James Murphy
IN scorching conditions, the 2023 Your Podiatrist touch football Cup was contested at Blue Lake Sports Park on Saturday.
The annual event attracted teams from across South Australia and Western Victoria, with even Melbourne represented.
Event organiser Sean Fulton was pleased with how the day unfolded, despite the conditions, with some quality touch football on display.
“There was some pretty high-standard touch being played, which was good to see,” he said.
“There were a lot of state representatives from both South Australia and Victoria in the Men’s and Mixed Elite divisions.”
Competition was split into three divisions and games were cut to two 10-minute halves under the heat rule.
The Open Men’s category was taken out by Melbourne’s RMRKBL PHX in an upset over Hold the phone.
Hold the phone finished undefeated after the minor rounds with three wins, while RMRKBL PHX managed just the one win to finish third and book a semi-final berth.
They edged out Wolfpack Men in a 4-3 thriller of a semi-final, before stepping up in a big way in the decider.
The grand final score was 9-3 in favour of RMRKBL PHX, which was a far cry from the 13-0 loss in their previous meeting in the opening round of the day.
The Elite Mixed division was contested by five teams, with Adelaide team JFS Golfing Tours n Co emerging from the carnival undefeated.
The side won all four of its minor round games, before accounting for Adelaide University 6-3 in the grand final.
“It was really close and very highly contested considering they had played so many games during the heat of the day,” Fulton said.
Mount Gambier made a grand final appearance in the Mixed Social category, but was forced to settle for the runner-up prize.
They won all three minor round games, before a forfeit from AUTC Women’s handed them a free pass into the decider.
Meanwhile, fellow Mount Gambier team The Misfits stumbled at the final hurdle when meeting a strong Portland outfit in their semi-final.
The grand final was a nail-biter, with scores locked at the end of regulation time.
As such the match entered a “drop off”, where a clutch play from Portland sealed the win over Tiki Blinders.
“It went to extra time and you drop from six to four players,” Fulton said.
“If no winner is decided in two minutes it drops to three players and then it is golden try.
“That is exactly what happened and one of the Portland boys used his pace to burst out wide and score.
“It was good for Portland, I don’t think they have won at the Your Podiatrist Cup before.”
The final score was 4-2, with some impressive form shown by both teams throughout the clash.
Following the day’s games presentations were held, where the men’s and women’s MVP’s were announced.
Tom Ralph took home the men’s prize, while Peyton Ozools was named the best of the women.
