Eagles Lacrosse Club

Ms HOOD (Adelaide) (15:15): I rise today to speak about the Eagles Lacrosse Club, of which I am patron and have been since the start of 2022. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Eagles and North Adelaide lacrosse clubs on their outstanding win on 16 September this year in the Men's State League competition, the state's highest level interclub competition for men. I also wish to congratulate the global lacrosse community on reaching its goal of rejoining the Olympics for 2028 and beyond.

The Eagles and North Adelaide lacrosse clubs combined to form the North Eagles lacrosse team for this competition and defeated the reigning champions, Brighton Lacrosse Club, in a thrilling match 17-8. I would particularly like to congratulate goalie Jordan Cox from the North Eagles lacrosse team on winning the President's Medal for best player on the field.

The Eagles Lacrosse Club was established as the West Torrens Lacrosse Club in 1914, and in 2014 moved to its current location at Parndo Yerta, Charles Cane Reserve, in the City of Prospect council area. Next year, the Eagles Lacrosse Club will be celebrating its 110^th anniversary, which is an incredible achievement. The City of Prospect Mayor, Matt Larwood, has ably led the Eagles Lacrosse Club as president for more than 10 years up until the start of 2023, when he stepped down to let Andrew O'Callaghan, current president, and Andrew Glazbrook, deputy president, take the reins.

The Eagles Lacrosse Club runs on the smell of an oily rag, but is ably supported by its passionate committee: Andrew O'Callaghan, Andrew Glazbrook, Merry Brown, Robin Pearce, Nola Bellenger, Bec Kennedy, Malcolm Frith, Phillipa Sharpe, Chris Larwood, Elle Larwood, Oliver North and Lauren O'Callaghan. I wish to place on the record my appreciation of the voluntary work that these people contribute to their club and to thank them for always warmly receiving me every time I visit their club or attend a game. Again, I congratulate the men's North Eagles lacrosse team on winning the 2023 Men's State League competition.

With the time I have left, I would also like to congratulate the organisers of this year's Feast Festival, which is now in its final week. I attended the Picnic in the Park last weekend and it was great to see all three levels of government at the Rainbow Labor stall: myself, representing the state government; David Elliott, representing Adelaide City Council; and Senator Karen Grogan, representing the federal government.

It was an amazing day to celebrate our LGBTIQA+ community. It was also timely given that the Feast Festival coincided with me, along with my colleagues in the other place, the Hon. Michelle Lensink and the Hon. Robert Simms, establishing the Parliamentary Friends of LGBTIQA+ group. It is going to be a group where people from the community can come together and advocate and share their issues and also celebrate and acknowledge the work of that community. I would like to thank Becc Galdies from the SA Rainbow Advocacy Alliance for her efforts in helping us establish this parliamentary group.

I hope they enjoy the rest of the Feast Festival. I know a lot of people had sore heads at the Picnic in the Park on the Sunday, having attended the Marys in the Park pop festival/concert the day before. It was a gorgeous weekend of celebrating inclusion, accessibility and coming together as a community, and I congratulate the organisers again on a very successful festival.