November 8-9 1986: A THEN record 162 teams booked out accommodation in the Greater Taree City and Great Lakes for the Westmont State Cup touch football tournament.
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Taree Touch, under president Terry Ryan, won the right to host the cup. At that stage it was one of the few times the cup had been held outside a metropolitan area.
“NSW Touch executive director Phil Smith has described Taree Recreation Centre as the best sporting area he’s seen in the State,’’ Mr Ryan told the Times.
Taree Touch also proved to be innovative.
They organised a cup launch at Taree RSL, where Greater Taree mayor Ray Green and his wife Ria were among the guests. This was a first for the State Cup. It was later estimated that the weekend was worth $750,000 to the area. A total of 350 games in various division were played on 28 fields and despite wet weather on the Saturday, the cup went without a hitch, with Parramatta defeating Manly to retain the men’s open championship.
Taree entered teams in the open men and mixed divisions and both performed credibly.
It was a busy weekend of sport in Greater Taree with the Taree rodeo, the Yarads surf carnival and Taree Basketball Association’s annual carnival all conducted.
Ron Badger took the action shots for the Times back in 1986.