Kansas City Tournament

In what everyone agreed was the best tournament ever, the Denver Bulldogs defended their crown thanks to a one-point win over an up and coming Dallas Magpie side,

The tournament was moved up a month from previous years to avoid the scorching heat, and this proved to be a winner with players and specators alike. Saturday's slate of 6 games was played in perfect 83 F. weather, while Sunday's steady rain provided players with a taste of good old Victorian football from Down Under.

Also gone were the lopsided scores of previous years, proving that Aussie Rules Football has come a long ways in the Midwest. While Denver and Chicago still proved to be strong and formidable sides, teams from Dallas, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Illinois proved they could give the top clubs all they could handle.

New Power President, Brian Furr, can take much of the credit for the success of the tournament, which ran like clockwork from accomodations, to social get-togethers, to concessions, to getting the games off on time.

After a great opening day of football, which once again received coverage on local television station Fox4, a fantastic evening event was held at the Grand Falloon in Kansas City's scenic Country Club Plaza. All teams turned up in great numbers, prizes and awards were handed out liberally, and everyone had a great time. Oh, and one or two Cooper's were consumed as well.

Back to the football, Chicago were once again the runners-up to Denver, but as mentioned, the gap is closing between all the sides. In the best and fairest voting, Kyle Weir of Denver took first place in a close vote over Dallas' David Greg and Chicago's Daniel Bubaris

Kansas City teamed with St,. Louis for the second time, and showed great improvement over their performance in last year's nationals. The combined side played very competitive matches against Dallas, Denver and Chicago, which greatly boosted the team's confidence. There has been always a good competitive spirit between the two clubs, and knw the friendships between the two are growing as well. The two will pair again in three more tournaments this year and all are looking forward to it.

Too many to name but deserving of huge credit are all of the Power friends and supporters who turned out to operate the booths and help with the umpiring. It is fairly certain that this year's event set a record for fund-raising, setting the stage for an even bigger and better event in 2002.

Huge thanks are also due to the league as well as all the visiting players and families who came a long ways to make the tournament the success it was. We look forward to seeing each and every one of you back next year.

- Kirk Kirkpatrick
(98)