Touch (also known as touch football or touch rugby league) is a variant of rugby league that is conducted under the direction of the Federation of International Touch (FIT). Though it shares similarities and history with rugby league, it is recognised as a sport in its own right due to its differences which have been developed over the sport's lifetime.
Touch is a variation of rugby league with the tackling of opposing players replaced by a touch. As touches must be made with minimal force, touch is therefore considered a limited-contact sport. The original basic rules of touch were established in the 1960s by members of the South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club in Sydney, Australia.
Distinctive features of touch include the ease of learning it, minimal equipment requirements, ability to play it without fear of major injury, and the regularity of males and females playing together, and as such it is often played either as alternative to or as a soft introduction to full-blown rugby football. While it is generally played with two teams of six on-field players, some social competitions allow a different number of players per team on the field. It is played by both sexes, and in age divisions from primary school children to over-60s. The mixed version of the sport (where both male and female players are on the field at the same time) is particularly popular with social players but is also played at an International representative level.
History
Origins
While it is often claimed that Touch started in Australia in 1963 as a social or "park" game and as a training technique for rugby league, at least as early as 1956, supervised "touch and pass" was already being played at several inner city schools in the North of England, where asphalt playgrounds made normal rugby league too dangerous. Although the rules were set out by the schools' sports teachers, it was not then viewed as a sport in its own right.
Touch was formalised into a sport proper by the "Founders of Touch", Bob Dyke and Ray Vawdon of the South Sydney Junior Rugby League Club. On 13 July 1968 an organisation known as the South Sydney Touch Football Club was formed and the sport of Touch Football was officially born. The first official Touch match was played in late 1968 and the first official competition, organised by Dyke & Vawdon, was held at Rowland Park Sydney in 1968.
From its formal inception in 1968, the game quickly became a fully regulated and codified sport in Australia. Originally played under lightly modified rugby league laws to remove hard physical contact, the sport has since evolved under its own specific rules now quite varied from its rugby league roots. The reduction of field size to half that of a rugby league field in particular aided the sports rapid growth across Australian rugby league stronghold areas as it allowed greater participating in the same geographic footprint.
The sport was first played in Brisbane, Australia in 1972 and by 1973 there were representative matches between sides representing the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales.No Cookies | The Courier Mail It had spread to New Zealand by 1975 and in 1978 the first national body, the Australian Touch Football Association (ATFA), now Touch Football Australia (TFA) was formed. The sports first national representative event, the Australian National Championships, was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland in 1980.
The ATFA dropped the word "Football" from its name in 1981, becoming the Australian Touch Association or ATA and thereby changing the sports name to simply Touch. In the same year, the ATA published the sport's first formal set of playing rules.
The first international match was played between Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne in 1985, leading to the creation of the Federation of International Touch and the formulation of the sport's first set of global rules based on the playing rules in use by the ATA at the time.
Rules and equipment
Rules The current rules are based on the 8th Edition published by the Australian governing body, Touch Football Australia, in 2020. The updated rules were subsequently adopted by FIT as the FIT 5th Edition Playing Rules. The rules include a section of touch-specific terms and phrases, many of which are shared with rugby league (e.g. offside, intercept, try).
Playing field Touch is played on a grass, rectangular field measuring 70 x 50 metres (i.e. slightly larger than one half of a rugby league field). As kicking is not allowed, goal posts are not required.
Ball Touch balls are oval and slightly smaller than rugby league balls. The official size is 36 cm long and 55 cm in circumference, also sometimes known as rugby size 4.
Clothing Players typically wear light clothing such as singlets, T-shirts or polo shirts and shorts. All shirts must be numbered. Women generally wear lycra bike shorts, athletic briefs or swimsuit-style lycra bodysuits. Head caps or visors are also commonly worn on the touch field by players and officials.
Footwear Players normally wear soft rubber cleated shoes, similar to those used in other grass sports such as cricket and field hockey. Screw-in cleats are strictly prohibited, though moulded-sole football boots may be worn.
Referee
Touch must have at least one referee to manage a match but most major matches feature a team of three referees alternating between a controlling referee and two sideline referees throughout the match.
Positions Teams are generally split into three positions: two "wings" (the players on either edge of the field i.e. 'right wing' and 'left wing'); two "middles" (the central players); and two "links" (the players between the wings and middles, one on each side of the field i.e. 'right link' and 'left link').Touch Positions – Touchdump
Half The half (formerly known as the acting half or dummy half) is subject to a number of restrictions that do not apply to other players: If the half is touched with the ball, the attacking team loses possession. The half cannot score a try. Attempting to do so (even grounding the ball not purposefully) results in a change of possession. These restrictions do not apply to a Half who passes the ball to a teammate (or indeed opposition player) and then receives it back.
At a rollball, if the Half takes too long to retrieve the ball, or is further than 1m away from the position of the rollball, defenders are allowed to move forward before the Half has touched the ball.
Mode of play The ball can be passed or knocked (but not kicked) sideways or backwards between teammates (known as Attackers), who attempt to evade opposition players (known as Defenders) to score a Try.
Possession A team normally retains possession for a set of six consecutive touches (as in rugby league), after which possession transfers to the opposing team. This is known as a Change of Possession, (or more informally Turnover). This can occur after six touches are completed, if the ball is dropped by the attacking team, or if the attacking team is penalised by the referee for infringing the playing rules.
Scoring A Try (formerly Touchdown) is awarded when an attacking player, who is not the Half places the ball on or over the opposition's try line. Each Try is worth one point, though some mixed social competitions award female players two points in order to encourage ball sharing.
Interchanges Players may interchange an unlimited number of times throughout the match provided the team does not exceed the maximum number of on-field players allowed, which is usually six under standard FIT rules. The match remains continuous and does not stop to allow interchanges. Players coming onto the field must wait until the player they are interchanging with has left the field and entered the designated Interchange Area. Failing to do so can result in the referee awarding a penalty for an incorrect interchange. Players in a team who are not on the field must remain inside their allocated Interchange Area (sometimes called substitution box) until they enter the field.
Composition of teams Teams can consist of all male players (Men's and Boys competitions), all female players (Women's or Girls competitions), or a combination of both (Mixed competitions). Under standard FIT rules, each team can consist of up to 14 players, of which up to six players can be on the field at any one time. Mixed teams typically comprise three females and three males on the field at one time. Under standard FIT rules, there must be at least one male and one female, and no more than three males on the field at any time.
Match duration The standard match duration is 40 minutes (two x 20-minute halves) with a 5-minute halftime, though other time frames are often used to suit local conditions and competitions.
World Rugby World Rugby, the international governing body of the rules of rugby union, published in November 2010 a draft of leisure rules of Touch Rugby IRB for developmental purposes. Those Laws were adapted from the FIT playing rules for the sport of Touch.
The document states: "Council agreed that these Leisure Rugby Laws are issued as a guide for developmental purposes and Unions are not bound to apply the Laws" and "IRB Leisure Rugby Laws have been designed so that Unions may develop non-Contact Rugby. These Laws have been produced so that there are some guidelines and principles in place for IRB Leisure Rugby. Unions having jurisdiction over their developmental processes, matches, competitions and festivals may need to vary these Laws as deemed appropriate. This allows domestic Rugby clubs to adapt to the FIT playing rules, provided domestic Touch Associations are in agreeance."
The leisure rugby laws released by World Rugby are not supported or recognised by the Federation of International Touch.
International competitions
World Cup
The inaugural Touch World Cup was held on the Gold Coast, Australia in 1988. Since then, the event has been hosted in Auckland, New Zealand (1991), Waikiki Beach, Hawaii (1995), Sydney, Australia (1999), Kamagaya, Japan (2003), Stellenbosch, South Africa (2007), Edinburgh, Scotland (2011), Coffs Harbour, Australia (2015), and Putrajaya, Malaysia (2019) .
The most recent world cup was held in Nottingham, England from July 15th - 21st, 2024, and the 2028 World Cup will be held in New Zealand.
Youth World Cup FIT conducted the first Youth Touch World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand in January 2001, followed by the second event on the Sunshine Coast, Australia in 2005. A third event was planned for 2009 however did not eventuate due to budget constraints. The Youth Touch World Cup was eventually revived in 2018 and was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia and served as a trial run for the Touch Football World Cup held in the city the following year.
The fourth Youth Touch World Cup was scheduled to be held in Manchester, England in 2021, but was rescheduled to 2023 as a result of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Trans-Tasman Tests There is a regular program of Test matches between Australia and New Zealand known as Trans-Tasman Tests.
Tests are divided into separate events for each age category, being: Open (Unrestricted) Youth (Under 21) Senior or Masters (Over 30)
Pacific Games Touch has been played at the Pacific Games since 2003. It is an optional sport for the Pacific Games program and the tournaments include men's, women's and mixed competitions.
European Championships The Federation of International Touch (FIT) conducts the European Touch Championships, affectionately known as "The Euros", biannually.
The first Euros took place in 2010 in Bristol, UK with 19 teams contesting men's and women's open divisions. The 2012 Euros in Treviso, Italy introduced mixed touch and seniors and masters divisions.