Wagga Touch introduces first women's over 35s competition

While the men's over 35s divisions have been running for decades, Association president Marc Lawrence said it was time to bring women back onto the field.

Lawrence said the Association was reassured by the strong interest in the competition, with over 40 women coming forward to play.

"It was pretty well received, we were able to get a grant through a program DoorDash and Touch Football Australia run each year, so we got some funding to get uniforms made," Lawrence said.

"We have 40 women taking part in that, which is a great response from our end."

With assistance from the grant, Lawrence said the competition is a great opportunity for women who have stepped away from the sport to return.

Playing in an altered format, Lawrence said the game is slower than in their open competition, and from all reports the first round was a success.

MORE LOCAL SPORT NEWS

"It's modified rules, so it's a lot slower than traditional touch, which a lot of the older players seem to like," he said.

"Hopefully we'll be able to build on that over the next couple of seasons.

"From what I saw they enjoyed it, I went over after the first game and they were all red faced and smiling.

"It's just good that they can get out there and enjoy a sport that we all love."

Hoping this is just the start of a long history for the women's competition, Lawrence said it was a good time they had their own competition.

"We sort of don't know when the men's [over 35 competitions] started, we're trying to back track it a bit, but at the moment we think at least 30 years, maybe a little bit more, and it's just a good competition socially," he said.

"The guys get out there and then they stay for a beer after the game, and just to get out there and stay active, so we thought for women as well, it'd be a good competition to have.

"We wanted to try and encourage some of those mums that might have given up sport to have kids, try and get them back on the field and just have a good time."

Meanwhile senior and junior competitions have both begun in recent weeks, with plenty of action across all divisions.

"Premier league is kicking on pretty well, there's been some great games, particularly in the men's, of late.

"Juniors also kicked off last week which is great, we've grown about 10 teams from last season."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: