BRENDAN LINES
ORGANISERS of the Riverland’s touch rugby sevens tournament held at Lyrup Oval have big plans for the fledgling competition as more seasonal workers arrive through the Paringa quarantine facility.
The 12-week competition kicked off with its official launch on Saturday, July 10, and is set to move to a bi-weekly fixture of Thursday and Saturday games.
Rugby Union South Australia (SARU) chief executive Carl Jones hinted the competition could benefit from a move to hold games in Paringa.
“At Paringa, there are over 300 of the seasonal workers who are accommodated at the facility and the caravan park,” said.
“It is walking distance to an oval there and they are going there after work to play touch footy anyway.
“We might explore moving it there to cut down the requirement travel.”
Mr Jones said the competition would help fill a need for the lack of recreational activities for seasonal workers.
“We felt we should do something to help them out really and to feel at home,” he said.
With 271 Samoan seasonal workers coming out of quarantine in the past week, Mr Jones was hoping making games accessible would help attract those workers to join in.
Currently eight teams make up the competition but SARU has allowed room to expand the competition, given the increasing numbers of arrivals.
“Each evening is a separate competition with a winner,” Mr Jones said.
“But ultimately with a 16 to 20-team competition a draw (with a premiership) could be possible.
“We thought we’d start with a 12-week trial and see how the competition goes.
“It’s pretty simple game, there’s no contact, scrums or line-outs – it’s a bit more fun and a bit more relaxed.”
The cost per individual is $30 per player for the 12-week season.
Already, the Renmark Paringa and Berri Barmera council have kicked in with respective grants along with Rugby Australia, SARU and Optus to cover the start-up costs totalling around $20,000.
But SARU says the initiative would not be turning its back on Lyrup Oval.
“Moving forward… I see Lyrup Oval as a great opportunity to run something bigger and better (like) a Riverland sevens tournament,” Mr Jones said.
“We are a state based organisation, so we’d like to see the game grow in the Riverland.
“With proximity to the borders to get people down from NSW and Victoria and have a camping weekend of sevens, it would be awesome.”