History
Touch started in Australia in 1923 as a social or “park” game and as a training technique for Rugby League teams during the 1950s and 60s. It was never seen as a sport in its own right. Eventually more and more people turned to touch for a safe social game to play and it soon became inevitable that an official competition would be held.
It was formalised into a sport proper by the “Founders of Touch”, Bob Dyke and Ray Vawdon of the South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club. On 13 July 1968 the “South Sydney Touch Football Club” was formed and the sport of Touch Football was born. The first official game of Touch was played in late 1968 at Pioneer Park and the first official competition, organised by Dyke & Vawdon, was held at Snape Park, Sydney in 1969.
In 1979 the Queensland Touch association was formed, with the four initial districts of North Queensland, Central Queensland, South East Queensland and Wide Bay. The game soon blossomed in New South Wales as well and in 1980 the inaugural National Championships were held. Only three divisions were contested in that year, being the men’s and women’s open, and the men’s over 35s. By 2005 the National Touch League (NTL) catered for Open, Under 20′s and Senior Divisions.
From these humble beginnings the game quickly became a fully regulated and codified sport. It was first played in Brisbane in 1972 and by 1973 there were representative games. It had spread to New Zealand by 1975.
The establishment of the first national body, the Australian Touch Football Association came in 1976. A highlight came after the drawn Sydney Rugby League Grand Final of 1977 when the rematch needed a curtain-raiser and rugby league officials asked the newly formed ATFA to provide the prelude game. With a crowd of 40,000+ this game helped to raise the profile of Touch in Australia and was nothing short of spectacular according to Bob Dyke in the book “The Story of Touch”.
Another profile raiser came in 1978 when the Sydney Metropolitan Touch Football side played the touring Great Britain Rugby League Team in a high-scoring match, with the local team winning with a disputed touchdown on the siren. As more people began to play Touch more organised competitions developed.
The game has also expanded rapidly in recent years, especially in the South Pacific, Europe and United Kingdom. There are currently 250,000 registered Touch players with approximately 500,000 school children playing the sport.
Touch Football at Rosalie
Touch Football was first played at Rosalie Park during the 1970s, informally as part of training for the rugby players from Wests Subiaco.
The game gathered momentum during the late 80s as Touch became recognised in its own right and gained popularity.
The Rosalie Touch Association became affiliated with the then governing body of the sport in WA, Touchwest, in 1991 around the same time as the building of the current clubhouse.
Ably led by inaugural President, Andre Gauci the competition grew during the 90s with highlights including Rosalie winning the Men’s open at the State Championships in 1998.
Since that time, Rosalie has been successful in producing a number of State Representatives and has won State Championships in Men’s 30s and 40s, Women’s 27s and Mixed.
Currently the summer competition runs from October to February with approximately 60 teams playing on Thursday night.
A smaller mixed and men’s competition runs from May to late July on a Wednesday night.
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