Friendship is the goal, Touch the vehicle

You may have heard us say We are not a touch football organisation; we are a social organisation that happens to play touch . Our long term members embrace it, but I know there are many who’ve not heard it and other who think it is just another slogan. This essay exist to emphasies that we mean it and explain what that means in practice.

Like every every incorporated non profit we have a purpose, our is:

Our aims are:

To further social opportunities through touch football and other social sports for juniors and adults in the City of Melbourne and adjoining areas

We are run by and for our members and every one of them has agreed to support that purpose.

Hopefullu you’ve noticed that the purpose is not to support the sport it is social opportunities through the sport. What this means that friendship isn’t a nice side effect of what we do—friendship is the goal. Touch football is the tool we use to bring people together.  

Most sports organisations are either businesses or exist to further the sport.

The businesses operate on transactional model. You pay a fee, play a match with your group, and leave. Many of them promote themselves as social as a marketing ploy, but the aim is making money and in practice teams play and leave. What social element that exists is transitory and within the team.

Others operate as clubs. Their purpose is the sport and usually the aim is to win. That is okay but in practice this leave poor players behind and leads to an us versus them mentality with respect to opponents and officials

PPT exists as the direct contrast to both approaches. Because our aim is friendship we are a truly social association. And those friendships are not limited to within team. More important to us are:

 Friendships Across Teams: Opponents aren’t rivals to be beaten; they’re community members you share a drink with after the final hooter.

 Friendships with Officials: Referees are part of our family. Players and officials know each other by name, respect each other, and socialise off the field.

In practice this means work very differently, here are some examples

 No stacked teams

We want great players at PPT. Skilled players elevate the game, inspire others, and bring fantastic energy. But this is not a sporting organisation, all teams must be beginner friendly, understand they are part of something bigger, and show up for friendship and fun. This means elite talent is not allowed to pooling together on single rosters.

Everyone must pull together

Every long term team in the higher grades has and must have at least one person helping out the broader organisation (usually refereeing). This isn’t because we need to people to ensure the organisation runs (although it helps), it is because being sociable is not optional.

If a team wants to play touch, only socialise within itself, and leave that is not friendship that is a transaction. Not matter how well behaved they are either missing the point and they need to embrace the culture or leave

Helping out builds those friendships across teams that are a huge priority for us

Communication is mandatory

As a large organisation it can only function if everyone communicates promptly and honestly. But more importantly all good relationships are built on communication and friendship can’t exist without it.

Everyone is looked after

We pride ourselves on looking after our people extremely well. We do this because the aim is friendship and friends treat each other well.

PPT is proud home to the longest-running touch teams in Victoria—and arguably Australia. Iconic park teams like Dunneworthy, Phantoms, and Pretty Astrid have been running around with us for decades. That kind of multi-generational team loyalty only exists because our culture prioritises lasting relationships

Because we care about people over transactions, our teams don’t just register and dissolve. They stay.

But if you want to play fast, fun, quality touch football, socialise and most importantly make new friends —welcome home.