Optimism high for beach comp

Although local sports continue to hang in the balance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers are optimistic a new competition that brings touch football to the sands of Cable Beach will be able to go ahead this year. Last year, Beach Touch Footy held its competition outside of Perth for the first time, organising a round robin tournament alongside Broome Touch Association at the popular beach in August. The inaugural Broome BTF tournament was met with high praise and excitement for future events as teams from Broome and Perth battled it out for bragging rights. BTF co-founder Sarah Green said 2020 had certainly presented challenges in planning for the next Broome event, but BTF was intent on bringing the tournament back to Cable Beach. “We have been working in the background with Broome Touch Association, Shire of Broome and our local business partners in organising the event for the second half of 2020,” she said. “BTF is fun and an event the whole community can get involved in. “However, there is nothing more important than the health and wellbeing of our community and stakeholders. “We want the event to happen as much as everyone else, so as long as it is safe and government restrictions on intrastate travel and mass gatherings have been lifted, we will push on.” Ms Green said while she could not confirm potential dates at this stage, she and the other organisers were optimistic, particularly after social gathering restrictions were slightly loosened recently. “We believe that after we have recovered from COVID-19 there will be a huge appetite for events of all nature and sports competitions, and that is where events like Beach Touch Footy will play a role in returning to normality,” she said.