Touch talent launches cup quest

Thousands of players, officials and visitors have descended on Redcliffe for the Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup (APYTC), which started this morning.

The international competition has 23 teams from 10 nations playing more than 75 matches over three days at Kayo Stadium.

Australia and New Zealand are top ranked and face the Philippines, Cook Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Singapore, Tonga and Lebanon.

There are six divisions - Boys, Girls, and Mixed 18s, as well as Men's, Women's and Mixed 20s, with matches starting at 8am each day.

Final fixtures kick-off at 5.40pm today, 5.20pm tomorrow and 3.50pm on Saturday for the grand final followed by presentations.

Entry to Kayo Stadium is free. The tournament is also live and free on Kayo Sports in Australia, Sky Sport in New Zealand and Sky Sport Next.

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Australia enter the APYTC in form after a clean sweep at last month’s series in New Zealand. Australia also had a clean sweep in the first APYTC in 2023.

"The Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup presents a fantastic opportunity for the best youth talent from across the South Pacific to compete on the international stage, in a critical component of our high­ performance pathways," Touch Football Australia CEO, Marcus Ashcroft said.

"We are thrilled to host this event with the support of City of Moreton Bay and look forward to seeing all the exciting talent on display this week."

Mayor Peter Flannery said that, for the first time, Kayo Stadium would be the Australian host destination for 2000 expected visitors.

"We've invested significantly in Kayo Stadium, creating a facility with lasting benefits as it continues to attract sporting events and visitors to our City,” he said.

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“As home of the Dolphins NRL team, it gives athletes the chance to train and compete in a world-class environment here in City of Moreton Bay."

NRL and NRLW stars Kalyn Ponga, Ryan Papenhuyzen, Sandon Smith, Tarryn Aiken, and Tamika Upton donned the green and gold at the youth level of touch football.

Chair of Federation of International Touch (FIT), Peter Topp thanked Touch Football Australia and City of Moreton Bay for bringing the second Asia Pacific Youth Touch Cup to fruition.

“I would also like to thank all the volunteers at TFA and across the participating nations for their commitment to making the event possible," he said.

"With an increase in the number of teams and nations taking part in both this event and the Atlantic Cup equivalent in Ireland in August, we are delighted to see further growth across the junior international game.”