We are Canberrans who enjoy our sport. We have grown up playing and watching sport in Canberra. This website is designed to enable us to give back to Canberra and district sport. It is a place where all Canberra district sports followers and participants can discuss local, national and international sport.
The recent success of many Canberra sportsmen and women on the national and international stage provides an opportunity to both celebrate that success and to promote Canberra district sport to the wider world. A key aim of this website will be to encourage Canberra sports teams and individuals to greater success. We will celebrate the success of Canberra region sports teams and individuals, past and present, men and women.
ACT Minister for Sport, Mr Shane Rattenbury, MLA, formally launching the Yabba site. Photo: David Grant
We want to encourage more Canberra district sports teams to enter national competitions. The fact we have no Canberra district sports teams in the national cricket and basketball competitions is both a disappointment and a challenge. And until we have an AFL team of our own, we will support the Greater Western Sydney Giants because of their commitment to Canberra.
Through this website, we will recognise the positive impact of sport, not just on the health of individuals, but also on community well being in general and understanding in a multicultural society. We will also seek to have a positive impact on sports administration, policies and rules consistent with our philosophies.
An important part of our philosophy is to promote women’s sport. We will encourage more women to participate in sport and also to take an interest in women’s sport. At present, less than 50 per cent of women in Australia watch sport. A greater interest in sport by women will encourage an increase in broadcasting of women’s sport and through this, greater sponsorship of women’s sport.
‘Yabba’ statue by Cathy Weiszmann
Why is this site called Yabba? Yabba was an iconic Australian sports follower. He understood sport. He was known for his capacity to come up with a witty one liner that often reflected what many in the crowd were thinking. In his day, one of the few ways to let those views be known was to shout this out at the game. We think Yabba would have been in his element today through clever posts on the internet. We aim for this site to do justice to the Yabba tradition and memory.
