Orange Hawks has renamed its touch football gala day in memory of Bloomfield Tigers junior Harry Greenhalgh to "allow other kids the chance to have what Harry had".
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Thirteen-year-old Harry died on New Year's Day in a water skiing accident which shocked the club and Orange community, triggering an outpouring of grief for the Bloomfield junior, who was a constant presence around the senior and junior clubs.
The gala day ran for the first time in 2019, but Hawks are cementing the event as an annual one to bring the senior club and its feeder organisation the Bloomfield Tigers together, which gala day coordinator Bobby Wycamp said embodied everything Harry loved about rugby league.
The least we could do for our club was to cement this day as an annual event which we wanted to do after last year.
- Hawks gala day coordinator Bobby Wycamp
"I feel like it's fitting to name it after Harry because it's everything he was involved with as a young man," said Mr Wycamp, who is also assistant coach of the club's premier league side.
"Harry's been a massive part of our club. I've personally known him since he was born being a Eugowra guy. He ran the water every week, he was here at training every session, he made his old man play till he was 100 because he loved it so much and didn't want him to miss out.
"It's a massive loss and it really hurt our community, plus the Orange community as a whole, and I think that was proven on the size of the funeral they had. The least we could do for our club was to cement this day as an annual event which we wanted to do after last year."
The social games will pit teams with senior men, league tag women, juniors and retired players together to help players get to know each other across all age groups and build bridges across the two clubs, with a focus on bringing Bloomfield Tigers youngsters into the fold.
Harry's parents Tammy and Jason Greenhalgh have been heavily involved with Bloomfield - Mr Greenhalgh is the current president - and Mr Wycamp said the clubs' "really hard" work over the course of the last couple of seasons was to strengthen the relationship between senior and junior clubs.
Senior players have coached several junior sides in recent years, and the gala day - which the Greenhalgh family is heavily involved in - was the next step.
"It's a full social event to allow other kids the chance to have what Harry had, he was with us all the time and he loved it. To be able to provide that for other junior kids really breeds that love for our club," Mr Wycamp said.
He said mixing ages and genders meant "it's not about winning and losing" - although he laughed and admitted towards the pointy end of the event the friendly competitiveness kicked up a notch - and was a social day to bring people down to the club.
"We had old boy's teams, we had sponsors, it was really good and we want to do more with it. The kids loved it, the players here loved it and everyone wants to be involved," Mr Wycamp said.
Mr Wycamp said the event, which will be held on April 4 and be officially named the Harry Greenhalgh Memorial Touch Footy Gala Day, would "definitely have a tribute" to the teenage.
"We haven't ironed out any of the details but when we do we'll make sure the community knows it's for him and that it'll continue to be run in his name in the future," Mr Wycamp said.
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