As written by our founding El presidente, James "Hemi" Crosbie

bro'Town Touch....the birth of “The Tree of Knowledge”

It was around Nov 2005, four Kiwi mates were sitting at Bungee Bar on Clarke Quay looking for an excuse to keep fit, and, get together in the rugby off season to have a beer. We all played, or had played for different Rugby Clubs in Singapore, and thought it would be a chur idea to create a Kiwi based Touch team, and try and kick it off for the next league in Feb 2006.

A week later, another round table meeting (at another bar), the idea of a men’s touch team was gaining momentum. We all liked bro'Town, the cartoon series, so boom - team name sorted.

Logo - another meeting. Jeff da Maori was chosen. So I contacted the Firehouse Studio in Auckland to get permission to use Jeff. After a few emails back and forth, permission was finally given Jan 2006.

Players - asking some Kiwi mates, and one Ozzie bloke, we managed to scrape together 12 players. We had some speed, some steppers, and a whole lot of chat. The 'Tree of Knowledge' was also created as a place to sit and cool off with a nice cold beer.

Entered our first league in Feb 2006 in Men’s A, which we won. An awesome start.

Summer League 2006 was next, Aug 2006. Another meeting at the ‘Tree of Knowledge’. We managed to get Picotin as a sponsor, then Fisher and Paykel, and 6DM. Plus a few smaller donations.

Our first proper kit consisted of a black shearing singlet (made of heavy duty cotton with embroidered logos). It was dubbed the ‘nipple destroyer’ by the pakeha boys in the team. For some reason the hori’s had no nipple issues - it was pretty heinous kit to be fair.

Anyway, we lost a couple of players and gained some new ones. Entered Men’s A again, and managed to win our second league. We were a force to be reckoned with.

2007, we had some fame and cool kit coming. More numbers too. We entered a Men’s A team and Mixed A for Feb comp. Kia Kaha was our kit designer from NZ. Red and black koru design. Saweeeet kit. Welcomed in our first group of ladies; mixture of local and expat. Club numbers up to 24. We ended up winning both divisions. Year 2 off to a great start.

Recruitment started again for the second league of the year, players leaving or changing teams as the comp was growing. There was talk of this ex Kiwi Touch guy who was in town looking for a Club - I got him a job at the French School. Talk to CJ about his first game for BT@YCK 7pm...it’s good story.

As the Club grew over the next few years, we picked up the Cavs, (2011) who were a team of teachers from OFS. That gave us two Men's B teams and a mixed B side Balmerinos. Realising the need for a committee, in Dec 2011, the BT committee was formed, again over a beer or two of Steiny Pure.

With the influx of more ladies, Peow Peow was created in 2014. That gave us four teams: Men’s B Morningside and Cavs; Mixed B Balmarinos, and Women's D Peow Peow. Club numbers were up to 70+. Our Committee grew to 8 members. Qualified refs, up to 4.

2016, more new players asking to join, so we added a Men’s C team, the Koro’s along with a Men's D team XLR8 - these are the young pups, the majority are the sons of Morningside, Cavs and Koro's. Club numbers up to 90. We were on a roll.

2017, we realised (with players leaving Singapore) we were stretching our mens numbers too thin, so decided to do away with the Cavs after 7 years of club service. They are gone, but not forgotten.

2018, we currently have 5 teams; Men’s B Morningside; Mixed B Balmarinos; Men’s C Koro’s, Men's D XLR8 and Women’s C Peow Peow.

2019, bro'Town had over 125 registered playing members, flash new stash, THREE new teams have been added to the family; Mixed C Macks, Men's D Pepelos, Women's D Wahine and Peow Peow are now rippin' it up in the Women's B grade, and then BOOM! the world of sport came to a halt with the COVID-19 pandemic.

.... But it's 2025 and even though the glorious TRC grass fields at Turf City are no more, we are still involved in regular training and friendly games at our training venue at Tanglin Trust School (thanks to the TTS teachers for helping us score this venue).

We have had many successes over the years, 100's of friends and families passing through our Club and onwards from Singapore. The founding idea was to have time together with your mates to chuck a ball around and have a beer after a run around, and this is still going strong today.

If bro'Town sounds like your sort of club, then get in touch.
Chur

James ‘Hemi’ Crosbie, Founding Club President