In the 30th anniversary year of the Yass Knockout 112 teams took to the fields which included an international presence with players from Singapore coming to play as well as teams from Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and from all across New South Wales.
The weekend started on the Friday night with a dinner celebrating the 30-year anniversary where all things about the Yass Knockout were celebrated. There was buzz around town as the touch community rolled in ready for play on Saturday.
The first of 170 round games tapped off on Saturday morning under an overcast sky with teams showcasing some excellent touch football on the immaculately presented fields at Walker Park. Event Director and Founder Rod Wise more commonly known as ‘Wisey’ said “The fields were in the best condition they’ve ever been in. People [were] commenting how good they were, so councils done a really good job there.” These games were vital as it would decide whom would be graded where moving into the finals on Sunday.
Sunday bought finals day where there were 3 divisions in the Mixed, 2 division in the Women’s and 3 Divisions in the Men’s. As the day went on teams were beginning to be knocked out of contention for piece of the $15,000 prize pool.
After a few tough close Semi-Finals, we had our Grand Finalists. The first lot of Grand Finals saw the Mixed Divisions take the field. In the Mixed A Grand Final the Galaxy Rebels took on the Vic Secrets, in what turned out to be a very tight game often going touchdown for touchdown the Galaxy Rebels emerged victorious 9-7. In the Mixed B Grand Final the Castlereagh All Blacks Vs Witness the Fitness, this game also turned into a tight finish with Witness the Fitness winning 4-3. In the Mixed C Grand Final we saw the team all the way from Singapore the Beer Bucks 1 take on FarNo, it ended up being a successful trip for the Beer Bucks winning 5 – 3, whom have already indicated that they will be back in 2019 to defend their title.
In the second last time slot of the day we saw the Women’s Grand Finals take place. In the Women’s A Grand Final the Met’s took on Sloppy Seconds, in what turned out to be a tight tussle the Met’s won 5-3. In the Women’s B Grand Final, we saw the Waggateenz take on Code Red Women. In a convincing win the Waggateenz took the title 4-0.
In the Men’s A Grand Final we had Inferno Vs Freezin Heat Mavs, playing in the Inferno team was Scott Prince who was playing in his second Yass Knockout, he said “We love coming to Yass, and find the community very welcoming.” The Freezing Heat Mavs emerged as the winner of the over Inferno prevailing 8-4. Taking to the field in the Men’s B Grand Final was Smooth Finish Vs Freezin Heat Black, it turned out to be tight game with the final score line reading 5-4 in favour of Freezing Heat Black. In the Men’s C Grand Final the Jive Turkeys took on Hawaii Try-O, again we had another very close finish with Hawaii Five-O emerging as victors 5-4.
When speaking to ‘Wisey’ he was extremely pleased with how the weekend turned out celebrating the 30 year milestone, saying that the number of teams who showed up were beyond his expectations. He also mentioned that a number of teams have made comments following the Knockout expressing their satisfaction and confirming they will return in 2019.
A massive thank you goes out to all the Referees whom officiated over the weekend. Without Referee’s these sort tournaments just don’t run, there was a great atmosphere and camaraderie shown over the weekend with plenty of Refspect shown by the players.
Also a huge congratulations must to Rod Wise and his team of volunteers including the Yass Touch Association who once again put on a great Knockout in it’s historical 30th year.
See you again in 2019!
For all the results please view here
