Membership

Princes Park Touch is a non-profit organisation devoted to touch football.

Our motto is “Social touch in Melbourne’s heart” and we intend to be the best social sporting organisation in Autralia. We do this by providing the opportunity to learn the sport through our training programs, play in our weekly social competiton, , a pathway to take the sport further through our refereeing and representative programs, and most importantly an atmosphere to socialise with other members.

All regular participants are members and are expected to behave as members. The requirements for membership are simply that you support our aims which are:

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

and have if you are a player or referee be familiar with and follow the the below FAQ. It is a 6 minute read and contains the key information you need to know

• How is the season structured?

  At PPT our specialty is social touch so we emphasise even competition. As such we run grading differently to most sporting competitions.

  Our season usually works like this:

  1. The first two weeks are grading rounds, these games are to ascertain the the standard of our teams and the results do not count towards final positions.
  2. At week 3 we set grades, but they are not finalised. Through to week 9 (the start of the Christmas break) your team will have a grade and your teams results counts towards your final ladder position, but fixtures are based on matching the standard of competition and teams will be moved between grades every two weeks (depending on their results)
  3. Around half way through the season (usually week 9) grades are finalised, fixtures are published through to the end of the regular season, and the run to finals begins.
  4. Our last two to four week are finals. This will usually be structure as 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3, but may be a round robin in a 4 week format.  Most importantly our priority is participation so teams missing out on finals still play friendly matches, so if you miss finals you still play through to the end of the season.
• Who can play in the social competition?

  We have three rules in place to keep the competition fun and fair.

  1. Teams can have no more than two representative players join the team as regulars. Having representative players fill in is fine but if a player has played more than 3 games they are a regular.
  2. Only regular players can play finals, i.e. players must be on the team list and have played 4 games during the regular season or grading, in order to play finals. Noting that teams missing out on finals still play friendly matches over the last two weeks of our comp (and these rules do not apply to those games).
  3. Members cannot be regular players of two teams on the same night in the same format.

  The committee may grant exemptions to the above rules on request.

• What is your game cancellation policy?

  Touch is an all weather sport and is played in all weather conditions.

  Events (games, training sessions etc) are only cancelled or postponed if we are legally not permitted to play, or conditions are considered dangerous. The two primary weather reasons being:

  • Lightning in the imminent area. This will not lead to cancellation. Lightning is transitory as such participants should attend, and if lightning is nearby shelter in the pavilion until it passes. At which time we will recommence (light permitting).
  • Extreme heat or air pollution. This may lead to cancellation. This will be assessed throughout the day of competition and will be posted on the website by not later than 4 PM. Extreme is considered temperatures forecast to be clearly above 38 degrees or an air quality index forecast to be above 150 (for the event time). We have only ever cancelled two rounds due to extreme heat or pollution

  Cancellation information will always appear on the website first (we will also try to email captains). Therefore if there is nothing on the website then the event is going ahead. Please do not call or email just check the website.

  Where possible we shall replay any event that has been lost, but this is not always possible, as such we prefer to play (when safe).

• What is your policy regarding uniforms?

  Teams are required to be uniformed in similarly coloured tops. Any colour is okay except predominanty white uniforms (as that colour is used by our referees), white and another colour is okay.

  A team is considered in uniform if that a team is clothed in tops of a similar colour. The tops do not need to be identical but they do need to be close enough in colour and design that the referee can tell players are on the same team.

  From week 3 there is an additional requirement for unique numbers on the back of each uniform, numbers can be drawn but they must be legible to the referee and permanent.

  Teams not in uniform may be penalised in the form of tries per player not in uniform awarded to the non offending team (up to a maximum of 3 tries), note referees should do this be done before the game starts (or when the non uniformed player enters the game).

• What if I am injured playing or refereeing at PPT?

  PPT is covered by the same insurance policy that covers all affiliate touch comps Australia wide under the auspices of the national body. Details of the forms and process are at the following link.

  If you have sustained an injury playing at our competition a member of our committee will sign your injury report and send you through a copy of the incident report to accompany your application. Best wishes on a speedy recovery and getting back on the field. 

• What shoes are acceptable

  Runners or any type of flat soled shoe are always fine. Shoes with small molded ridges or dimples are also acceptable.

  Rugby boots, long studs, screw in studs, or any type of metal spike cannot be worn.

• What if my team may not have enough players?

  At PPT we go the extra mile to ensure all teams are healthy and all games go ahead each week. But for for this to work teams must commit to the season, communicate and co-operate with the committee should issues occur. This is the responsibility of both players and captains.

  Players within a team are expected to:

  1. Do their best to be available to play touch every week
  2. Advise their captain as soon as possible if they are unavailable.
  3. If they are available, then be there to play even if team numbers are low.

  Team captains are expected to:

  1. Advise the committee as soon as possible if the team numbers are low, captains should never forfeit games, the committee decides if games are going ahead.

  The committee will then

  1. Find additional players (if possible) so that the match can go ahead (this is almost always the case)
  2. If it is not possible to find additional players (this is very rare) the committee will advise both teams that the game is off.

  Captains should also be proactive, if the team is hit by injuries etc then let us know as we generally have a long list of players looking to get involved so we can send you additional permanent players

  The key is to communicate often and early and be there to be there if you are available. Last minute emails or worse a no show are not acceptable. Teams that fail to comply will be removed from competition and banned from all future PPT events. As it unfair to other members.

• What if I want to know more?

  The source of truth for our association is the website, all relevant information should be on the website and all new information will always appear there first. So anything you want to know please check the website before communicating with us.

  If you do need to contact us the best method for anything non (or even semi) urgent is our email: info@princesparktouch.com, we check it every day and it will be seen by appropriate person. For anything urgent, like potential forfeits, or if you with to discuss anything please call us directly:

  • Peter Shaw (Mob) 0414 315 957
    E-mail: info@princesparktouch.com
• Why do I need to sign on?

  Players should always sign on before games, for three reasons

  1. All regular players and referees must be members of Princes Park Touch Association, signing on verifies this
  2.  Signing on ensures players are covered by our insurance.
  3.  Singing on serves as record of the games you have players for finals eligibility.

Membership is free and there are no other obligations with membership

Privacy

Apart from registering our players with Touch Football Australia (our sports governing body). Princes Park Touch will never pass on the details of its members to any third party without the members permission.