AUTHORS: ALIYA VOYLES AND SARAH PALMER
To the elation of our student body, the CGGS Senior Council scored a thoroughly excellent win against the much inferior Marist captains at the annual CGGS vs. Marist netball game on Wednesday this week. This monumental victory marks the breaking of a 20-year losing streak at the hands of Marist, which indicates a promising future for CGGS in the landscape of inter-school sport competitions.
Interviewer: What do you think of our prospects today?
Jade Miller: “… Well…”
Jade Miller, Year 8, at the start of the game
While the school’s confidence in a victory was minimal to begin, our school spirit was certainly not. Students and staff flocked to the netball courts to cheer for our girls, enjoying Robertson’s wonderful house barbeque and bake stall in support of their house charity, Liver Kids Australia. With Robertson’s fuel for our CGGS spirit, the atmosphere picked up quickly and the game got underway. GG Times Editor in Chief Aliya Voyles spoke to a number of players and staff throughout the game.
“We’ve won rock paper scissors, so we’ll be starting. Sophie Martin (netball captain) is refereeing, and Jess McDonald (sports co-captain) is gonna start with the ball. The Marist boys have brought a drum, being loud annoying boys as usual. Lauren Goldie (vice-captain) scores the first goal of the game.”
Aliya Voyles
Former Head of Senior School Mr Milligan returned on the day to support his Marist boys, but from his comments, it sounds like his allegiance to CGGS has not been exhausted.
“It’s really exciting, lovely to be able to have it and that there’s a great crowd turning up. I said to the girls that they’d have to go easy on the guys. I’d probably bet on the girls, they have superior goal-shooting ability. The boys seem to be playing the ‘all-black’ sometimes they get a bit too serious… I think the girls are probably gonna win.”
Mr Milligan, on his return to CGGS and his predictions for the game.
And right he was. Our Senior Council was incredibly committed, right from the start. Senior student Emily McHugh noted that our Music Captain, Miah Lane, “came into school specifically to play netball – she hasn’t been here all week,” and, to no-one’s surprise, “Inemami’s doing real well, she’s jumping real high.”
Alex Perry-Dalton, Catherine Hardman, Aimee Hosegood, and Abbey Davis put it best: “We believe in our representatives – I think we’re slaying at the moment, and I think that ‘slay’ is the word of the game.”
The uniform unicorns also made a surprise appearance, standing on the sidelines and cheering for CGGS. Year 8 student Jade Miller said, “It seems pretty even. And the unicorns, I love the unicorns.”
As the game began to heat up, CGGS deployed our secret weapon: Mr Ebert, who took to the court as goal shooter. With Marist at an early lead, Mr Ebert’s skills shook them into submission, evening the score. Voyles noted,
“It seems like the Marist boys’ height is the only thing they have going for them… their netball skills are pretty nonexistent.”
Aliya Voyles, on Marist’s capacity for netball
Left: Marist goalkeeper intimidated by Mr Ebert’s sporting prowess.
GG Times photojournalist Sarah Palmer said, “It’s pretty tense, I’ll admit. Even though I’m not a netball fan, I can tell it’s getting intense out there. I’m really rooting for Girls Grammar – it seems like we’re down by a couple points but we’ve got Inemami out there, Sophie’s reffing. I’m sure we’ll make a stunning comeback.”
It took a little while for the CGGS crowd to get invested, but by the second half the chanting dominated the atmosphere. The words of the match were definitely “Let’s go Grammar, let’s go!” as the noise level rose. Lila Howell and Sophie Hallett said, “I wish everyone was louder. But it’s good, it’s exciting. I’m glad they put Mr. Ebert in, it’s funny. Both sides get into it and it’s fun!”
“Some slight rule bending on our part, but it’s fine, I think. One of the Marist boys is on the ground. That means we’re winning, right? Some of the Marist boys are so inexperienced, they can’t even wear their bibs right. We’re seeing a lot of mullets on the Marist boys, which is really just red flag after red flag.”
Aliya Voyles, on the mid-match intensity, and appearance choices of the opposition.
Anyone who says netball isn’t a contact sport has never witnessed the grit of CGGS netballers. The match was rough but fair, with competitive spirit running high for the duration of the game. The crowds for both sides cheered them on enthusiastically. However, only one team could come out on top, and, of course, it was our Senior Council.
After the game, Voyles spoke to one of the Marist players:
“It was extremely entertaining – it was very fun, I quite enjoyed it. There should’ve been a scoreboard, because I wasn’t keeping track, but I think you guys won? It was a fun, fair game. – It was quite disappointing from the Marist side, you know, we’re big boys, we’re athletic, but obviously we didn’t have the skill there. It’s all good, there’s winners and losers. – Next time we should get a score tally, like they use in PE? – it’s all good, all in good spirit.”
Anonymous Marist player, on the results of the game.
Senior student and referee Sophie Martin said what we had all been thinking as the final result, 18-17, was called. “Girls Grammar won. That was always gonna happen, because we’re superior.”
After a few years of interruption at the hands of COVID-19, it was wonderful to see the CGGS vs. Marist netball game make its return, particularly now that we have a win under our belt. A big congratulations to the 2022 Senior Council for the well-deserved victory. We look forward to seeing whether our winning streak can continue next year!