in the initial tournament.
Country Week Boys A Grade Hockey ShieldA new shield was added to the competition in 1984 with the Champion School Shield being added to the prize roster. Points are awarded for every event and the school that achieves the highest total number of point wins the shield. The first school to win the shield was Narrogin Senior High School.
In 1986 boys volleyball was introduced to the competition and girls volleyball followed in 1987, Busselton Senior High School won both of the initial tournaments.
Boys basketball was added to the competition in 1991 with Newton Moore Senior High School being the first to win the CBA trophy.
The event was cancelled in 1995 and a result of industrial action between teachers and the state government. The State School Teachers Union of Western Australia instituted a work to rule order and teachers, who volunteer their time to coaching teams, supervising the students and organising the event, supported the order.[5]
In 1999 boys soccer was added to the tournament and North Albany Senior High School were the first school to win the trophy.
Dance was added as an event to the tournament in 2003 with North Albany Senior High School winning the inaugural competition.
In 2004 Albany Senior High School won the champion school for the fifth time in a row to beat the previous record four time in a row held by Narrogin Senior High School between the years 1987 to 1990.
Industrial action by the State School Teachers Union of Western Australia marred Countryweek in 2008 with many of the larger schools such as Albany Senior High School, Australind Senior High School, Bunbury Senior High School, Narrogin Senior High School and Newton Moore Senior High School not competing in any events.[6] Only 27 schools entered the event down from 39 the year before.[7] Esperance Senior High School won the champion school for 2008 as one of the larger school competing in the event.
In 2009 the opening and closing ceremonies were held at Challenge Stadium for the first time, as Perry Lakes Stadium had been earmarked for demolition.
Bunbury Senior High School won the champion school award in 2009 for the first time since the school started competing in 1928. The school team was composed of twelve separate teams with a total of 135 students competing on most sports.[8] In 2010, Albany Senior High School regained the champion school award and Bunbury Senior High School came second. Bunbury Senior High School was awarded the champion school at the closing ceremony following a mix up in the tallying of results, Albany Senior High School received the award back later.[9] Great Southern Grammar won the meritorious shield for the first time in 2010 after coming runners up in 2009.
2010 also marked a year of venue changes with Netball games being played at Lords in Subiaco, Western Australia instead of Henderson Park and Basketball games being played at Western Australian Basketball Centre instead of Perry Lakes.
Selected Results
Results for 2005 to 2011 - Boys A Division
Year Boys Basketball Boys Football Boys Hockey Boys Soccer 2005 Bunbury Senior High School Geraldton Senior College Geraldton Senior College Albany Senior High School 2006 Geraldton Senior College Mandurah Senior College Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Newton Moore Senior High School 2007 Australind Senior High School Newton Moore Senior High School Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Australind Senior High School 2008 Eastern Goldfields College Pinjarra Senior High School Great Southern Grammar Mandurah Senior College 2009 Bunbury Senior High School Mandurah Senior College Great Southern Grammar Australind Senior High School 2010 Bunbury Senior High School Albany Senior High School Great Southern Grammar Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School 2011 Denmark High School Albany Senior High School Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Mandurah Senior College Results for 2005 to 2011 - Girls A Division
Year Girls Basketball Girls Hockey Girls Netball Girls Soccer 2005 Geraldton Senior College Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Narrogin Senior High School No Competition 2006 Geraldton Senior College Collie Senior High School Narrogin Senior High School No Competition 2007 Geraldton Senior College Newton Moore Senior High School Australind Senior High School Newton Moore Senior High School 2008 Eastern Goldfields College Great Southern Grammar Esperance Senior High School Great Southern Grammar 2009 Bunbury Senior High School Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Busselton Senior High School Newton Moore Senior High School 2010 Bunbury Senior High School Narrogin Senior High School Great Southern Grammar Albany Senior High School 2011 Denmark High School Albany Senior High School Albany Senior High School Albany Senior High School Results for 2005 to 2011 - School Results
Year Champion School Runner Up Champion Meritorious School Runner Up Meritorious 2005 Newton Moore Senior High School Cunderdin Agricultural School 2006 Newton Moore Senior High School Albany Senior High School Carnarvon Senior High School Denmark Agricultural School 2007 Albany Senior High School Newton Moore Senior High School Northam Senior High School Denmark Agricultural School 2008 Esperance Senior High School Katanning Senior High School Katanning Senior High School 2009 Bunbury Senior High School Newton Moore Senior High School Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Great Southern Grammar 2010 Albany Senior High School Bunbury Senior High School Great Southern Grammar Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School 2011 Albany Senior High School Bunbury Senior High School Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School Great Southern Grammar References
- ^ "School Sport WA - Country Senior High Schools Carnival". 2010. http://www.schoolsportwa.com.au/Sports/Country%20Week/SHS/SHS%20CW%20Info.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
- ^ "Bunbury Mail - Bunbury Senior High School number one at Countryweek". 2009. http://www.bunburymail.com.au/news/local/sport/general/bunbury-senior-high-school-number-one-at-countryweek/1562479.aspx. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
- ^ "Amanda Young Foundation October 2007 News". 2007. http://www.amandayoungfoundation.org.au/images/8-123905_Newsletter_LR.pdf. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
- ^ "UWA Sports Newadate= 2009". http://www.sport.uwa.edu.au/latest_news. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
- ^ "Extract from Parliamentary Hansard". 2004. http://parliament.wa.gov.au/Hansard%5Chansard.nsf/0/0bfa17ea8ca7e2b9c8257570001703ea/$FILE/C36%20S2%2020040311%20p796b-811a.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ^ "ABC News - Teachers defy industrial unrest and back Country Week". 2008. http://abc.gov.au/news/stories/2008/06/30/2289418.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ^ "Bunbury Mail - High Schools dump Country Week". 2008. http://www.bunburymail.com.au/news/local/news/general/high-schools-dump-country-week/783122.aspx. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ^ "Bunbury Mail - Bunbury Senior High School number one at Countryweek". 2009. http://www.bunburymail.com.au/news/local/sport/general/bunbury-senior-high-school-number-one-at-countryweek/1562479.aspx. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
- ^ "School gets award after tallying blunder". 2010. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/07/28/2966650.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-14.
Categories:- Sports competitions
- Sports festivals in Australia
- Multi-sport events
- Recurring sporting events established in 1924
- Sport in Western Australia
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