The weekend’s announcement that Orange has won the rights to host the NSW Touch Football Junior Regional Championships for both 2019 and 2021 has been met with widespread excitement.
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And rightly so, because even for those of us who have no interest in touch football, or just sport in general, it promises to be a decisive victory for the city.
The numbers speak for themselves: 50 teams per carnival, thousands of visitors, projections of $2.2 million injected into the city’s economy.
If sport is about statistics, they are great figures.
The visiting players, their coaches and trainers, families and friends, will all eat in our cafes, stay in our hotels, and buy presents in our retail stores.
They will share their memories on social media, showcasing our region for an endless digital network to peruse.
The numbers speak for themselves: 50 teams per carnival, thousands of visitors, projections of $2.2 million injected into the city’s economy.
Some of those will like what they see, pack their bags, and mimic those spending patterns in their own adventures here.
All of this says nothing of the non-economic benefits of hosting these tournaments.
Elite sporting events such as these inspire the next generation, and in a town like Orange – which has a long and proud history of excellence on the touch football field – that is no small consideration.
No doubt many people played a part in this announcement, but two organisations are worth particular mention.
Firstly, the City of Orange Touch Association, whose dedicated team has the unenviable task of organising the myriad of local competitions so that the small army of teams each have a field and referee come game day.
Their hard work at that task (and the many others they complete) have obviously attracted the attention of the sport’s hierarchy, and Saturday’s announcement was in no small way a result of that acknowledgement.
Secondly, we should all tip our caps to Orange City Council.
It is inconceivable that the powers that be in the state touch football body would have granted hosting rights to the city had they not been assured of its ability to accommodate such a vast number of visitors.
Council obviously made a convincing argument that that was the case, and now we all get the chance to prove that assertion right, reaping the benefits while we do.
Celebrate, because we’ve just had a win.
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