Coonabarabran High School has reclaimed the annual Single Cup from Gilgandra in emphatic fashion.

The three high schools - Coonabarabran, Gilgandra and Coonamble - competed in a range of events on Wednesday, 34 August, with Coonabarabran coming away victorious.

Points were tallied up during the open rugby league, under 14’s rugby league, open netball, under 15’s netball, open girls’ and boys’ soccer, open girls’ and boys’ basketball, golf, tennis and lawn bowls.

Coonabarabran sports organiser, Colin Cousens said it was a fantastic day of competition.

“It was all played in good spirit and it was a really good day,” Mr Cousens said.

“Most of the kids know each other anyway from competing in weekend sports, so it made for a really fun day.”

Mr Cousens said the Coonabarabran team was relieved to walk away with the Cup, after losing out to Gilgandra in 2020.

“Prior to that, Coonabarabran had won it 10 years in a row,” he said.

“So the students were pretty happy to win it back again.”

Inception

This year’s Single Cup had extra significance, with the three schools celebrating the 50th year since the competition’s inception in 1971.

Former Coonabarabran High School principal, Mick McEntyre was the one of the event’s three founding members.

During his time as a teacher at Coonamble Mr McEntyre, along with fellow teacher, Ken Bogan and local businessman, Ken Single conceived the idea.

“We were sitting around talking about how there wasn’t a lot of junior sport around because of the isolation of the towns,” Mr McEntyre said.

“So we came up with the idea of an inter-school competition.”

The men contacted Coonabarabran and Gilgandra High Schools with the suggestion of a three-way competition across a range of sports.

“Ken (Single), being the local club’s secretary, said he would donate the trophy,” he said.

And so it became known as the Single Cup.

Mr McEntyre said the Single Cup was a massive deal when it first kicked off and was held over two days of competition.

He said the event’s inaugural competition set the tone for many years to come.

“It came down to the last match of open rugby league between Coonamble and Coonabarabran,” Mr McEntyre explained.

“Both captains from each side were sent off for fighting and then Ken Single’s son, Greg, was sent off from Coonamble’s side too.

“So we were down to 11 players and Coona was down to 12, but we still managed to hang on and win.”