ASTRONOMICAL - that is the word Bathurst Touch Football's Tony Lewis has used to describe the growth rate of the sport in the city as he and his fellow committee members prepare for a record-breaking season.
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In the almost three decades since Lewis became involved he has see a 36-team, seniors-only competition evolve to the extent where touch football is now one of the biggest participation sports in Bathurst.
The growth rate from the 2019-20 competition to the 2020-21 season which will commence this Monday is a massive 44 percent.
"We have 170 sides this season, that's up from about 130 sides last season, so I'm about 40 sides up which is obviously a record number," Lewis said.
"I did expect growth but no, I certainly didn't expect an extra 40. The majority of the growth is in the juniors, but there is some growth in the seniors.
"We're not as big as Orange or Dubbo, but we're becoming a powerhouse and the growth from when I first got involved is just astronomical.
"Overall we're over the moon about it."
As Lewis indicated, the junior divisions have enjoyed the greatest growth. To accommodate the increase an extra time slot has been introduced with games to now start at 4pm, 4.40pm and 5.20pm.
But there has also been a jump in the women's competition - this season it will feature 13 sides - while there was such strong interest from senior mixed teams that Lewis was forced to put a limit on the number of participants.
"The under 10s there's been huge growth and the under 16s girls has had huge growth. At this stage too we have 14 under 14 girls teams in an 11-week comp, so the common sense thing to do there is split the competition so you're at least playing everyone in your pool once," Lewis said.
"For seniors Monday is our biggest night, we'll use 13 fields. I've had to cap the mixed Monday at 26 sides and you know I could have doubled that quite easily, but we don't have the officials to cover every game."
With the increase in teams comes the push for more referees and as such, Bathurst Touch Football will run a clinic to train those who are interested.
"There is a push to get more junior referees, but we're also calling on some of the older guys who have retired to come back into in," Lewis said.
"Anyone that's looking to help out, even if it's just one game a week, certainly contact me.
"But look, I understand that finding officials for any sport these days is one of the hardest jobs in the world."
The association has also had to deal with the logistics of complying with COVID-19 safety measures.
There will be sanitising stations spread across the fields and all referees will carry sanitiser.
All Bathurst Touch Football committee members and all referees have undergone training to become COVID safe officers, while every team will be issued with their own ball.
The season starts 4pm Monday with under 10s.
