Working to close the gap for Indigenous participants

Touch Football has an Indigenous participation rate of around 7% and Touch Football Australia (TFA) is committed to supporting these participants in our sport and growing that participation rate even further.

A new National Agreement on Closing the Gap was released this year. The objective of the National Agreement is to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and governments to work together to overcome the entrenched inequality experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and achieve life outcomes equal to all Australians.

TFA has never before developed a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and the release of the National Agreement gives our national sporting organisation the perfect opportunity to invest in the development our own RAP which will assist in closing the gap for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants.

TFA has formed a steering group so we can consult with relevant members of the community in developing our RAP and ensure we meet the targets outlined in the National Agreement.

We are pleased to use NAIDOC Week to announce TFA’s RAP Panel members, who cover a range of member types within our sport:

Phil Gyemore - Coach

• 82 Emu Caps as an Player and Coach
• Coach of the Cowboys NRL Touch Premiership team
• Member of the ARL Indigenous Council
• Touch Football Academy and High School Teacher
• Proud Wakka Wakka and Wangan man

Mel Mitchell – Coach

• 11 Youth Emu Caps as an Assistant Coach and Manager
• 9 NSW State of Origin Caps as a player
• Indigenous All Star Head Coach
• High School Teacher and CHS Touch Head Coach
• Proud Bundjalung women

Marikki Watego – Player

• 38 Opens Emu Caps as a player, 1 as Captain
• 12 QLD State of Origin caps as a player
• Indigenous All Star player since 2015
• Lawyer profession
• Proudly from the Mununjali clan of the Yugambeh people

Kristian Congoo – Player

• 3 Opens Emu Caps as a player
• Indigenous All Star player
• Cowboys NRL Touch Premiership winner
• Queensland Department of Youth Justice worker
• Proud Jirrbal and Bar-Barrum man

Jodie Clarke – Administrator

• Administrator and creator of Brothers Touch Association
• Brisbane Cobras player
• High School Teacher
• Proudly born and raised on Worimi country

Billy Greatbatch - Referee

• Youngest Level 6 Touch Football Referee
• World Cup 2015 Referee
• NSWRL Graded Referee
• Primary School Teacher
• Proud Wiradjuri man