Touch rugby

Touch rugby, also named touch or touch football, is a sport that is derived from Rugby League. It minimizes body contact so that rugby players practice over the preseason and improve their handling skills without any risk of injuries. It also eliminates body contact to allow inclusion of both genders and people from all ages.^[1]

Touch rugby was started in South Sydney in the late 1960s and was pursued as a non-contact off season sport and as a fitness program for Rugby League players. The game was introduced in Europe in the 1980s, and the first touch league began in Ireland in 2005.^[2]

Touch rugbyis played on fields or pitches of 70 meters long by 50 meters, wide with sidelines, a half-way line and In goal areas.

According to touch rugby's official rules, each team may have up to 14 players, with 6 players per team in the field at one time. Therefore, a total of 12 players get to play on a field. The team may interchange players as often as it wants.

Tossing a coin decides the starting team, and an attacking team has six chances, called touches, to score.

Players score by grounding the ball in goal areas. Ggrounding is holding a ball and letting it touch the ground.

If the attacking team drops a ball, its possession is changed to the other team, and the game starts over with rollball by using the hands or the feet to roll the ball slightly backward.

The team that has possession may pass a ball to teammates who are sideways or backwards. If it is passed forward, it is a penalty, and the team loses possession. The game starts over by a tap kick, which is kicking the ball by using the foot.

If a player is touched but still passes the ball, a penalty occurs for forward pass.

Players must start over with rollball or a penalty at the same mark that the rollball or a penalty was given.

In touch rugby, tackle from traditional rugby is replaced by touch, which uses a hand. Any part of body may be touched but with minimum force.

Touch rugby encourages many people to join the rugby world, whoever or whatever age they are. It is used as a tool to promote rugby to new players such as youth players or girls and women.^[1]