The current year has been challenging for most major events to navigate, and nowhere is that being felt more than by the organisers of the National Indigenous Touch Football Championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The event, now in it's fourth year, pits the best of the best up and coming and established touch football players against one another in a Knockout format.
While health and safety are always at the forefront due to the sponsorship of the Quit B Fit program and other Indigenous health initiatives, this year it's taken on a more immediate reality, with COVID restrictions limiting how many people can attend, and how many teams will play.
READ ALSO:
According to organiser Jodie Evans, the contest is 'full steam ahead', with three divisions for the mixed teams format and the under 15s and 12s age groups.
"We've got about twenty odd teams, and for us, it's really hard to continue an event like this and keep it growing during COVID, because with all those players, we're nearly at our maximum attendance just from the people competing," Evans said.
That figure also includes referees, officials and parents for the kids games, further limiting an already tight cap of 500 people total.
"It fills up that 500 very, very quickly, so sadly we do have that hard limit to contend with, but we're pushing through, the plan was to have the Tribal League on the Saturday running in conjunction and then Sunday, we'd be playing back on the big oval, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like that will happen."
Instead, the competition will likely take place on Katrina Gibbs Oval, with the usual stomping grounds for the local touch football competition hosting the Championships this year.
That's come about due to unforeseen conditions that limit the use of Apex Oval's extraneous fields.
But despite the blows that COVID has caused for the competition, including limiting the contest to only NSW teams due to the border closures with Queensland and Victoria, Evans and other organisers are optimistic about the continued success of the competition.
"The biggest hurdle for us is the Queensland border being closed, it's had a huge impact on our teams and players, we actually really need to have and keep this going because we see that there's so much potential to keep it growing, but with the borders being closed between Vic and Queensland, it's difficult to keep growing the event when you have those restrictions," Evans said.
"It's a huge positive to still be getting the message out there, especially for our Quit B Fit teams, it's also bringing dollars into town in terms of tourism, it's huge for encouraging those young kids more importantly making sure they're a healthy and fit and staying away from drugs and alcohol and making sure they're in these active sports."
"It's a huge positive for us locally."
The 2020 Indigenous Touch Football Knockout will begin on Saturday, November 7 and run across Sunday, November 8 at Katrina Gibbs Oval.