Top class cricket for Broome gets Minister's backing

9/5/00
Broome residents now have another reason to smile in the wake of cyclone Rosita.
This follows the announcement today by the Western Australian Cricket Association and Sport and Recreation Minister Norman Moore that two top-class, one-day matches will be played in Broome in September.
The games will be played on a 35-tonne transportable WACA wicket shipped to and from Broome specially for the game.
The State Government's Country Sport Enrichment Scheme will help meet the cost associated with the games.

The announcement follows hard on the heels of a State Government-backed marketing and public relations campaign through the Western Australian Tourism Commission over the next few months to let everyone know that it's business as usual in the tourist town after the cyclone.
Mr Moore applauded the WACA plan which will see the Western Warriors play the Victoria Bushrangers on Saturday, September 23, and the Warriors play the South African provincial team Natal the next day.
He said it was a further example of how major sports in Western Australia had embraced the Government's Country Sport Enrichment Scheme plan.
For example, the Western Warriors had already played two one-day fixtures in Kalgoorlie.
Kalgoorlie had also hosted an interstate football match between WA and Tasmania and Westar Rules games had been played in Exmouth and Moora to support local communities hit by cyclone and flood damage.
Four Westar Rules games would be played in Esperance, Karratha, Kununurra and Tooday over the next four months.
"I am delighted with the way that sports administrators in Western Australia have embraced the Country Sport Enrichment Scheme," Mr Moore said.
He said there already had been some outstanding successes and there was more to come.
Since he launched the scheme in 1998, Perth Glory - Australia's top soccer team - had played in Bunbury and Geraldton, former Wimbledon tennis champion Evonne Goolagong had coached throughout the State and there had been a string of coaching clinics and visits featuring teams such as the West Coast Eagles, Fremantle Dockers, Perth Wildcats and Perth Orioles.
"One of the key aims of this new State Government program is to expose country people to top-class sport," Mr Moore said.
He said the State Government had continually shown its belief in the need for regional Western Australians to be given access to top-class sporting facilities and support networks.
This was demonstrated by funding flowing to country areas from the Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund. Over the last five years, about $60 million had been allocated from the fund.
Local examples of the benefits of the latest allocations from this fund were the Government's contributions of $30,000 to the Broome Speedway Club to help build a multi-purpose spectator viewing platform and clubrooms and $20,000 to the Broome Youth Advisory Council to build a skate park.
"Other initiatives such as the Sports Lottery Country Package and the Sports Club Development Scheme ensure grass roots organisations get the infrastructure they need," Mr Moore said.
Media contact: Hartley Joynt, Minister's office, 9321 1444