Touch rugby refers to games derived from

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball. A formal, competitive variety, known as

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

, developed from

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and now exists as a sport in its own right. In addition, touch rugby games are played as training activities for rugby league and rugby union; as safer variants of rugby, particularly in schools and junior clubs, and as an informal social sport.

Features

Touch rugby has a number of differences from the traditional games, including its simplicity (it requires very little equipment or goalposts), its ease of learning, and the decreased likelihood of injury. As a result, it is a popular social game; mixed-gender and women-only games are also very popular in the UK, where Touch Rugby is played in many popular centres around

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Touch Rugby League is a growing competition in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Touch rugby is also gaining popularity in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The USA Touch association hosts an annual national championship. In 2019, 27 clubs from cities across the USA registered teams into 6 competitive divisions. The sport is known as "Touch" in many parts of the world. Beach touch is also popular. Social touch games in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

are played barefoot, while 1-touch or six down is played with cleats that have no more than 10 studs on each foot. Since 1988, the Federation of International Touch has organized 9

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

championships. Typically, Australia and New Zealand have dominated as champions and runner-ups in each of the now 11 competitive divisions. Every 4 years, a member country is selected to host the tournament. In 2019, the World Cup was hosted in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Malaysia and welcomed 28 participating nations. The 2023 FIT World Cup host has yet to be announced.

Rule variations

The most popular, codified form of touch rugby is derived from

and features two teams of six players. Played under the auspices of the

Federation of International Touch The Federation of International Touch (FIT) is the worldwide governing body for Touch football. The Federation of International Touch was formed at a meeting held in conjunction with the Australian National championships, and first ever internat ...

(FIT), it is officially known as

, and is also called touch football, particularly in

, and sometimes 'six down' or 'sixes' in

. FIT rules have become the most common rules used both in FIT-sanctioned competitions and informal games of touch rugby. A version of the FIT rules known as one touch in South Africa features a change of possession after a single touch rather than the six in the league-derived game.

League tag League Tag is the name of two distinct modified version of rugby league football. Both versions of League Tag maintain the basic structure of rugby league, and replace physical tackling with an alternate means to end each play. The northern hemisph ...

is a semi-contact version of rugby league. It was used initially as a coaching aid to get players new to rugby league in Ireland used to the play-the-ball, retreating to an onside line, and upperbody tackling that stops the ball being passed in the tackle. It was formally codified in 2008 at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one o ...

, it allows ball carriers to hold off defenders, and defenders to grab the ball carrier in their bid to touch the ball. Touching the ball effects a tackle Other versions of touch rugby are not fully codified. For example, as an activity for fitness and skills training, and to reduce the risk of injury, rugby players will sometimes play touch rugby based on modified rugby rules. One common variation is that a fair touch must be below the waist, or, with two hands, or, to encourage rucking, a small non-contact ruck may be formed when a player is "touched". The "touched" player must fall to the ground as he would if he were tackled, and then two players from the attacking team must "ruck" over him within three seconds to keep possession of the ball. A scrum-half then recovers the ball, and play continues. Touch rugby is often played informally, rather like a pick-up

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

game. In addition to tackles being replaced by ''touches'', the rules of both rugby codes are simplified, removing elements such as scrums, rucks, mauls, line-outs and kicks. In the

, Touch Rugby is usually played following pre-1967 rugby league rules, minus kicking. Players being touched with two hands must place the ball down or play the ball at the spot of the "tackle," and the defensive team must retreat 5 yards or meters. There is often no tackle count, meaning that almost the only way that the defence can obtain the ball is through offensive mistakes. Whenever an offensive infraction occurs (ball into touch, knock-on, or forward pass), the defence receives a tap-kick at the spot of the infraction. Teams switch sides after each try is scored, and the team scoring the try kicks off from the half point. Until 2003/2004 the English

RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It prom ...

in its junior development program called ''The Three Stages of the Rugby Continuum'' encouraged the playing of ''Non-contact/touch rugby'' in its under-eights competition, although now promotes Mini Tag instead.

References

External links

Federation of International Touch (FIT)European Federation of Touch (EFT)O2 Touch (RFU)
National Associations
Touch Football AustraliaTouch New ZealandEngland TouchTouch Switzerland WebsiteGerman Touch Website
{{Team Sport, state=collapsedt Rugby football Variations of rugby union Variations of rugby league Sports originating in Australia

Features

Rule variations

See also

References

External links