Key Motors Key Moments: Our Favourite Moments From 2023 : Townsville Saints

The last twelve months have been filled with sever exciting moments, so here's just a few that we're proud of.

1 - Game fees are going, going, gone!

In February, after months of number-crunching, we were able to remove game fees from all of our senior competitions, bringing consistency across both our senior and junior divisions (TJT removed game fees back in 2019). A smaller amount (equivalent to 14 games instead of the full season) was absorbed into the nomination fee paid by each team, which meant that players paid less to play touch this year! Best of all, we made our summer season even cheaper!

2 - Rum Runners & Brothers claimed the 2023 Colliers Shield!

July saw Rum Runners continue their unbeaten grand final run in the Women's A-grade, with a convincing victory over Crocs. The Rum Runners side (undefeated in over four years) finished top of the table and entered the grand final match as clear favourites, against the second-placed Crocs side who had only suffered two losses during the regular season (Brothers in round 12 and Rum Runners in round 13). Two earlier encounters between the sides had resulted in draws, but the Rum Runners side was clinical and took home an 8-2 win.

The Men's A-grade encounter was a closer affair, with scores level at half-time, though it was the calm and meticulous Brothers side that claimed the win. Sharks went into the final as favourites after finishing the regular season on top of the ladder and taking an early victory against Brothers in the first (non-elimination) semi-final, but the determined Brothers side was too good in the end, taking the match 9-6.

Read more >> Full draw and results

3 - We inducted two new Life Members!

In July we recognised two of our most dedicated members, with the bestowment of Life Membership to Suzanne Salter and Kerrod Hall for their years of hard work supporting our association and members. The two new Life Members come from different technical arms of our sport - Salter as a coach, Hall as a referee - with both reaching international level status within their respective careers and using that experience to drive development at grass roots level. Together they have given a combined 31 years of service to TTF, through several committee roles at junior and senior level.

In our association's rich fifty-year history, just three others have been named Life Members - Barry Peters, Glen Wilson (both 1990), and Paul Edmondson (2021).

4 - Representative activities saw a major rebirth, with the Saints programme truly taking flight!

Off the back of the hard work by our new representative sub-committee, the Townsville Saints programme truly took flight in April with fifteen junior Townsville Saints teams competing at the 2023 Junior State Cup North. The junior programme continued through to July, where ten junior Saints teams travelled to contest the QLD Junior State Cup in Rockhampton.

In November, four Townsville Saints teams competed in the QLD State Cup on the Gold Coast, with our Mixed Premier division side bowing out in the semi-finals, Men's Under 20's finishing fourth, Men's Over 40's placing fifth, and, best of all...

5 - OUR SENIOR MIXED SIDE ARE STATE CHAMPIONS!

A touch football masterclass by Kristian Congoo and Michael Law led a superstar-filled Townsville Saints Mixed Over 30's team to victory at the 2023 QLD State Cup, taking out the title with a convincing 14-10 defeat of Coolum.

6 - We're going to the NTL!

Player-driven passion for representative touch footy, and a change to Touch Football Australia's National Touch League (NTL) eligibility rules, have resulted in the first ever Townsville Saints side to compete at the NTL!

Men's and Women's sides conducted three "train & trial" sessions through December, and are now gearing up to take on the best teams from across the country in Coffs Harbour next March.