Wednesday, 19 February 2025

 Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (09:40): I rise to celebrate all things community sport in the Northcote electorate. It has been a big start to the year, kicking off with the annual Indigenous cricket round at Bill Lawry Oval. This event brought cricketers together to celebrate First Nations culture through sport. A huge shout-out to Northcote Cricket Club for making it such a special day.

I also had the absolute joy of joining the Queer Sporting Alliance for their national sports tournament at Narrandjeri Stadium, the largest LGBTIQA+ sports event in Australia. Hats off to president Stella Lesic, executive director Bindy Cohen and everyone involved.

February saw me deliver a very questionable first pitch with the Fitzroy Baseball Club at Merri Park. Big thanks to John King and Tony Wyatt for their ongoing dedication to this proud club.

Last week I joined Northcote Junior Football Club at McDonell Park for their fantastic welcome day. Construction has just started there on a project to build better paths, seating and a spectator stand. A heartfelt thankyou to president Kellie Burns for her collaboration on this.

February also brought us the first ever Greek Community Cup women’s final at John Cain Memorial Park. Congratulations to the Greek community of Melbourne and hosts Northcote City Football Club for creating a tradition that champions multicultural women’s sport. I also spoke with president Michael Skliros and vice-president John Catanzariti about our half-a-million-dollar project to deliver more female-friendly facilities here.

Finally, a big cheer for the Red Tag Fly Fishers. They have just secured $74,000 to plan a dedicated fly-fishing precinct at Yarra Bend Park. Northcote loves sport.