Touch Football / Touch Rugby History

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Russell Mowles 1979

Russell Mowles was often referred to as “Mr. Touch Football” particularly in his local Association — Metropolitan — where his administrative expertise and influence was very evident.

Russell was always progressive in his outlook (sometimes a little too progressive for some colleagues) but maintained that he always had the interests of the sport at heart.

The first touch competition in Queensland was organised in 1973 — The Brisbane Touch Football Association. Russell — a Rugby League Referee since 1969 — played in that competition with a team of fellow referees. In 1974 he retired from refereeing and was one of 5 young men looking to play touch but was rejected by the Brisbane competition because of their 25 year age limit. Those 5 players were the founding members of the Metropolitan Touch Football Association (MTFA) which fielded 8 teams in 1974 and had reached 250 teams by 1987.

Russell served as Association Secretary from 1974 to 1981 and took over as MTFA’s third President from1982 till 1985. During that period some of the most significant developments in the sport of touch took place.

Russell played a key role in the formation and development of the sport at higher levels.

Col Clark 1979

Col was a foundation Referee of South Queensland Touch Football Association (later Metropolitan Touch Football Association). He refereed the first touch grand finals in 1974 and 1975 and was a regular grand final referee throughout 1970s and 1980s.

Col was the Foundation President and Referees Director of MTFA, SEQTFA (region) and QTA. He refereed the first representative match between BTFA and SQTFA in 1977.

He was one of the first referees in Queensland to gain State Grade 1 Referee accreditation (1980) and National Grade 2 accreditation (1982).

Vince Morrison 1980

Vince co-founded the first touch football competition in Brisbane in 1973, and remained a committee member of Brisbane Touch Football Association until 1979.
He co-founded MacGregoroos Touch Club and Brisbane City region.

In 1972, Vince joined a group of mates at MacGregor State High School on a Sunday morning to play a social game of touch footy, which was a non-contact version of rugby league. By 1973, the group decided to arrange regular games against other similar groups scattered throughout Brisbane.

Vince attended a meeting at the Brothers Rugby League Club, Corbett Park, The Grange to discuss starting a touch football competition in Brisbane. The other attendees were Frank Melitt, Gary Balkin (licensee of the Melbourne Hotel), Jim Schaumberg, Des Condon and Bob Bailey. The meeting decided to form the Brisbane Touch Football Association (BTFA) and call nominations for the first touch football competition to begin on 8 April 1973.

Jim Schaumberg (President) and Vince ((Secretary/Treasurer) formed MacGregoroos Touch Club and nominated it for the first fixture with seven other teams. Games were played on Sunday mornings, and were usually followed by a social gathering between the teams. MacGregoroos went on to become one of the strongest and best touch teams in Brisbane, winning a number of premierships.

Vince was a committee member and Southside Secretary of BTFA from 1973 till 1979, when he stood down to become President of the MacGregoroos. He was awarded Life Membership of BTFA in 1980.

In 1984, Vince re-joined BTFA on a social committee and became a delegate to and co-founder of Brisbane City Touch region, and was its Queensland Touch Association delegate until 1991. He was granted Life Membership of Brisbane City region in 1999.

Vince served on BTFA as a Vice President in 1985 and President in 1986. In 1987, Vince played a part in the establishment of Brisbane Metropolitan Touch Association (BMTA), being appointed as Vice President.

From 1985 to 1996 Vince served as player/manager in Brisbane City representative masters teams at State championships throughout Queensland.

Life membership of MacGregoroos was granted to Vince in 1993.

In 1994, Vince was on the organising committee of the World Masters Games held at Whites Hill, Brisbane. He also played in the Over 50s division.

Vince retired from the BMTA committee in 1996, but returned again for a short stint in 2012-13. In 2000, Vince was awarded the Australian Sports Award for services to touch football.

From 2003 to 2013, Vince managed the Bandits touch team in the Over 55s Division at the PanPacific Games, Australian Touch Championships and World Masters Games.

Vince should be congratulated for his total involvement in the development of the sport of touch in Brisbane and the way in which he carried out his tasks on numerous committees, gaining the respect of all through his diligence, reliability and sense of humour.

Leigh Barker 1980

Leigh was a founder of South Queensland Touch Football Association (later MTFA) in 1974 and founded Dairy Cows Touch Football Club. Treasurer of SQTFA (1975-78), and Vice President of MTFA in 1982.

Leigh was Captain of the first MTFA Men’s Open Representative team in 1977 and continued to represent MTFA into the 1980s and Treasurer of SEQTFA (region) in 1979-80.

Gary Balkin 1980

Along with being a founding father of the Broncos, Gary helped introduce touch football to Queensland, gave Wayne Bennett his first coaching job and built and operated the iconic Kookaburra Queen paddle steamers that still ply the Brisbane River.
In 1973, Gary organised the first informal meeting at Brothers Rugby League Club, Corbett Park, Brisbane to discuss commencing an organised touch competition. Others at the meeting included Jim Schaumberg, Des Condon, Frank Melit, Vince Morrison, Wayne Daley, Neil Baumber and Bob Bailey.

As owner-licensee of the Melbourne, he helped organisationally and financially to start touch football in Brisbane in 1973 and was appointed Patron of the Brisbane Touch Football Association at the inaugural meeting at the Melbourne Hotel, West End, Brisbane on 17 March 1973. He held that position for many years.

He was a Patron, Co-founder and Life Member of Brisbane Touch Football Association.

Gary devoted much time and energy to the development of touch football. He invited BTFA to hold its Annual General Meetings at the Melbourne Hotel, and was always happy to put on a few kegs of beer afterwards.

The winner of the A grade BTFA premiership won the Melbourne Cup, which was donated by Gary.

He remained a staunch supporter of touch football until his death in 2018.

Jim Schaumberg 1982

Jim is acknowledged as a founder of touch football in Brisbane. In 1973, he was the inaugural President of Brisbane Touch Football Association, which conducted the first organised touch competition in Brisbane.

Jim Schaumberg was a driving force in the establishment of touch football in Brisbane. On 27 March 1973, a meeting at the Melbourne Hotel in West End, Brisbane established the ground rules for the new competition – the Brisbane Touch Football Association of which Jim was the inaugural President.

He also travelled to Queensland country towns and cities such as Toowoomba, Townsville and Cairns to assist in the development of competitions in those areas.

Jim was associated with the earliest interstate clashes in touch football. He helped organize and played in the first Brisbane Touch Football Association representative team which visited Sydney in 1973.

He arranged matches between Toowoomba, Ipswich, Gold Coast and Townsville and club clashes, including a curtain raiser to pre-season trial matches, the first ever inter-city touch match between Brisbane and Toowoomba.

In 1973, Jim Schaumberg and Vince Morrison were founders of the Macgregoroos Touch Football Club which participated in the first touch competition held by the newly formed Brisbane Touch Football Association. Both of them were also players. Macgregoroos went on to become a major club in Brisbane, winning several premierships and providing representative players for regional, State and Australian teams. They also won the Australian Club Championships on the Gold Coast in the mid-1980s

Lionel Mowles 1982

Lionel was one of the first ‘stand-alone’ coaches – started coaching in the mid-1970s and gained his Level 1 coaching accreditation in the early 1980s. He was renowned for his wise counsel in South Queensland Touch Football Association and Metropolitan Touch Football Association in the formative years.

Lionel served as the foundation Patron of both MTFA and
QTFA in 1980 and was Chairman of the MTFA Selection Committee, selecting at many State Championships. He was instrumental in ensuring The Rules of The Game were documented and regularly reviewed. He was a great innovator. He was instrumental in the push for footwear to be worn by all players. He was the first person to use the term “link” to describe the position between the middle and wing players. This term was adopted by Dennis Coffey when he wrote the first coaching manuals.

Lionel advocated a club structure for competitions. Up to this time, individual teams made up the competition with a promotion and relegation system operating. He argued that a club structure would raise the standard of the game and give teams and players an opportunity to play at a comparable level. In 1980 MTFA introduced a club structure.

Lionel was a great visionary who made a wonderful contribution to the game of Touch Football.

Wayne Daley 1983

Wayne played in Brisbane Touch Football Association for a number of northside touch teams throughout the 1970s, and Brook Stars in 1980 and Rode Meats in 1983.
He represented South East Queensland Touch Football Association in competitions against other regions in Queensland.

Wayne was President of BTFA from 1980 to 1982. He oversaw the introduction of the BTFA Referees Association in 1980.

In the early years, touch fixtures were conducted at 30 separate venues throughout Brisbane. He started a Northside and Southside competition and reduced the number of venues so that competent referees could be supplied to all games and players did not have to travel long distances for a game.

He was a friendly and social competitor and was well liked by the touch community.

Wayne attained Level 1 Coaching accreditation in 1983.

Terry Jacks 1985

Terry Jacks was involved with BMTA for 24 Years as a player, coach, selector and committee member.
The first inductee to the ATA Hall of Fame, the former Australian Men’s Captain was a Qld and Australian Open Men’s Player for 8 years from 1980-88.

Terry played with Dairy Cows, Eagles and Sharks at MTFA and BMTA in a career spanning 16 seasons from 1977-92. He played 14 seasons in the Division One Men’s Open Competition.

He captained Eagles for ten years from 1980-90, securing four BMTA Open Men’s premierships and six Player of the Year Awards in that time. He is a Life Member of Eagles.

Terry and his wife Donna, who captained the Australian Women’s Open team, coached in the BMTA junior competition for nine years from 1997-2005.

They have coached Brisbane Mustang Junior representative teams in various boys and girls age divisions, helping BMTA secure three Junior State Cup titles.

Terry has served on numerous BMTA committees and as a Player’s Representative for the association. He has also served as a QTA divisional head selector for the Men’s 20’s.

Terry, a high quality middle player, was revered for his high skill level, outstanding ball skills, excellent fitness, superior ability to read the game, unwavering commitment in defence and his inspirational leadership qualities.

A fantastic role model, Terry earned widespread respect for the duration of his career from team mates, opponents, officials and the entire Touch community just as much for his champion on-field performances as his outstanding character, sportsmanship, passion, and commitment to the on-going prosperity of the sport.

Neil Baumber 1985

Neil formed Ardath Stars in the late 1970s, which was sponsored by the Ardath Cigarette Company where Neil worked.
Neil was elected President of Brisbane Touch Football Association (BTFA) in 1982 and remained in that position when it became Brisbane Touch Association (BTA) in 1983 until 1984.

Neil also was on the committee of South East Queensland Touch Football Association region and put together a BTA junior team which competed at the Divisional Championships in 1983.

Ardath Stars were very successful in the Brisbane competition and had a run of 101 unbeaten games from 1981 to 1984. They also won two Australian Club titles at the Gold Coast (1982-83).

In 1983, Neil introduced a two-day knockout touch competition, named the Sibyl’s Knockout Touch Championships, which attracted 42 teams, and was sponsored by Sibyl’s Entertainment Centre.

Peter Ridgewell 1986

Peter started playing touch in 1974 when he and Wayne Brandon formed Chalkees to play in the first competition conducted by the South Queensland Touch Football Association, later to become Metropolitan Touch Association. The name Chalkees derived from the fact that many of the players were teachers. Chalkees went on to win the A grade premierships in 1978 and 1979, and some lower grades later. Peter is a Life Member of Chalkees.

Peter completed a Level 1 Coaching Certificate and was Captain/Coach of many successful Brisbane City regional representative masters’ teams in the mid-1980s and early 1990s playing at most of the regional cities in Queensland.

He played for Queensland at the Senior Men’s National Championships in Hobart (1983), Adelaide (1985) and Perth (1986), where he was selected into the Australian Touch team.

Peter was President of Metropolitan Touch Association (MTA) in 1986 and President of the inaugural BMTA committee (1988-97) and returned to the Board of Management (2011-12). He also served on the Brisbane City Cobras committee for a number of years.

He was a major contributor to the formation of BMTA and establishment of the Whites Hill Touch Complex. Although MTA was in good shape and had good team numbers, Peter took the opportunity to amalgamate MTA with Brisbane Touch Association, forming BMTA, in an endeavour to lease fields at Whites Hill Reserve and establish a touch clubhouse and playing fields to be used as the Brisbane base for touch football. BMTA has established itself as one of the largest and most successful sporting bodies in Brisbane.

Peter oversaw the introduction of Thursday night juniors’ touch and the elite Friday night men’s’ and women’s’ Premier Division touch competition.

He presided over the successful World Masters’ Games touch competition held at Whites Hill in 1994 and introduced his daughter, Paige, to the BMTA committee, of which she later became President. During his tenure as President, Peter displayed a capacity to run a tight ship, encourage debate, foster good relations with the committee and others, and explore all possibilities to grow the association.

Peter was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for services to touch football in 2000.

John Driver 1986

John served on the South Queensland Touch Football Association (later MTFA) Management Committee from 1975 till 1981, when he was elected Treasurer and continued in that position until 1987.

John was a founder of Octal 10 Touch Football Club in 1976.

As a player, he represented SQTFA at Men’s Open level in 1979 and 1980.

Morey Creed 1989

Morey started playing touch football in 1977, when he became Secretary of the Public Service Touch Association which conducted fixtures at Kalinga. He played for Public Curator and RAAF, together with his brother. It was on a full-size rugby league field and each team had 8 players. He was President of the Public Service Touch Association from 1978 till 1979.

Morey then joined the Metropolitan Touch Football Association and was its Secretary from 1982 till 1987. During this time he played A-grade with Country Club, Eagles and Dairy Cows. He also played for Dragons in the Brisbane competition.

He was appointed Secretary of Brisbane Metropolitan Touch Association (1988-1989), and was also President of Brisbane City Touch Association in 1989. He then formed an unaffiliated competition, North Brisbane Touch Association, which he owned and managed. The business was successful in attracting many new teams to touch, and eventually BMTA convinced him to amalgamate his association with BMTA and become the Secretary of BMTA, which happened in 1993 and he remained in that position until 1997, when he was made the Manager until 2000.

Morey was the Manager of Premier Touch Association, an unaffiliated body, from 2001 to 2002.

Morey was a Level 1 Selector, Level 1 Referee and Level 2 Coach, and coached the following teams:

Queensland Touch Assn – Women’s Open Coach (1983-1986)

South Australia Women’s Open Coach (1987-1988)

Metropolitan Touch Assn – Women’s Open Coach (1983-1987)

SEQ Women’s Open Coach – (1983-1987)

Brisbane City Touch Assn – Women’s Open Coach (1988-1991)

Brisbane City Touch Assn – Women’s Over 27 Coach (1992)

Brisbane City Touch Assn – Women’s Under 20 Coach (1993-1994)

In 1994, Morey was the Touch Administrator for the World Masters Games which were held at Whites Hill and attracted teams Australia-wide and several from overseas. The event was well organized and very successful.

He also wrote the Sunday Mail Touch column from 1992-1994, which helped lift the profile of touch throughout Brisbane.

He produced the TALKING TOUCH TV show on Briz 31 which was aired weekly during the season and had a good following from the local touch community.

Barry Keegan 1992

Barry was the inaugural Treasurer of BMTA in 1987 and negotiated a loan with the Bank of Queensland for initial works at the Whites Hill Touch Complex. It was a ground-breaking loan, in that it was one of the first loans by a bank to an organisation that only held a lease over Council property. His shrewd ability as Treasurer ensured that BMTA’s finances were in very good shape.

Barry played touch football as a member of Eagles touch team from 1976 till 1994 and held positions of Treasurer and then President of that club, which was a prominent and successful club in Metropolitan Touch Association. Initially, he played on Sunday mornings on full size rugby league fields, 8 a-side, and in bare feet.

Reg Barr 1994

At the age of 26, Reg started playing touch football in 1976 with Irrigation and Water Supply Sharks in the Public Service competition at Kalinga. As captain of the team and President of the Sharks, in 1980 he nominated the team as HK Motors Sharks into the Brisbane Touch Football Association. He also became a founding committee member of the Brisbane City Touch Association which was set up to coordinate regional teams to compete in Queensland Touch Championships throughout the State.

In the 80s there was a surge in player numbers, both men and women, and many of them couldn’t find a team to play with. Reg set about expanding the number of Sharks teams, which reached 19 teams by 1987, including 3 women’s teams.

In 1985, Reg became a committee member of Brisbane Touch Association.

In January 1987, after being on the committee for two years, he was appointed President of Brisbane Touch Association and set out to establish a headquarters for touch in Brisbane. He approached rival association, Metropolitan Touch Association, seeking an amalgamation of both associations in order to obtain a lease of land at the Whites Hill rubbish tip, which he identified when he was dumping his rubbish. In December 1987, both associations amalgamated and became Brisbane Metropolitan Touch Association. Reg was a founding Vice President of BMTA and served on the committee in various roles from 1988 to 2003, when he took the position of groundsman at Whites Hill, where he worked until he retired in 2013.

Reg obtained sports grants from the Australian and Queensland governments to enable BMTA to construct the original clubhouse and install facilities such as field lighting and irrigation at Whites Hill.

He obtained Level 2 Coaching accreditation in 1985 and coached many over age Brisbane City Cobras teams in the 1980s and 1990s.

He was a representative player for Brisbane City Cobras and Queensland Masters teams in the 1980s and 1990s. He attended the first thirteen National Touch League competitions.

Reg still plays touch with Brisbane Sharks at 74 years of age in 2023 and is a Life Member of that club.

Reg received the Australian Sports Medal for services to touch football in 2000. He was a founding member of the Touch Football History Group in 2019.

Paige Ridgewell 1997

Paige was a member of the BMTA committee (1990-2000), and President for a short time. She had input into the establishment of the Whites Hill Touch Complex, and was on the organising committee for the World Masters Games in 1994.
She was on the Brisbane City Touch Association committee for 5 years in the 1990s and was a committee member of Chalkees club in the mid-1990s.

Paige started playing touch football in 1979 at 8 years of age, many years before there was an actual junior competition. She was supported by her father, Peter, who was a founder of Chalkees touch club in 1974. She won her first premiership with a Chalkees junior side in 1986 and went on to play for Chalkees, Cavaliers, Stafford Strays and Uni Rebels in the BMTA competition.

Paige represented Queensland and Australia in national school touch championships.

She was a Level 1 Coach and Manager of a Brisbane City Under 20 Women’s team.

Awarded the Australian Sports Medal for services to touch football in 2000.

Gary Madders 1999

Gary commenced playing touch in 1979 for Jets in the Brisbane Touch Football Association (BTFA) competition. From 1980 till 1983 he served in various positions on the committee of BTFA. Gary and Jenny, his wife, went on to run Country Club United for 15 years from the mid-90s till the late-2000s.

In 1983, he joined Country Club United Touch Club in Metropolitan Touch Association fixtures and played for them until 1996, when he formed the Country Club Women’s A grade touch team, which he coached into the finals of Division 1 in the BMTA Friday night competition on 8 successive occasions from 1998 to 2006, winning four premierships against Sharks/Storm, which were coached by the then current Australian Women’s Coach, Peter Bell.

Gary and Jenny, his wife, went on to run Country Club United for 15 years from the mid-90s till the late-2000s. Country Club was a prominent club in BMTA fixtures, and Gary and Jenny engendered a great club spirit and its teams were always very competitive. His sons Craig and Brent were excellent touch players and represented Queensland and Australia at a number of championships.

From the mid-80s till the mid-90s, Gary served in various capacities on the BMTA committee and also held various positions on the Brisbane City regional association, with a focus on coaching, technical aspects and juniors. He was appointed as Brisbane City delegate to Queensland Touch Association, and also served on the QTA board on a number of occasions. In the mid-80s he was the QTA delegate to the Australian Touch Association.

Gary was an astute coach, which resulted in him holding positions with QTA as Coaching Director, Technical Director and Junior Director.

Gary then moved on to become Brisbane City region Administrator (2001-2005), joint Brisbane City/Sunshine Coast regions Administrator (2005-2008) and then sole Sunshine Coast region Administrator (2008-2012). He was appointed General Manager of QTA from 2012 to 2015.

In 2007, Gary was awarded life membership of Brisbane City Cobras region for his volunteer and employed work for touch football in the Brisbane region.

In 1996, Gary coached the first Brisbane Under 18 men’s touch team at the National Youth Championships. He was then Assistant Coach of Brisbane Cobras Women’s Under 18 team in 1997. From 1998 till 2005, he coached the Brisbane Cobras Women’s Open team, winning 6 National Touch League (NTL) competitions and being runners-up in the others.

In 2015, Gary started the Arana Touch Football Association, which was formed to provide a junior touch competition for members of the local community.

Gary deserves recognition for his long-term commitment to the development of the sport of touch.

Ross Bateson 2005

Ross started playing touch in 1974 with Metros in South Queensland Touch Association with his brother Don. He later played for Eagles, Cavaliers and Sharks until 2022, a period of 48 years.
He represented Brisbane City Cobras as a player and manager from 1979 till 2022 at State Championships and the National Touch League.

In the 1980s Ross was a committee member of Eagles and Cavaliers touch clubs, as well as a senior and junior coach at times. He served on the BMTA committee as Treasurer (1994-98, 2004-07) and President (2008-09).

In 2018, Ross was a founder of the Touch Football History Group and created a website touchfootballhistory.org with relevant information on the history of touch football.

Peter Bell 2006

Peter began his touch career as a player in 1978 with Eagles Touch club in the Metropolitan Touch Football Association. He later represented Queensland Men’s Open as a player (#48) and Australia as a Coach. While he has coached at many levels and in a variety of divisions, he is renowned for his excellence with elite female athletes having won many National Women’s titles including the inaugural National Touch league premiership with Brisbane City Cobras and no less than four Touch World cups with the Australian Women’s Open team over a period of 20 years.

In 1990, he commenced coaching Sharks women’s A-grade team introducing a number of junior females to touch football in the BMTA competition and his A grade women’s team won the Premiership six times between 1992 and 2000, and were runners-up in all the other years until 2006. The Sharks became the best women’s team in the country, winning Brisbane, Queensland and Australian club titles. The Sharks Women’s team was the first ever women’s A grade team to go undefeated in a BMTA season in 1999. His coaching expertise assisted many of the players in the team to represent Brisbane, Queensland and Australia.

Peter has continued his coaching efforts in other parts of the world including Singapore, Ireland and the UK where he has represented England at the 2019 World Cup as the Head Coach.

His passion has always been school and junior touch where he was a founding member of Qld Secondary Schools Touch Association in 1983. He was also involved in the setting up of the first Qld All Schools event in the same year. Remarkably he still runs this event and in 2023 it was recognised as the largest touch football event anywhere in the world with over 530 team or 7500 school students competing.

Throughout his extensive playing and coaching career Peter has been a committee member of no less than 5 touch associations and clubs including President of Qld Secondary Schools Touch for 24 years and was the Inaugural President of the Southern Storm Touch club. He is a life member of no less than 5 separate associations including Brisbane Metropolitan Touch and Brisbane City Touch.

Peter has been recognised with a number of Touch Football Australia awards including – “Touch Hall of Fame” inductee 2004, Thirty years of Touch – Coach Medal (2010), and “Elite 8 Women’s Coach of the Tournament” (Peter Bell medal) struck in honour of coaching excellence (2011).

Ken Willett 2019

Ken started playing competition Touch in Brisbane in 1977. He then moved to Darwin and established Darwin’s first Touch competition in 1979, later founding both the Darwin and Northern Territory Touch Associations, and initiated affiliation with Australian Touch Association.
Ken played touch in Darwin (1979-83) and was selected in the Northern Territory Over 35 team. At this time, he commenced coaching junior players in Darwin.

Ken moved to Perth and played touch (1983-1994), becoming an inter-regional representative player, and was selected in the Western Australian Over 40s team. Ken established two district competitions in Perth, and coached juniors and refereed. He served as Treasurer of the Western Australian Touch Association in the early 1990s.

Ken moved to Brisbane and played for Chalkees in the BMTA competition (1995-2007).

He also refereed in BMTA competitions for several seasons from 1995. He represented Brisbane Cobras 45s and 50s as a player until 2007, attending State Championships and the National Touch League in Coffs Harbour.

Ken served on the BMTA management committee from 1999 to 2007 as Treasurer, Junior Director and, later, President. He devoted a lot of time and effort to growing the junior competition (boys and girls), and can take credit for establishing in Brisbane the largest junior touch competition in Australia.

In 2003, as the then President of Chalkees Touch Club, Ken initiated an amalgamation with Sharks Touch Club to form Southern Storm Touch Club, which went on to develop into the largest touch club in Australia.

Ken organised multiple junior boys’ Touch teams in BMTA competitions (1995-2022), starting with 2 and finishing with 91 boys’ teams plus 13 junior mixed teams in 2022. He coached at least one and sometimes two boys’ teams in every season from 1995 to 2023.

He organised multiple junior girls’ teams in BMTA competitions from 1997 to 2018, building up to around 100 teams each year, before handing over to others. He coached at least one and sometimes two junior girls’ teams in every season of every year from 1997 to 2018.

On the representative scene, Ken coached BMTA Mustangs junior boys and girls for many years and Brisbane Cobras boys 18s and 20s several times.

Leeanne Bauer 2022

Leeanne started playing touch in 1989 for HK Sharks in Brisbane Metropolitan Touch Association fixtures with a group of friends. In 1993, she moved to Mt Isa for work and played touch in Mt Isa and then Cairns, representing both those associations as a player. When she returned to Brisbane she took up coaching Southern Storm teams.

Leeanne joined the committees of Southern Storm Touch Club (2013), Brisbane City Cobras (2015-2019) and BMTA (2016-23). During her time with BMTA, she was associated with the construction of the new clubhouse constructed at Whites Hill in 2022.

Leeanne acquired qualifications as a Coach, Elite Level Coach and Referee Presenter. For many years she coached, managed and selected numerous touch teams.

Some of the teams she coached/assistant coached/managed include –

· Australian Women’s Under 27s and Under 18s

· Queensland State of Origin Women’s Under 20s (2021-22)

· Broncos NRL Premiership (2019)

· Queensland Under 15s QSST (2019, 2022-23)

· Brisbane City Cobras Women’s Under 18s, 20s and Open

· Brisbane junior Mustangs since 2011

· Queensland Secondary Schools Touch representative teams since 2008

She was appointed touch football director at the Rochedale State High School Academy of Sport and admitted to the Rochedale Academy of Sport Hall of Fame; received a 10-year award from Met East School Sport, was deemed Southern Storm club person of the year in 2022, and nominated to be Queensland Touch Football Association Coach of the Year.

John Clark 2022

John commenced playing Touch in 1980 in Sydney and has participated as a Player, Team Organ-iser, Coach, Referee and Administrator. He has been involved at BMTA since 1994, and commenced playing with the Sharks at the 3rd World Masters Games held in Brisbane.
He fulfilled roles as a Committee Member of BMTA for many years, including Vice President and President (2005-06).

He returned as a Board Member in 2020 and has been Treasurer since returning to the Board.

He was instrumental in establishing the BMTA 30’s Men’s and then 40’s Men’s Competitions and also established the successful Mustangs Masters, including the Masters Legacy Number program. These teams participated in competitions such as the State Cup, Pan Pacs and Casuarina Cup.

John’s passion is to grow BMTA and the Mustangs Masters program and maintain the involvement of all age groups. He believes BMTA is and should be at the forefront of growing the Masters program across the Touch Community.

Michael Cooksley 2023

Mick Cooksley’s journey began at BMTA in 1987, sine then he has served as a player, coach, referee and volunteer. From playing for BMTA and Cobras to performing multiple roles at the Southern Storm and Mustangs, he has made an enduring impact on the touch football community and epitomised the true spirit of the game. His energy, enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and dedication has strengthened BMTA and the sport of touch football.

Wayne Grant 2023

Wayne has been actively involved with BMTA for over 25 years and has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to the sport, serving as a role model for athletes, coaches and volunteers. Wayne has served as a BMTA Board Member, Competitions Manager and Mustangs Coaching Director as well as a Southern Storm Committee Member, Junior Coordinator and President, all while being an active player, coach and coach mentor.

Brisbane Touch Football and BMTA Life Members