The 2023 Mid West Community Cup will kick off at Wallerawang Oval tomorrow (Saturday 7 October) and the Carcoar Crows' aim is to defend their men’s Tackle and women’s Blues Tag competition premierships.
Committee member and Blues Tag coach Adam Lowe explained that Carcoar boasted two sides of predominantly locals and players that shared a connection with the community.
“We’ve got a few different players coming in and some dropping out,” Lowe said.
“With this competition, a few older players come back to put the boots on, and some of them finished up last year, but others have jumped on board for this season.
“We’ve got a few players from Cowra and Blayney, but all our players have that connection to the town, and we try to keep it as a community thing.”
The Crows boast a proud Mid West Cup history having won 13 premierships between 1931 and 2022, but they only re-entered the NSW Central West competition last season following a 21-year hiatus.
“The thing with Carcoar is that there is a lot of guys proud to be playing for the club,” Lowe said.
“If you look around the old pub, there are pictures of all the old footy teams, and all our players have either their dad, granddad, and great-granddad on all the way, so it’s pretty special.”
Contesting the four-week Mid West Community Cup with Carcoar are the Portland Colts, Blackheath Blackcats, and Kandos Waratahs.
With all four games played at the same location each Saturday, the competition continues to breathe Rugby League life into these small communities.
“It’s unreal for Carcoar,” Lowe said.
“It gets the town going again, and the thing that is great is the amount of the old boys that came back and were passionate about us playing.”
Lowe would like to grow the competition’s stature and entice more people into following teams at the four clubs.
“I think getting a bit more advertisement for the competition will help get our name out there a bit,” Lowe said.
With Portland hosting Round One in Wallerawang tomorrow, the action heads to Blackheath Oval for Round Two and Waratah Park in Kandos for Round Three.
The Grand Finals will be hosted at Carcoar Sportsground on Saturday 28 October.
Mid West Cup Round One draw
12 pm: Blues Tag - Carcoar v Blackheath
1 pm: Blues Tag - Portland v Kandos
2 pm: Tackle – Carcoar v Blackheath
3.15 pm: Tackle – Portland v Kandos
