The Newcastle Jets have shown their support for the Special Olympics and the 2015 Asian Cup this week, two important sporting events to be hosted in Newcastle.
The Newcastle Jets have shown their support for the Special Olympics and the 2015 Asian Cup this week, two important sporting events to be hosted in Newcastle.
The partnership was sealed at a friendly mini-match involving Newcastle Jets A-League players, Nathan Burns and Sam Gallaway and Special Olympics footballers at Hunter Stadium on Thursday.
Australia-s 2015 Asian Cup has formed a strategic alliance with the Special Olympics 2013 Asia Pacific Games to celebrate Newcastle-s involvement as a host city for both events.
The Hunter Stadium is the venue for the opening ceremony on Sunday, December 1 of the first ever Special Olympics Asia Pacific Games (SOAPG) for athletes with an intellectual disability.
It will also host four matches, including a semi-final and the third-fourth place play-off, at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, the biggest football tournament ever staged in Australia.
The Jets players were tested by the talented athletes and were put under pressure when asked to act as goalkeepers for the team-s striking practice.
Gallaway and Burns were proud to get behind both the Special Olympics and the Asia Cup and to show their support for the young athletes.
The alliance between the major sporting events will bring plenty of benefits to Newcastle with thousands expected to attend.
The Asian Cup is Asia-s biggest sporting event. The 2015 tournament in Australia will be broadcast to 80 countries with a potential television reach of 2.5 billion.
About 3,500 international media and 45,000 tourists are expected to come to Australia for the event.
It will feature Asia-s top 16 teams playing 32 matches from January 9-31, 2015, in five host cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Newcastle.
The first ever Special Olympics 2013 Asia Pacific Games for athletes with an intellectual disability will take place between November 30 and 7 December 2013 with 2,500 athletes from nations around the Asia Pacific region taking part in nine sports across seven venues in the Newcastle-Hunter region.
The Special Olympics football competition in Newcastle will consist of men-s 11 a-side, and men-s and women-s 5 a-side and will start on Monday, December 2 through until Friday, December6. All games will be played at No. 2 Sportsground.
The Opening Ceremony for the Special Olympics will start at 7pm on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at Hunter Stadium, Newcastle.
To buy tickets to the Special Olympics 2013 Asia Pacific Games Opening Ceremony
visit CLICK HERE or call ProTicket on 1300 121 012.
