The historic NFL game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground wasn’t the only highly anticipated match to take place in the city last week, with seminarians from around Australia competing in the annual inter-seminary soccer tournament. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
The tournament, hosted by Corpus Christi College, the regional seminary for Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, saw teams compete in a round-robin tournament on September 12.
In addition to the hosts, players included seminarians from the Seminary of the Good Shepherd (Sydney Archdiocese), Holy Spirit Seminary (Brisbane Archdiocese), Vianney College Seminary (Wagga Wagga Diocese), Holy Spirit Seminary (Parramatta Diocese), S Charles Seminary (Perth Archdiocese) and Redemptoris Mater (the seminary for the Neocatechumenal Way, with players from both their Perth and Sydney campuses).
“This competition has been going for 30 years,” said Fr Daryl Montecillo, a formator at Corpus Christi College. “Some say that Sydney wanted to play rugby and Melbourne wanted to play AFL, so soccer was what we settled on!”
The teams arrived at Corpus Christi on Friday and gathered for vespers and an evening BBQ before the big draw and fixture announcement.
“It’s all drawn out of a hat, and there’s a lot of excitement for that,” Fr Montecillo said.
All seminarians gathered for Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Carlton on Saturday night.
The guys can get competitive but as soon as that whistle blows, they’re brothers and they’re working for a common cause, said Corpus Christi College formator Fr Daryl Montecillo.
Saturday’s event was the second time that Sydney-sider and fifth year seminarian Cronan took part in the tournament.
“The Archbishop [of Sydney, Anthony Fisher OP] wanted all the Sydney guys to come down and experience the camaraderie,” he said. Their team was quite disciplined, he said, with training every week.
The strategy paid off with Good Shepherd defeating Redemptoris Mater 1-0 in the final.Â
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A common goal: seminaries gather for annual soccer tournament (Melbourne Catholic)
