About a thousand young soccer players are facing three days of action in Launceston this weekend.
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The annual Launceston Tournament, run by the Northern Tasmanian Junior Soccer Association, will see 80 teams taking part across three days.
Churchill Park and Faulkner Park will stage matches beginning on Friday night and continuing through to Sunday afternoon.
Teams from Victoria and NSW will be competing along with those from across the host state.
Hobart clubs have again begun supporting the event with nine teams coming from just one club.
Long-serving NTJSA president Dale Rigby said the number of teams was slightly down on last year but the tournament remained a huge logistical exercise.
“For us it’s a really big deal and we’re really looking forward to it,” Rigby said.
“We do it every year and it’s a great coming together of so many teams and a real culmination of our soccer season.”
The tournament traditionally serves as a tune-up for Tasmanian representative sides heading off to national tournaments on the mainland.
“Six of our rep teams are leaving for interstate tournaments next week so this will be a really good hitout for them,” Rigby added.
Trials have been held throughout the winter to select rep teams from under-10s to under-15s.
Kicking off
- WHAT: Northern Tasmanian Junior Soccer Association’s Launceston Tournament
- WHERE: Churchill Park and Faulkner Park
- WHEN: Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Super stuff
The NTJSA is staging a Super 7s tournament on Tuesday nights from October 9 to December 11.
Teams in age groups from under-10, under-12 and under-14 will compete at Churchill Park.
The association said Super 7s is not a club-based competition, teams can be mixed gender and there is a maximum of three representative players per team in the interests of a fair competition.