Newman community honours fallen officers at the 2022 Bloody Slow Cup

A moving remembrance ceremony and tribute sporting spectacle was held in Newman over the weekend to pay respects to four police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. The Bloody Slow Cup weekend, held on October 21-23, is one of the most important days on the Newman calendar, with the community coming together to remember the tragic loss. In 2001, Senior Constable Phillip Ruland, First Class Const. David Dewar, Sen. Const. Donald Everett and Const. Gavin Capes were travelling in a light plane to Newman Airport. The officers were returning from duty at the Kiwirrkurra community on January 26 when their plane went down, killing them instantly. The event was the greatest loss of police life in a single incident in Australian history. Beginning in 2005, the Bloody Slow Cup was created by then officer-in-charge of the police station, Geoff Stewart and his colleague Tony Signal, an officer from New Zealand, as a take-off of the Bledisloe Cup rugby international played between the All Blacks and Wallabies. The memorial service was attended by WA police, community members and emergency services personnel, who gathered at the crash site about 10km outside of the town. Various activities were held over the weekend in the lead-up to the Bloody Slow Cup tournament on Saturday night. In the rugby, Australia proved last year’s hard-fought victory was no fluke with a dominant 19-point victory over New Zealand Australia reclaimed the cup last year after four long years and were determined to retain it. Australia came out firing and dominated the contest, running away with the victory 27-8 in a one-sided affair. Other sports contests included golf, women’s and men’s cricket, soccer as well as touch rugby. Funds raised throughout the lead-up to the event went towards WA Police Legacy, an organisation that cares for families of police officers who have lost their lives while serving their communities.