The South Queensland Sharks and Sydney Scorpions are pleased to announce that the Tompkins - Croft Series will take place on 15-16 January 2021 on the Gold Coast. The event will see two of Australia’s most successful regions competing in six divisions including Boys & Girls 12/14/16’s.
In a mark of respect to Life Members from both Sharks and Scorpions, the Series will be named in honour of Lou Tompkins and Gary Croft who passed away earlier this year. Both gentlemen were highly respected members of the touch football community and their memories will long live on.
The two regions have been in discussions for a number of months with Scorpions Regional Director Anthony Dudeck explaining further.
“We all know 2020 has been an incredibly challenging year – especially for our kids in NSW who have been starved of their beloved sports. Everyone at Scorpions was really looking forward to attending the 2020 National Youth Championships on the Sunshine Coast and being able to compete against interstate regions in junior divisions for the very first time. However the border closures prevented this and as such we started discussions with the Sharks on the possibility of them hosting an event on the Gold Coast”.
“I know that our regions hold a great amount of mutual respect for what we have both achieved on and off the touch field. Our teams have been battling it out at Open and Senior level at the National Touch League for many years. Now it’s just a fantastic and unique opportunity for our younger athletes to go head-to-head against each other in six divisions over a three-game series. The responses from our expressions of interest via families have been overwhelmingly supportive. They have been with us every step of the way and we just had to listen to their positive endorsement of this exciting event”.
According to South Queensland Sharks Affiliate Services Manager Mark Tipple, the event is also very exciting for the Sharks. “Most definitely this is going to be a great few days of touch footy and we cannot wait to host our Scorpions friends from Sydney. The Gold Coast and surrounding areas including our beaches are the perfect backdrop for a touch event. We hope that families can really relax and enjoy their time in our great city”.
The Scorpions teams will be based at the Gold Coast Performance Centre which is a premier sporting facility located in Runaway Bay. The sports performance centre is unrivalled as a destination for sporting teams to train, play and stay.
“Additionally the opportunity for our teams to stay at the Performance Centre was something we could not pass up. We will be in camp a day prior to our first game and this will no-doubt help with our preparation. Scorpions are most definitely aware of our junior athletes' touch football commitments including the upcoming NSWTA Junior State Cup in February. We are therefore limiting the amount of training sessions for our teams due to their affiliate commitments. The facilities at the Performance Centre will be the perfect setting for our High Performance Unit to best prepare and recover our teams during the event” explained Dudeck. “We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank NSWTA for their ongoing support during discussions involving this event”.
Further information to come including team line-ups, game times and livestream details. #strongertogether @destinationgoldcoast @visitqueensland