Knowledge Exchange Physical Activity – October

Tavale Ilalio - Project Officer at NRL Vic – has been kicking goals driving participation in touch rugby. We asked Tavale about how he is supporting Rugby League clubs to introduce touch football.

Q: With summer approaching, what are some of the main activities which NRL Victoria is working to support?

A: NRL Victoria in partnership with Touch Football Victoria are preparing to deliver the second year of the partnership project.

With seven Rugby League Clubs participating in the project this year, September/October has been a matter of ticking off all administrative boxes, marketing and promoting the competitions and ensuring that all operational resources and systems are ready to go.

In your mind, what is the key to convincing local clubs to deliver your program?

From the learnings of year one we developed a ‘filter’ which helped us to identify clubs that had the capacity to participate in this project.

The participating clubs are ultimately becoming two sports, 12 month a year organisations. A big ask for any group of essentially volunteers.

As part of our pitch to the clubs we identified social impact, capacity building and financial outcomes that the project would have for the clubs and the communities they serve.

Being Rugby League clubs the potential of utilising their Touch Football offerings to promote to a new market and potentially feed them through to their Rugby League side was an attractive proposition also.

What kind of resources do you provide to clubs to support them to deliver your program?

On top of the ongoing and at times intensive support of the dedicated project officer, through the project Clubs were offered:

• All equipment needed to deliver their competition
• Competition design and frameworks
• Referee training and recruitment support
• Marketing and promotional support including a dedicated Graphic Designer
• Tailored training on the use of Sports TG as a database and payment collection tool
• Financial grant tailored to each clubs needs allowing them to develop sustainable business models for future delivery
• Access to additional NRL Victoria and Touch Football Australia platforms and support resources
• Tailored banners and marquees
• Networking and support opportunities between participating clubs

How do measure the impact of your programs?

Under the guise of the State Sport Program through VicHealth we are wanting to capture the data which outlines the activities are getting inactive people active.

We work closely with the Latrobe university team to ensure that we are capturing the relevant data in creative and user-friendly ways.

From a more internal partnership impact measurement perspective both NRL Vic and TFA are wanting these clubs to sustainably deliver Touch Football for many years to come. We have developed financial and operational measurements to ensure sustainability and what gaps we can support.

Finally, what makes rugby a great sport for everyone to get involved in?

Touch rugby has the unique ability to be a sport that everyone wants to give a try. It has a real social flavour to it and parents, kids, uncles, grandparents and neighbours can all be on the field at the same time.

All participating clubs are leveraging off these and delivering activities which cater from 4yrs old up to 87 years old.

Get Active - it all starts here….

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