Sunday 30th June saw us hosting our 3rd annual charity touch competition in aid of North of Tyne Mountain Rescue. Now in its 3rd straight year, the event is now a staple of the North East Touch calendar.
A big thank you to some of the mountain rescue team who came down with their equipment and talked to people who had questions about the charity and the work they do. It’s great to be able to show those attending why we decide to support such a great cause.
We were lucky to have 6 wonderful teams supporting our cause this year. Those teams looking to win the silverware were:
- Ashington Lionz – A team that is ever improving with the help of former Adder Stu.
- Big Trunks – Our very own Alex Scott’s work team
- Newcastle Ravens – One of our local neighbours who have always been a great supporter of our charity events
- Percy Park Pirates – Our other local neighbour and a longstanding member of the north east touch community
- Rockadders – A team made up of mainly our Thursday Social players with a couple of our Adders
- The Rockcliff All-Stars – A team made up of mainly our Thursday Social players with a couple of our Adders.
The format of the day was a round robin format. Each team would play each other once in 10 minute halves before some play off games to decide our cup winner, plate winner and the 5th place play-off. We also had a male and female MVP award up for grabs.
Each of the round robin games were played in great spirit with each team helping out each other during their breaks off for those with low numbers. This was great to see and why our Touch community is so great!
With 1 round robin game left we broke for lunch where we had our teams partake in some fun activities. The first up was a disc golf challenge, which was kindly provided by Steve. The teams had 1 minute to throw a disc from four different cones and make sure they had the quickest time. This was an amazing 32 seconds from Ashington Lionz, who took the point.
The second game was the hula hoop challenge, teams of four had to get the whole team through while holding hands! After the first run we had a tie between Pirates and LionZ. We increased the teams to 5 with Lionz again, took the win.
The last challenge was a tyre passing challenge. Teams of 2 had 1 minute to complete as many passes through the tyre as possible. While Matty maybe should have tested the distance between cone and tyre first the teams battled on. Once again Ashington took the win with a grand total of 9.
With the games finished each team had one round robin fixture left before we headed to the play-offs, this was decided by the league table final positions.
First off we had the 5th place playoff between Newcastle Ravens and Big Trunks. It was a thrilling game between the two, with back and forth action finishing 3-3 at the end of regular time which meant we went to drop off.
With Ravens tapping off in the initial 2 minute regulation time it was all to play for. However when that whistle went at the end of the 2 minutes only 1 team was coming out on top! Thanks to a single score Newcastle Ravens took the 4-3 win claiming 5th spot in the tournament.
Next we had the plate final. This was contested between Percy Park Pirates and Ashington Lionz. Having just faced each other in the game prior to this which Ashington took with a score of 4-1 it was interesting to see how the teams would change up tactics for this one. With some great tries scored this would be the only playoff game not going to a drop off! Percy Park were able to turn over the defeat in the game prior to win 3-1 and take home the plate.
The last game of the day was our cup final. This was a Rockcliff derby between Rockadders who had topped the regular table and Rockcliff All-Stars. This was always going to be a close game with Rockadders taking the spoils in the initial league game 6-1 the All-Stars were out for revenge.
Some great action on show and nail biting stuff, saw the All-Stars 2-1 with the action coming towards the end Rockadders scored late to take the game to our second dropoff of the day!
We went to 4v4 with some great defence from both sides which resulted in no tries in the initial 2 minute period! This was it. We were now 3v3, the next score wins. The All-stars started us off but unfortunately an early mistake turned the ball over. Some great driving play by Rockadders got them close to the line and within striking distance of the line. This was all they needed and with some quick play, scored to take the cup!
A great final by both teams I’m sure all will agree and it’s amazing to see how far our social players have come to win the cup.
We would like to say a big thank you to all the teams and players for supporting each other, meaning teams had the right team numbers and for the efforts on the day in making this an enjoyable tournament to watch.
Secondly, a big thank you to our Refs Cat, Ben, Gareth, Rolf, Steve and a big thank you to Jay for supporting coming all the way from Catterick to help our ref team out.
Thirdly, a thank you to our Admin team Abby, Matty, Matt and Vicky who kept the day running smoothly, well at least until some teams decided they needed drop offs. Also to all who captured some photos of the action.
Finally, the biggest thank you to our sponsors of the day’s awards.
Our individual awards sponsor – Intek Adhesives & Sealants.
Our Cup and Plate sponsor – RL Flooring.
With these 2 companies supporting us it allows us to give more to our charity.
Our current running total raised for the charity so far is being worked out… so thank you for all your support and helping us raise money or help the mountain rescue team!
Male MVP – Noah (Percy Park Pirates)
Female MVP – Charlotte Spark (Big Trunks)
Ref of the day – Ben Peters-Jones
Final Standings:
| Position | Team |
| 1st | Rockadders |
| 2nd | Rockcliff All-stars |
| 3rd | Percy Park Pirates. |
| 4th | Ashington Lionz |
| 5th | Newcastle Ravens |
| 6th | Big Trunks |
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