MOREE has always been regarded as a New South Wales bush sporting capital across many codes.

And the well-credentialled title was pushed through the nets on Saturday when hundreds of players, parents, carers, family members, and spectators and friends, crammed Ron Harborne Oval for the Moree Junior Soccer Club’s season finale and trophy presentation morning.

Club president Ben Dawson said the 2025 season has been one of the best on record.

“It’s a credit to the town,” Dawson said.

“Everyone has come along and chipped in, and everything went well. The crowds have kept coming all year.”

The last morning of junior soccer for 2025 fittingly preceded Moree Services FC Blues 2-1 grand-final win against Narrabri FC Elevens in the Namoi Football League senior competition on Saturday.

“It’s been an amazing year for sport in Moree, when you think of rugby union and rugby league, and now the soccer as well,” Dawson said.

This season, nearly 400 children signed up for all age divisions as well as MiniRoos, a skills program designed for kids of all abilities, aged between four and 11.

The program uses short, game-based sessions to introduce newcomers to soccer and focuses on learning skills, being active and making friends.

“The roll-outs we’ve been getting every weekend have been absolutely sensational,” Dawson said.

“We had 380 players this year and that was up slightly on last year. We also increased the divisions, and added MiniRoos for the smaller kids.

“MiniRoos is not so much about playing, but more about drills. That brought another 40 or 50 kids along each week and MiniRoos gets them into the system – our goal next year is to get 500 players across all divisions,” he said.

Having 400-odd kids kicking soccer balls all over Ron Harborne Oval this season meant plenty of committee members and plenty of coaches were needed – and that wasn’t a problem either, Dawson said.

“We’ve got more people on the committee now as well,” he said.

“The season has been big, with slightly more registrations than last year. But again, it comes back to having more people helping – more hands on deck.

“We tapped all coaches on the shoulder and every single one of them stepped up,” he said.

“It’s a big job, but it’s worked so well and they’ve all chipped in and helped.

“We have 40 teams, and 30 coaches – MiniRoos don’t have coaches – and we also started a WhatsApp group for communications from the committee to the coaches.

“The coaches also have their own WhatsApp group to the parents, so we’ve got communication the whole way through.

“We use that to communicate about playing, pack-up and set-up, and jobs that need to be done – it works really well,” Dawson said.

Division 6-7 most-improved awards went to Memphis Young, Colt Rowe, Poppy Moore, Arabella Williams, Lyla Taunton, Isabelle Tidmarsh, Lucas Hooper, Jeremy Knapman, Maddie Ross, Florence Cork.

Division 8-9 most-improved went to Esther Cobb, Jack Nolan, Olivia Moore, Ari Macey, Letti Ward, Billie Brennan, Wilfred Pollard, Sadie Baker, Kayla Townsend and Rhys McKnight, with best-and-fairest going to Austin Legg, Farrah Bailey, Alice Allen, Blake Young, Hugh Meppem, Coen Reading’ Darryl Smith, Tahlan Lohse, Isabelle Boland and Jack Estens-Young.

Division 10-11 most-improved were Jakob Schneebli, Sophia Cutler, Jahmerekai Prince, Cooper Lablack, Evie Woods and Indi Rose Simmonds, with best-and-fairest going to Hamish Paine, Campbell Vickery, Campbell Smith, Will Smith, Angus Meppem and Aston Mulligan.

Division 12-16 most-improved were Dakota Bateman, Isaac Jackson, Alex South and Frederick Phillips, with Digby Adams, Annabel Honour, Jonah Strahan, Patrick Maas and Elsie Strahan named best-and-fairest.

The Deluxe Café Moree Sportsmanship Awards went to Robert Watson and Sophie Graham, with Elsie Strahan named division best-and-fairest.

Dawson thanked sponsors Vitonga Farming, Scott Girard Grader Hire, Townsend Carpentry and Tiling, Williams Bulk Fertiliser & Logistics, Harborne Auto Electrical & Airconditioning, Agriware, Hip Pocket, Print Anything, Heffernan Electrical and CS and Sons Contracting.

“The year was a huge success, thanks to out hard-working committee and many volunteers who helped out every weekend – and we’re now recruiting for next year,” Dawson smiled.