The first meet of the second annual Soccer and Netball Tournament at Mercy College, Mirrabooka on Sunday 6 November was, perhaps, the latest manifestation. Thirteen mostly parish-based soccer, and five netball, teams took to their respective theatres of battle, thrashing it out in a day of fun and fitness, punctuated with a little light rain. It’s not the first time sport has been a draw card for the parish.
When organiser Fr Bonaventure Echeta’s soccer team began practising on the college grounds three years ago, male drivers and pedestrians would stop to see what was going on and how they could get involved.
Finding out the team was founded and coached by a priest, he said, proved a segue to many fruitful conversations about God and faith.
“It’s grassroots evangelisation,” Fr Bonaventure, 37, said of his soccer and netball ventures to date. “Most times Christ wants us to be closer to one another … and when people are close together they can pray together,” he said.
Shortly after becoming assistant priest at Mirrabooka, he founded and continues to coach the Westminster Angels – a soccer team for young Catholic men and last year’s winners of the inaugural Soccer and Netball Tournament soccer trophy.
Sunday’s meet was the first of two; an opportunity for every player to get a game before the real competition begins on Sunday 13 November. Archbishop Barry Hickey got the ball rolling with an official kick-off which also featured other dignitaries and netball organiser, Vanessa Franse.
The archbishop greeted each team before offering sporting words of encouragement.
Soccer matches were an almost entirely male affair while the netball competition was more mixed.
Teams hailed from as far away as Kwinana and Clarkson; Bateman and Whitfords and the Burmese Catholic Community fielded two teams each.