The Canberra Raiders have continued their partnership with Touch Football ACT with the support of the Touch Football ACT’s Junior AusSquad Program for a second year.
The program has seen a massive growth in participation, increasing from 70 junior participants in 2015 to over 160 juniors for 2016.
Once a month from May to September, participants attend the program at the Canberra Raiders HQ, where they learn and development their Touch Football skills from qualified coaches and some of ACT’s elite players.
Canberra Raiders Commercial and Marketing Manager, Jason Mathie said it was fantastic to see so many kids having an interest in Touch Football.
“We hear a lot about problems with obesity and there are plenty of choices that kids have to play a range of different sports. It’s great to see young kids playing Rugby League but the sport isn’t suitable for everyone.
It’s really encouraging that we see not only a lot of young males playing but females coming through to play the different codes of football such as Rugby League and Touch Football”.
“I’ve played Touch Football for a number of years and plenty of our senior players in the NRL squad currently play. It’s really exciting to have Rugby League and Touch Football working together”.
With Touch Football having such a big participation rate Mathie finds that it is a great privilege and an advantage to be able to promote the Raiders brand to a greater audience, and hopes ‘the Touch Football community can get a lot out of us and out of Rugby League’s association’.
Touch Football ACT Sport Operations Manager, Greg Richards-Riches said the partnership between the organisation and the Canberra Raiders has seen many benefits.
“Since the strategic partnership agreement between Touch Football Australia and the NRL, Touch Football ACT has been with the Canberra Raiders for three years. The partnership with the Raiders and Touch Football ACT has grown from strength to strength, from the AusSquads Program right through to the naming of our elite teams, ACT Raiders.”
“What we’re doing with the Raiders has not just been a name change. Together we are creating an opportunity for those involved, doesn’t matter if they play tackle or touch they can become part of the Raiders family.”
