Royal Park Touch

Each year Touch Football Victoria holds the Affiliates Cup tournament where teams from each of the affiliated competitions in Victoria come to compete against each other to be crowned the winner of the Affiliates Cup. This year it will be held on Sunday 26th February at Frog Hollows Reserve, Endeavour Hills. 

The event will have the following groups participating:

Mixed Championship, Mixed Social, Mens Open, Womens Open, Under 20′s (Men/Women), Over 27′s (Women), Over 30′s (Men), Over 35′s (Women) and Over 40′s (Men).

Royal Park Touch would like to send at least one team in the Mixed Social division plus any additional team subject to demand. With social divisions available anyone can play.

If you are a player or a whole team interested in playing in this tournament all you need to do is contact:

Pete Shaw
Mob: 0414 315 957
E-mail:royalparktouch@gmail.com

The draw for the final two regular season rounds has been published here:

http://www.royalparktouch.com/season-draw/

and the ladders here:

http://www.royalparktouch.com/ladders/

All grades are very even, with most teams having a chance of playing finals. However those teams missing the finals do not miss out at RPT as those teams that miss the finals still get a run in our comp over both weeks. This year our season has been extended to 15 weeks so all teams will have a minimum of 13 games (most will play 14).

Please be aware that for the rest of the season the kickoff of the first time slot has returned to being 6PM.

Also as I am sure you are aware Thursday is a public holiday. Given there is no work the next day for most and the forecast is finally for some good weather Wednesday is looking good for social Touch and a good opportunity to have a few snags from the BBQ and relax with a few drinks either in Princes Park or at the pub afterwards.

Team captains

This is just a general update to let you all know about some important things.

Draws

Draws are available here: http://www.royalparktouch.com/season-draw/.

The bottom two grades have now been set, after next weeks rounds the top two grades will be split into three and a draw for the rest of the season will be published.

Also note that during December and early January the kick off of the first game will be pushed back to 6:10 PM.

Uniforms penalties begin this week
We have received some questions about uniforms and what constitutes a uniform at RPT. For the first 7 rounds the only requirement is that a team is clothed in tops (t-shirt, polo, etc) of a similar colour. The tops do not need to be the same but they do need to be close enough in colour and design that the referee can tell players are on the same team.

Teams may be penalised for players not in uniform. The penalty will be in the form of tries per player not clothed in matching top awarded to the non offending team (up to a maximum of 2 tries).

After next week (week the same policy applies to unique numbers on the back, numbers can be in taped on but they must be legible to the referee.

BBQ and Great Northern Hotel
As soon as we get a warm Wednesday night we will be bringing back the BBQ. We will be selling sauages and drinks so get involved.

This year we are sponsorred again by the Great Northern Hotel. See below for more information.

As per our weather policy we will be playing touch tonight. 

Unlike other competitions that cancel rounds (making the season shorter) we prefer (providing conditons are safe) to leave the decision in the hands of our players. In the unlikely event a round is cancelled we will update the website and send a general email immediately to all team contacts/captains.

The below outlines our wet weather policy.

Weather Policy

At RPT we only cancel or postpone games if we consider conditions dangerous for our players. The two primary examples of this are:

•  Lightning in the imminent area such that it may strike competitors. This will generally be judged on the night and if lightning is imminent games will be temporarily be halted until it clears.
• Extreme heat,  which we interpret as temperatures above 38 degrees

Referees

This season RPT has grown by 25%. This along with the retirement of some key experienced referees means that we need to expand our referee base. As such we will be initiating a referee bonus system. All teams with a nominated referee will get a bonus point for every game refereed by that player or three bonus points for any player who completes a level 1 referees course.

The bonus points will be capped at three points per team.

There are two free level one referees courses on the 30th of October and 5th of November. Referees are vital to Touch so please spread the word.

Draw

A draw for the first round and a calendar for the various rounds throughout the year has beeen published here: http://www.royalparktouch.com/season-draw/

Like last season the first two weeks of the season will be grading rounds. These rounds along with your team nomination will be used to determine your teams ultimate grade for regular season play. Please note that given our expansion this season there are some new teams so mismatches in grading may occurr. But grading enables us to match teams closely over the remainder of the season.