Australian friends claim world record for longest beach touch rugby game

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A band of leg-sore Australian friends are claiming a new world record for the longest nonstop game of beach touch rugby, accumulating around 1,500 points during a grueling 34 hours of play, one of the players said Friday.

Neither side knows who won. Organizers of the Tama Touch Group, which played the game on Wednesday and Thursday as a charity event at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach, decided against providing a running score for fear of overexciting the fatigued players’ competitive instincts, competitor Harry Preston said.

“It’s not about who beats who. It’s about collectively breaking the record and doing it for a good cause,” Preston said. “It does get a bit competitive, but it’s all about the mateship and the camaraderie."

Guinness Word Records has yet to confirm the group has broken the record set by the Sandbaggers Beach Touch Rugby Team in Britain in August 2022. But Guinness confirmed in a statement Thursday that its records team was assessing the bid.

The name “Tama” comes from the smaller Tamarama Beach, south of Bondi, where they formed their social group to play in 2001. Better known as Tama Touch, the group's 22 men began their six-a-side game at 6 a.m. Wednesday and declared themselves world record holders Thursday afternoon.

The Sandbaggers record set on the coast of southern England was 34 hours and 6 seconds. Their match raised donations for motor neurone disease charities. Tama Touch claimed a numerically significant record of 34 hours, 9 minutes and 25 seconds. The numerals represent the date of the two-day match, Sept. 3 and 4, 2025.

Video of the entire game will submitted to Guinness, as well a log of every point scored and substitution made. Witness statements also will be included as evidence of a record.

“Some wanted to go on,” Preston said. “Our theory is that we didn’t want to break it by a huge margin because we want other people to break it and we want other people to raise money and awareness for causes and that’s ultimately what it’s all about.”

Tama Touch's match raised more than 167,000 Australian dollars ($109,000) for Beyond Blue, an Australian mental health organization providing free support to help manage anxiety, depression and suicide prevention.

Player Andrew Lord said regular social matches with Tama Touch on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays helped his own mental health.

“I’ve had my own experiences with mental health and this group helped me through. Now we want to help others find that same support,” Lord said in a statement.

Preston said the whole group of 22 stayed to the end despite players suffering a dislocated toe, a suspected broken toe and a broken thumb. The injuries happened late in the game.

There was no limit to how many substitutions could be made, but there always had to be 12 players in the game and 10 on the bench. One player said a smart watch told him he had run 70 kilometers (43 miles) during the match.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the ankles and the Achilles (tendons) and the calves because sand is a little bit more trying than hard surfaces,” Preston said.

The early spring temperature fell to 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight. The daytime temperatures rose to mild maximums of 13 Celsius (55 Fahrenheit) Wednesday and 16 Celsius (61 Fahrenheit) Thursday.

In touch rugby, a player scores a point by placing the ball on or over what is called a try line. Preston said around 1,500 points were scored, but there was a more precise tally kept. Whether the Breakers in the blue shirts or the Sand Stormers in red shirts won the game will be announced at a dinner next week.

A player runs the ball up during a world record attempt for a game of beach touch rugby on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A player falls during a world record attempt for a game of beach touch rugby on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A player runs the ball up during a world record attempt for a game of beach touch rugby on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A player runs the ball up during a world record attempt for a game of beach touch rugby on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A player runs the ball up during a world record attempt for a game of beach touch rugby on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an 1807 law and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.

The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump said in social media post.

Presidents have invoked the law more than two dozen times, most recently in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush to end unrest in Los Angeles. In that instance, local authorities had asked for the assistance.

Trump has repeatedly toyed with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act, starting in his first term, but hasn't followed through. In 2020, for example, he threatened to use the act to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.

“I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are,” Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, said on X.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he would challenge any such action in court. He's already suing to try to stop the surge by the Department of Homeland Security, which says officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29 as part of an immigration operation in the Twin Cities called Metro Surge.

The operation grew when ICE sent 2,000 officers and agents to the area early in January. ICE is a DHS agency.

In Minneapolis, smoke filled the streets Wednesday night near the site of the latest shooting as federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd. Protesters responded by throwing rocks and shooting fireworks.

Demonstrations have become common in Minneapolis since Good was fatally shot on Jan. 7. Agents who have yanked people from their cars and homes have been confronted by angry bystanders demanding they leave.

“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of three people who said they were questioned or detained in recent days. The lawsuit says two are Somali and one is Hispanic; all three are U.S. citizens. The lawsuit seeks an end to what the ACLU describes as a practice of racial profiling and warrantless arrests. The government did not immediately comment.

Similar lawsuits have been filed in Los Angeles and Chicago and despite seeing initial success, have tended to fizzle in the face of appeal. In Chicago, for example, last year a judge ordered a senior U.S. Border Patrol official to brief her nightly following a lawsuit by news outlets and protesters who said agents used too much force during demonstrations. But three days later, an appeals court stopped the updates.

Homeland Security said in a statement that federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday stopped a driver from Venezuela who is in the U.S. illegally. The person drove off then crashed into a parked car before fleeing on foot, DHS said.

Officers caught up, then two other people arrived and the three started attacking the officer, according to DHS.

“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said. The confrontation took place about 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) from where Good was killed.

Police chief Brian O’Hara said the man who was shot did not have a life-threatening injury. O’Hara's account of what happened largely echoed that of Homeland Security, which later said the other two men were also in the U.S. illegally from Venezuela.

The FBI said several government vehicles were damaged and property inside was stolen when agents responded to the shooting. Photos show broken windows and insults made with paint. A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information. The FBI’s Minneapolis office did not immediately reply to messages seeking more details.

St. Paul Public Schools, with more than 30,000 students, said it would begin offering an online learning option for students who do not feel comfortable coming to school. Schools will be closed next week until Thursday to prepare for those accommodations.

Minneapolis Public Schools, which has a similar enrollment, is also offering temporary remote learning. The University of Minnesota will start a new term next week with different options depending on the class.

Madhani reported from Washington, D.C. and Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporters Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Rebecca Santana in Washington; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.

Federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Law enforcement officers at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A woman covers her face from tear gas as federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A protester throws back a tear gas canister during a protest after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez, second from left, blows a whistle with other activists to warn people of federal immigration officers Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Tear gas surrounds federal law enforcement officers as they leave a scene after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A child and family are escorted away after federal law enforcement deployed tear gas in a neighborhood during protests on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

A protester holds an umbrella as sparks fly from a flash bang deployed by law enforcement on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Monica Travis shares an embrace while visiting a makeshift memorial for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer last week, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A protester yells in front of law enforcement after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Tear gas surrounds federal law enforcement officers as they leave a scene after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Protesters shout at law enforcement officers after a shooting on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Law enforcement officers stand amid tear gas at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)