IN one of the biggest changes in the history of touch football in Cootamundra, the 2009/10 season will see teams in all divisions revert to a six-a-side format.
Touch footy easily carries the highest participation level of any summer sport in town, with the number of registered players last season creeping up around the 500 mark.
The decision to revert to a six-a-side format was agreed to at Tuesday night’s Annual General Meeting which saw the greatest attendance for many years, with an even 20 people involved in the decision
making process.
Cootamundra is one of the last associations in the state to switch to the six player rule and the possibility now exists that the annual unisex carnival in January will also be played with six players per team on the field at any one time.
To allow teams that may have already finalised team members for the upcoming competition, each side can still nominate 14 players for the 2009/10 season,
however that maximum number will be trimmed back to 12 the following year.
In another major change it was agreed that this year’s C grade men’s competition will be for players 35 years and older and any teams that have members under this age group will automatically be placed into A or B grade.
Tuesday night’s meeting saw Stephen Cootes, Tisha McTavish and Kellyann Connell re-elected
unopposed executive positions of president, secretary and treasurer respectively, while Todd Basham has been appointed as referee’s coordinator.
All remaining attendees indicated their willingness to join the general committee, giving the association its biggest driving force for many years.
Basham indicated he may undertake the required training to allow him to become a qualified referee instructor with the possibility of then putting any interested players through their Level One referee’s certificate.
He is also hopeful of securing the services of enough qualified and/or interested referees to allocate at least one to each game every week.
This would not only reduce the pressure on the
rostered duty side but also allow the assigned referee to assist the player from the duty team who is
officiating on the opposite side of the field.
A number of issues were discussed in general
business including rules for heat, rain and lightning, semi final eligibility, judiciary hearings, complaints, bad language and team uniform, all of which will be given to the appointed team captains.
Nomination forms will are now available from all local pubs as well as the South West Slopes Credit Union, with the closing date for the men’s and women’s competitions being Monday, October 26.
Nomination fee has been set at $400 per side and nominations will not be accepted unless they are accompanied by the entry fee.
As has become tradition, the men’s and women’s competitions will kick off in the first week of November, with the ladies hitting the ground running on Wednesday, November 4 and the men the following night.
The unisex competition, which will also be played under the six-a-side format, will commence in
mid-November with teams asked to identify their preference of playing either on Monday or Friday night when they submit their nomination form.
Others in attendance at Monday night’s meeting were Kerry McKenzie, Michael Spencer, Sarah Martin, Megan Holt, Mark Elia, David Harris, Scott Meale, Peter Louttit, Paul Miller, Ric Becquet, Emma Deep, Jo Harris, Sal Ormond, Debbie Millington, Col Harris and Brendan Gale.
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