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About L.T.A.
The Lebanon Touch Football Association was formed in 1998 and participated in the 1999 Opens and Seniors World Cups and 2001 and 2005 Youth World Cups.
Much like the Lebanon Rugby League, the touch association was formed and is based in Australia to give Australian/Lebanese players the opportunity to represent their country in their chosen sport.
Previous Lebanese teams have had varied success in World Cup competitions. In the 1999 Opens and Seniors World Cup in Sydney the Mens 30s won silver, Mixed Open won bronze and Mens Open came 5th. In the Youth World Cup held In New Zealand in 2001 the Lebanese Mens 18s team finished a credible 4th and Mens 20s came 6th. In the Youth World Cup held In Australia in 2005 the Mens 20s created history by becoming the first Lebanese youth team to win a medal when they defeated South Africa 5 - 2 in the playoff for bronze.
LTA will be extremely proactive in the next 3 years with Lebanon playing tests against Australia and New Zealand in 2005 and 2006 as well as sending teams to the Opens and Seniors World Cups in 2015 in South Africa.
It is difficult to state the situation of touch in Lebanon. Jamal Derbas our correspondent in Lebanon is no longer a member of LTA. Jamal made two annual visits to Lebanon where he assisted in the running of the game there.
LTA will try to establish a new contact in Danny Kazataan who runs Rugby League in Lebanon with the intention of him reestablishing touch in Lebanon. We are hoping he can encourage the league players to take up touch in the off-season and assist in running the competition. League is popular in Universities and in the Army so perhaps that would be a good starting point for touch.
Another possibility for Lebanon to develop Touch is Lebanon is through the Beirut Phoenicians Club. Jason Stanton had meetings with the President of Lebanon and the Lebanese Representative of the IOC when he visited Lebanon in 2000 and discussed the possibility of developing Touch in Lebanon. The Beirut Phoenicians Club already competes in Touch Rugby and is keen to assist with the development of Touch.
If we can get a competition up and running our aim would be to have at least Lebanon based player represent in the 2015 World Cup.
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