The Cooper Cup is an annual cricket match held at the venerated ground of the MCG. That’s the famous Moomba Cricket Ground of course, way out in the dust bowl of the far north eastern corner of South Australia.
The lack of any kind of pitch has never stopped these fearless cricketers from holding what has become a regular fixture on the RFDS fundraising calendar. Each year the Station team (Bushies) takes on the Santos team on a concrete strip and a bit of green matting. The outfield is little more than a dust bowl.
Brian Hall and Peter Lamb from Santos work tirelessly all year to pull off this utterly unique event. Last year’s match raised over $70,000 for the RFDS and this year’s match will take place on Saturday, 11 October.
Last year the Station team beat the Santos team by just 11 runs after a hard fought game, highlighted by some great batting by our very own Moomba Nurse, Tony Carter.
The biggest success of the day was the auction held later that evening which resulted in over $70,000 being raised for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Some of the more unique items in the auction included a replica Ned Kelly rifle and 10kg block of Cadbury Chocolate.
The big seven major sponsors of the event that merit an enormous thank you are -:
* Santos, without their support the event could not happen
* SA Brewing
* Cadbury Schweppes
* Salisbury Locksmiths
* ANZ Bank
* Gas Drive Systems
* Diversified Construction
The RFDS are thankful to the following organisations that made donations through the RFDS Marketing office towards the auction -:
Manly Ocean World, Sydney Tower and Skytour, South Sydney Football Club, Captain Cook Cruises, Canterbury International, The Rocks Walking Tours, Essendon Football Club, ABC TV, FOXTEL, Geelong Football Club, Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Nova 96.9, West Coast Eagles Football Club, Australian Football League, Sydney Aquarium, Seven Hill Winery and Cricket Australia.
T he biggest thank you of all goes to Brian Hall and Peter Lamb. Thanks guys!