The Adrian Vowles Cup has been run for the eighth year in Charleville and whilst it was thought it could not get any bigger, it did again this year.
After having 20-plus teams in 2019 and 2020, 39 teams competed in the under 14 and 16 boys as well as the under 17 girls’ competitions.
This is an amazing effort considering the nearest local team is Mitchell who travel two hours to the carnival.
Teams get so much from this carnival, whether they are local or teams who travel more than 800 kilometres each way. They get to play against players they would never likely to in their local competitions and gain so much from the Outback experience.
Simple things like going for a swim in the local Ward River - where the water is not the same colour as their backyard or local pool - and having team barbecues for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You could feel the buzz around Charleville on the Tuesday before the carnival with everyone wanting to talk about it. All accommodation in Charleville was fully booked months in advance with the overflow heading to the showgrounds to camp.
The numbers nearly doubled the population in Charleville for the weekend and bookings have already been made for 2022.
There were also several firsts for the weekend including the record number of teams. It also actually rained for a few hours on Friday afternoon as well as a short shower on Saturday.
A flashback in hairstyles bought the first 'mullet award' for the carnival which was heavily contested with some amazing mullets - the eventual award being shared by Toby Milne from Redlands and Luke Cronon from Lowood.
The sportsmanship from teams was once again outstanding, giving their opposition's best player a team cap, shirt, or jersey to commemorate the day, or just simply helping a team who may have lost too many players to carry on for the weekend.
The best example was the St George under 16 team, who arrived with a minimal number of players but really wanted to participate. They lost one of their Elders from their local community on the Friday morning of the carnival and then kept losing players to injuries every game until it got to the stage where they only had nine players left.
The call went out for backup players and within a couple of minutes, players from Redcliffe and Roma had jumped on board and all of a sudden, they had 18 players.
They only went down by one try in their last game to one of the competition favourites, so it was a great effort from everyone.
The call also went out to teams before the carnival to help out with referees - a big thanks to those clubs for helping out which made the job for the refs on the weekend so much easier.
A big thank you to Brian Gilroy from The Live Team based in Toowoomba and those who contributed to his live streaming of many of the games including the finals.
Hundreds of action photos from the weekend taken by Camille Vowles can be viewed on the Adrian Vowles Cup Facebook page.
At the end of the carnival, Vowlesy and a couple of extras selected the dream team in each age group with winners presented a special commemorative jersey by the former NRL and Super League representative to remember their weekend.
Ultimately, the footy is nearly a side dish for the experience of the weekend in the Outback.
Adrian Vowles Cup results
Under 14 Boys final: Norths Devils defeated Mackay Brothers
Under 16 Boys final: Ipswich Grammar defeated Toowoomba Valleys Yellow
Under 17 Girls final: Valleys / Gatton defeated Toowoomba Brothers
