As jets roared overhead, the shouts of RAAF Base Amberley’s best touch football players and referees rose above the field. After a long hiatus, the Royal Australian Air Force Amberley Touch Football Club (RATC) ran its first competition in more than five years, tapping off the opening round in early spring.

Eight teams from Army and Air Force units battled it out over nine weeks to claim the title of Amberley’s best.

RATC President Squadron Leader Joel Pollock said the competition provided an opportunity for fun and fitness, and a clearly defined pathway to representative levels of touch football.

“The spring touch football competition has brought together over 100 players who have developed their skills, improved fitness and strengthened teamwork,” Squadron Leader Pollock said.

The fourth-placed 33 Squadron Dragons, after upsetting the ladder-leaders in the semi-final, found themselves in the grand final against second-placed and much larger 23 Squadron MEOMS in an exciting game that finished with a drop-off.

“It was a shoot-out the whole game, with no real indication as to who would win. The Dragons started with the lead, and then MEOMS took the lead until it was 5-all at full-time,” referee Flight Lieutenant Ethan Phipps said. 

“After a two-minute break, each team sent on four players, as opposed to six, so the field had a lot more space to run in. Teams had two minutes to get a result. Failing to score results in sudden death.”

Running on fumes, the teams took to the field with the Dragons starting the play. A few touches later, the Dragons had a dive at the line, but the MEOMS defence shut them out. A subsequent play had MEOMS give away a penalty and six more chances for the Dragons to score while time ticked closer to zero.

On the next play, Dragons player Leading Aircraftwoman Nina Sherlock dived at the line and beat the defenders, bringing the score to 6-5. With only 30 seconds to spare, the game was all but sealed.

Squadron Leader Pollock and the RATC Committee were very pleased with the competition.

“It is a credit to those units that participated. I have witnessed teams go from learning the rules to being extremely competitive with great team camaraderie,” he said.

Looking to the future, RATC hopes to build on the momentum of this competition and grow into 2026 with more teams and more opportunities to participate in touch football at the representative levels.