Touch Rugby: The Sport of the Future?

Touch rugby is a sport that has derived from rugby union, where instead of contact tackles, players mark a tackle by touching an opposition member. The name kind of hints to that.

Touch is a sport that has grown internationally, with world cup tournaments and leagues being formed all the time. There is a world cup, European tournament and a proper rankings system. 

It's important to not think of touch as a sport to fit alongside rugby union or league as preseason training or a warm-up before a match, but as a sport on it's own. I've spoken to people who have questioned it. 

"It doesn't teach good sportsmanship."

"It doesn't teach good contact rugby skills."

"You wouldn't play union like this."

Simply put, it's because it's not the same sport. It's not created to help improve skills for other sports, but to improve people's skills in touch.

The full list of rules are here, but one rule is that once you have been touched, you must take the next phase of play from the exact place you were touched. Now in rugby union, you are taught to break the line and make yardage behind the line break, so when union players move over to touch, this can be hard to phase out of the game. 

Now, one aspect I think that takes touch rugby over other sports is the ability for men and women to play alongside each other.

When you look at the Federation of International Touch website, you'll notice when you look at the world cup page that they are split into different categories. Age and gender, but there is also a mix category. As far as I am aware, there is no other sport that can be played with both genders involved (correct me if I am wrong). 

Letting both men and women participate in the same sport is so unique, and something that should be encouraged, and praised when it happens. Any gender-inequality that sport has is no conversation in touch, BECAUSE IT DOESN'T EXIST. Equal play across the board. The video below is highlights from the 2015 World Touch Mixed Open Final in Coffs Harbour.

This is why I think there should be more talk about it becoming an Olympic sport. A sport in the Olympics that both genders compete in against each other? Nothing sounds more truly Olympic than that. Rugby 7's is great and a great inclusion in the Olympics, but when you have a chance to break a gender inequality in sport, it should be given a lot more airtime than it currently has. 

One issue it also deals with is concussion. 

Concussion is a major talking point across sport as a whole at the moment, with new regulations coming in every year to help combat it and help players. Touch doesn't have any risk of concussion due to it's lack of contact, but you are able to still play the game you love. 

There is a similar movement happening America with the American Football Flag League (AFFL). It keeps a hold of all the elements of American football, but loses the risk of major injury and concussion. As the videos states, the main part of the NFL that people love is the skill and scoring plays, people don't really care about the big hits. I would imagine something would be similar about rugby. 

Touch rugby is a growing sport, providing a fun and active way of keeping fit with a variety of ages and both genders. Give it a go. And you never know, you might find yourself part of a fast growing sport.

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