The Gold Coast Titans All Schools Touch Carnival was officially opened at the Runaway Bay Sports Precinct this week, where more than 580 teams and about 8,500 students will take part over five days in the biggest touch football event in the world.
Over the week, 32 fields will host close to 2,000 games, run by around 1,000 teachers and 450 referees. Schools have come from the Torres Strait, regional Queensland, New South Wales, New Zealand and Singapore.
Tournament director and event co-founder Peter Bell said the carnival's reputation speaks for itself.
"If you asked just about any kid in Queensland, and probably New South Wales and other parts of Australia, what is All Schools, they'll tell you it's the biggest touch football event in the world," Bell said.
The growth since the first carnival in 1983 has been remarkable. That year there were 18 teams.
In 2026 there are just under 600, and organisers now cap entries because the precinct can't take any more.
Despite this, a new, primary schools division will be added next year.
"The growth is phenomenal," Bell said.
"We actually have to cap it. It's almost like applying for a bank account, schools need 100 points to get into this event."
Girls make up 56 per cent of players, and 80 per cent of schools have been coming back for more than 20 years, but Bell said the carnival's real strength is as an entry point into the game, and for many players it's the first step towards a professional career.
"If you look at some of the top rugby league players, Cameron Munster, Tamika Upton, Tarryn Aiken, all the top men and women playing rugby league, they started playing touch footy, so it is a definite pathway," he said.
"A lot of those girls (that play NRLW) were introduced to rugby league through touch footy, and that's why the NRLW is doing so well."
The carnival has a Titans connection too.
Bell named Evania Isa'ako and Beau Fermor as former All Schools players, and said Titans great Darren Lockyer was "an All Schools tragic."
Titans train-and-trial player Fynn Laffranchi is one of the newest names on that list. He played All Schools with Marymount College.
"It was definitely a highlight of my junior high school, playing with all my best mates from school," Laffranchi said.
"I wish I was still playing it."
The fullback said touch helped shape his game.
"One hundred per cent, all the attacking skills you need, especially in my position at fullback: eyes out, scanning, left and right passes, landing it pinpoint perfect on your wingers. Touch really helped me with that."
The Titans are the event's naming rights partner once again in 2026 and Titans Chairman Dennis Watt officially opened the carnival and paid tribute to the founders who started it 44 years ago.
"My initial thought is one of absolute gratitude and appreciation for the founders, and Peter is one of those founders, for creating this opportunity for young people right across the state and internationally," Watt said.
"We're delighted and feel extraordinarily blessed and lucky to be a partner in such a great venture, which is all about creating opportunities for others."
The Gold Coast Titans All Schools Touch Carnival runs at the Runaway Bay Sports Precinct until the weekend.
