Don’t be concerned by that loud sound of cheering swirling into the north of Canberra Sunday morning.
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That will just be the collective roar from Crookwell, should the Hockeyroos beat England to win Commonwealth Games gold.
Crookwell pair Kellie White and Emily Smith both starred in Australia’s 7-1 triumph over South Africa on Friday night. White grabbed a double in the win after Smith opened the scoring, and the dynamic duo have found the net seven times between them heading into Sunday morning’s game.
All of Crookwell has closely followed their progress in Glasgow, and the 2000-strong town will be out in force to watch the pair collect a gold medal.
“I have absolutely no doubt that all of Crookwell will be awake and they’ll be ready to watch,” White said.
“I know that my two nans and my parents and my brother, his girlfriend and my boyfriend will be watching.
“Pretty much all the family will be getting up. Em’s family will be getting up as well and watching it, live streaming it.
“The community back home has been fantastic, constantly getting emails and messages and Facebook, tweets, they’re all 100 per cent behind us telling us every day that they’re watching us and cheering for us back home.
“It’s such a wonderful community and we’re really really fortunate to have them by our side,” White said.
White and Smith are from two of the largest families in Crookwell and have been close since they started playing junior hockey together.
Early on the pair formed a formidable partnership on the field, and it was on show against South Africa in the 47th minute when Smith broke clear on the half-way line and dribbled the ball into the circle before giving the goal off to White.
“I owe her a couple of goals so it’s probably fair,” Smith said.
“We’re getting a lot of support and with the coverage back home I think it’s very exciting because they don’t get to watch us play that often at all.
“Being able to just actually watch us perform and see what we actually do, they’re really proud of us I think, that’s the vibe I get. They’re proud and happy to see us doing our thing.
“Everyone will be up, they’ll probably open the local pub and put it on the big screen or something.”
England will need to be careful this morning not to let White and Smith link up too often.
“Crookwell connection, that’s what we call it in the Hockeyroos, Em and I played together since we were this big, it just happens for us it’s quite easy,” White said.
“Both Em and I did all our juniors together and have come right through in the state stuff and Hockey Australia as well. We know where each other plays, we play off each other.
“When it’s not happening we know what to resort back to as well to get that back.”
COMMONWEALTH GAMES GOLD MEDAL MATCH
Hockeyroos v England
Glasgow National Hockey Centre
5.15am AEST
SEMI FINAL
AUSTRALIA 7 (Emily Smith 17’, Kellie White 21’, 47’, Georgina Parker 50’, 57’, Jane Claxton 50’, Georgia Nanscawen 67’) def SOUTH AFRICA 1 (Celia Evans 53’)
