Club History

The first formalised Touch Football competition was South Sydney Touch Association in 1968 and it continued to grow. The New South Wales Touch Association was constituted in 1972 and at that point there were six competitions and approximately 1500 players.

Nepean Rugby Union began a Touch Football competition in 1976, playing at Alsopp Oval Cambridge Park, and then Weir Reserrve at Penrith. These games were played on a full size rugby field with ten players and kicking allowed. Evan Stevans was the principal organiser with involvement from Neil Stevens, Daryl White and Brian Kidd who was also one of our early referees.

Touch Football in the Penrith region was affiliated with NSWTA in 1978 as the Nepean District Touch Football Association.  As the number of teams increased Emu Plains Oval and the Prison Farm were used along with Weir Resrerve. Lapstone Oval was also used for one season.

Two important meetings were held to determine the direction of the sport, one at the Rugby Complex at Andrews Rd and another at Penrith Tennis Clubhouse.  These meetings led to Penrith Council permitting use of both the upper & lower fields at Parker St. In the early days the A Grade was dominated by SuperLogs.

A committee led by Bob Jones initiated the self funding of lights at Parker St top fields, labour was supplied by dedicated personnel for trench digging etc,and the games were transferred to Jamison Oval for a season.  The Parker St fields now provided twelve touch fields, and very soon Wednesday night was at saturation point and Monday night Women’s and OV/35s Men’s were commenced.

Notable people of that era were Ken Mitchell, Les Allen & Steve Silva. A Junior program was also played at 6pm Mondays. The committee also lobbied Council for new playing fields. Amongst the many people who helped at Parker St were Mick Pavert, Brian Norman, Merv Collins, Norm Jones and Ian Griffiths.

The Kingsway playing fields were allocated to Penrith Touch after many discussions with Council by Frank McDermott and Brian Norman in 1985. Permission was given to use the fields on the opposite side of the roadway, thereby giving us 22 fields under lights

Sue Howard started working for Nepean Touch Football running a canteen from a caravan at the Kingsway in 1986 and eventually progressed to being our first Executive Director.

Nepean Touch Football Association hosted the 1987 State Cup after which they changed their name to Penrith Touch Association.

Over time Penrith Touch Association has been an important part of our local community with 1000’s participants playing in our local competition.  

Penrith Touch Association has been fortunate to produce some Region, State and National representative players in its time and have also had representation in the coaching ranks. 

The Club is in a stronger position and will continue to grow and build a positive culture within the community and look to build so that we have stability and strength in the future years.