FOOTY season isn’t quite over for the University of Ballarat Football Club, which will head to Queensland’s Gold Coast this Sunday to compete at the Australian University Games.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The team enjoyed a successful stint at the Southern University Games this July, where it secured bronze.
It has subsequently been seeded fourth out of the 15 universities competing in the round-robin event.
The 28-strong squad consists of players from 20 different clubs and a dozen Victorian leagues.
Coach Mitch Murray is excited about the prospect of his diverse group pulling off something to remember at the Queensland event.
“With the university changing its name to Federation University Australia next year, this will be the last chance for us to come together and get our names on the plaque under the University of Ballarat name,” Murray said.
“The team will play more than 320 minutes of football over the course of the four days, and this will be a great test for us both mentally and physically as the conditions we will be playing in are vastly different to those in Ballarat.
“It’s also about the opportunity to wind down and relax after a hard year of study.”
The UBFC’s 22-strong women’s team will also make the trip up to the Gold Coast.
They will be alongside more than 200 students from the University of Ballarat who will be competing across 14 different sports at the games.
The games will run from September 29 through to October 4, with more than 7500 students expected to contest a total of 41 sports.
michael.pollock@fairfaxmedia.com.au