Written by Isabella Smith
The Line and Length Cup is a significant annual event for both the Mitchell Rugby Union Club and CSU Mungoes Rugby league Club, and brings together players, fans, and the wider community in a shared celebration of sport, friendship, and local pride to raise money and awareness for mental health.
Line and Length was established by a group of mates who met at Charles Sturt University Bathurst and was a combination of Mitchell Rugby and CSU Mungoes players. After the sudden passing of a fellow mate of the rugby club, and the onset of their own mental health issues after leaving University, they set up an organisation dedicated to creating conversations that saves lives. They travel around Australia encouraging open discussion around mental health, helping to reduce the stigma and promote positive wellbeing. Working closely with the team at line and length and supporting a cause very close to all within our community, the line and length cup was established, traditionally contested by CSU Mitchell Rugby Union and the Mungoes.
The Line and Length Cup has become an important event for the Charles Sturt Bathurst community, as it brings together rival codes with a shared goal of promoting mental health awareness and raising much needed funds for the cause. For many students, mental wellbeing is a critical issue. The Line and Length Cup are a great way to create conversations and raise money for mental health services. The significance of the event goes beyond the game itself – it’s an opportunity for the CSU community to come together for a great cause.
The cup began with a special presentation from the boys at Line and Length, which highlighter the work they do, shared inspiring stories and discussed the awareness of how everyone can get involved in supporting mental health. It was an incredible opportunity to meet the Line and Length Team, ask those much-needed questions about addressing mental health, and how to check in on mates, allowing those often “awkward” conversations to happen.
The annual aggregate cup involves a 2-game series, with the first game being played is Rugby Union, played by just the men’s team and the second game is Rugby League being played by both the men’s and women’s teams from both clubs. To raise money for Line and Length, each club hosts a game at their home field and chooses things that can go towards the funds; whether this being entry fee to the field, money from food and drinks sold at canteen etc., each club raises money to ultimately give to the Line and Length team.
Our first round of the cup was a clash between the Mitchell and Mungoe Men in a game of Rugby Union at the Zoo It was a hotly contested game, however the Mitchell men came out on top with a 24 – 12 win over the CSU Mungoes.
The second round of the cup was a clash between the Custards and Mungals in a game of Rugby league, at the Mungoes turf, which is a change for both sides with the custards having to learn the rules of league and the Mungals learning to tackle. This game has always been a very close one, and always one to watch. However, the Custards came out on top with a 24 – 12 win over the Mungals.
The game was then followed by the clash between the Mustards and Mungoes in a game of league. Always a fierce game, but the Mungoes came out on top with a 40 – 18 win over the Mustards. The overall cup went to the Mungoes which was a final score of 52 – 42.
At the end of cup, at total of $3000 was raised to go to the team at Line and Length, to go towards their continual work in promoting mental health awareness across Australia. We cannot thank Line and Length enough for their continual support and allowing our teams to support such an amazing initiative!
Find out more about Line and Length here.
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