Left: Casey Cougars women’s team playing coach Carly Goodrich, who is also a Touch Football Victoria game development officer, prepares to offload at Frog Hollow Reserve on Saturday.By Marc McGowan
THE best touch footballers in the state rolled into Endeavour Hills’ Frog Hollow Reserve on Saturday to showcase the hybrid version of rugby league and union.
The four teams in the inaugural Touch Football Victoria (TFV) season – the Casey Cougars, the Melbourne City Lions, the Bayside Vipers and the University Blues – were all in action.
All clubs have a men’s and women’s squad, with the league set to expand to six franchises in 2008.
The Cougars remain undefeated through eight rounds in the men’s competition after a pair of victories on the weekend, while their women’s side claimed one of their two matches.
They now lead the overall standings, which combine the men’s and women’s results, heading into the final round at Trinity Grammar School in Kew on Saturday.
But the most important aspect of the games was to promote the up-and-coming sport, which is played on a 70m by 50m field – half the normal size of a rugby ground.
Junior clinics were also held before the players graced the park.
TFV state manager David Brady is hoping touch football explodes in Victoria.
“It’s a fun game to be involved in for all ages, it’s very low contact and very short in terms of being 40-minutes long, with 20-minute halves,” he said.
“You can play men’s or women’s or at mixed level.
“When you take the ball over the line it is called a touchdown and you score one point and there are no conversions.”
Teams can have up to 14 registered players, but only six are allowed on the field at any one time.
TFV game development officer and Eumemmerring resident Ali Tuai, who is also the assistant coach and manager of the Cougars, explained that the new league was about bridging the gap between Victoria and the other states.
“Touch Football has been around for a long time, but we’ve struggled at nationals,” he said.
“We’ve created this competition and everyone is talking highly of it and we’ll be playing our best touch at the right end of the season.
“We finish and head right into the trans-Tasman tournament in December then we have nationals in Coffs Harbour in March.”
Endeavour Hills Touch Association runs AusTouch clinics at Frog Hollow Reserve between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on Wednesdays and a senior competition from 6.30pm on Thursdays.
Sixteen of the 32 places in the men’s and women’s Victorian trans-Tasman New Zealand teams were taken by the Cougars when the selections were named this week.
Four Casey competitors were also chosen in the women’s Victorian trans-Tasman Australian outfit.
