Narrabri Touch excited to host inaugural Yowie Cup next month

A new sporting tournament will be held in the Narrabri Shire next month when Narrabri Touch hosts the 2023 Yowie Cup at Dangar Park, the home of the Narrabri Blue Boars.

The Yowie Cup is a new mixed touch footy knockout tournament that will be held on Saturday, March 18.

The inaugural event will see teams split into three divisions – opens, over-35s and 16-years-and-under.

It is a one-day event and will begin at about 12pm, with the opens grand final expected to start at 8pm.

Narrabri Touch president Mereka Gleeson said that the event was years in the making, and the lack of similar events in the north west region was a driving force in kick-starting the tournament this year.

“Last year, when we tried to start getting rep teams to go away to play at State Cup and Country Champs, we realised that there’s just something missing for the north west region out here,” Gleeson said.

“Having something locally where it’s just one day, people can come and have fun and it’s not such a serious format will be good.

“We would like to see touch grow in the region, and hopefully something comes of this.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun, and we are super excited to host it.

“We really hope it gets legs and it can become an annual event.”

There has been a lot of interest in the event already, but Gleeson said that now was the time to register.

While full team registrations are encouraged, players can also sign up individually, and they will be placed in a players’ pool. Players in the players’ pool will then be assigned to teams by the event’s organisers.

Teams will be made up of a maximum of 12 players at the Yowie Cup, and a referee must be supplied by each team.

There will be prizemoney on offer at the event, with a $2500 prize pool in the open division and a $1500 prize pool in the over-35s. There will be other prizes on offer in the 16-years-and-under division.

A level one referee course will also be held throughout the morning before the action gets underway.

There will be bar and canteen facilities at the event, so food and drink will be available throughout the day.

Games will be 25 minutes in length and there will be no half-time breaks. Any game that ends as a tie will be won by the team that scores the first try in that match.