Touch (sport)
Touch (also known as touch rugby or touch football ) is a team sport borrowed from rugby . However, there is no hard body contact in the touch, so the risk of injury is extremely low. Touch is characterized by speed, tactics and simplicity and can be played with little effort. In addition to separate men's and women's teams, there are official competitions with mixed teams. Since its inception, touch has become one of the most popular popular sports in the world.
Set of rules
The aim of the game is to score more points than the opposing team. A point is won if the player of a team manages to put the ball over the opposing point line for a so-called touchdown (controlled placing of the ball on the ground). The way across the pitch, the player must not touch through (contact with hand) by defenders of the other team. If the player of the attacking team in possession of the ball is touched by a player of the opposing team for the sixth time in a row, the ball must be passed to them. The direction of play then changes and the other team starts an attempt to attack. Hard body contact is prohibited in the touch, you can only pass backwards.
The playing field used in the touch is a grass field, 50 m wide and 70 m long. A game usually lasts 2 × 20 minutes. There are two teams with six active and up to eight substitutes each. The game is played with an oval-shaped ball, which is size 4, i.e. one step smaller than a normal rugby ball . Today, the commonalities between classic rugby and touch are only that in both sports the ball has to be placed on the ground behind the opponent's finish line and the ball may only be passed backwards.
history
Origins and worldwide development
Touch is home to Australia , where it originated from rugby popular there. In the 1960s, professional National Rugby League (NRL) players began to warm up with various exercises without hard physical contact. From this, independent rules of the game were later developed and Touch was born. The first official championships were held in Sydney in 1968 . Since then the sport has grown by leaps and bounds. Millions of Australians regularly play touch; actively or as a so-called “social touch” among friends. Touch is the most popular sport in Australian school sports.
Touch quickly made it from Australia to neighboring New Zealand . The sport then spread beyond the borders of these two countries to countries such as Japan , Malaysia , Singapore and South Africa . In the British Isles in particular , Touch quickly gained popularity; there are numerous active teams in England , Scotland , Wales , Ireland and the Isles of Man , Jersey and Guernsey . On the European mainland there are associations in Belgium , Germany , France , Italy , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Austria , Poland , Switzerland , Spain , the Czech Republic and Hungary .
In 1985 the "Federation of International Touch" (FIT) was founded as an international umbrella organization. Today, FIT includes almost 30 countries around the world. The FIT's “European Touch Development Committee” (ETDC) also developed a referee qualification program that has now been adopted by all European countries. A world championship has been held regularly since 1988. The current world champion is New Zealand, followed by Australia, South Africa, Japan and Samoa . The basis for the touch rules of the game today and those used in official tournaments is the rules of the Rugby League , one of the two variants of classic rugby. In November 2010, however, the international umbrella organization for the variant rugby union , " World Rugby " (WR), also published its own draft rules for Touch. This only differs to a limited extent from the FIT rules, which are not officially recognized by WR.
Touch in the German-speaking area
Germany
Touch has existed in Germany since 2003. The sport was mainly spread by Australian and New Zealand expats . In 2004, Germany was represented at the European Championships for the first time and has since been able to qualify for all World Championships. In 2005 the first German touch championships were held, which represent the largest national event in the German touch every year. Since 2012, the title has been determined in the course of four tournaments that are played in the summer of each year in Berlin , Munich , Cologne and Frankfurt .
In 2005 the “Touch Deutschland Sportverein” (TDSV) was founded. The purpose of the TDSV is the development, promotion and implementation of the sport. This includes the dissemination of the sport and the passing on and development of regulations for national competitions. Furthermore, programs for the training of trainers and referees are being developed. The TDSV organizes tournaments and title competitions, supports youth sports initiatives, determines the selection processes for naming participants in international championships and organizes participation in international tournaments. The association is a member of FIT and sees itself as a contact person and lobby group for Touch in Germany. Touch is played regularly in independent clubs, separate departments of established popular sports clubs, at universities or in the form of loose groups. Cities in which Touch is regularly played or has been played in different constellations include Berlin, Bonn , Braunschweig , Bremen , Essen , Frankfurt, Freiburg , Gießen , Hamburg , Hanover , Heidelberg , Cologne, Leipzig , Leuna , Lüneburg , Munich, Nuremberg , Osnabrück , Paderborn , Ricklingen and Rüthen .
Touch clubs in Germany with currently (as of 2019) active tournament participation or regular gaming:
| team | city | Championship title | particularities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touch Bears Berlin | Berlin | 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 | Department of the TiB Berlin 1848 |
| Touch Bonn | Bonn | Department of the RC BRS Bonn | |
| Touch Braunschweig | Braunschweig | Department of TuRa Braunschweig 1865 | |
| Touch Bremen | Bremen | University sports at the University of Bremen | |
| Touch food | eat | University sports at the University of Duisburg-Essen | |
| TRC Frankfurt 09 | Frankfurt a. M. | 2005, 2007 | independent association |
| Touch Hamburg | Hamburg | independent association | |
| Touch Swallows Hanover | Hanover | Department of the FSC Hannover | |
| Touch Heidelberg | Heidelberg | Department of TSV Handschuhsheim 1886 | |
| Touch Rugby Colonia | Cologne | 2006, 2008 | Department of TuS Cologne 1874 |
| NSK Cologne | Cologne | independent educational project for young people | |
| OKR Leipzig | Leipzig | independent association | |
| TR Total Leuna | Leuna | independent association | |
| Touch Lüneburg | Luneburg | University sports at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg | |
| Touch Munich | Munich | 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 | independent association |
| Nuremberg Nuggets TR | Nuremberg | independent association | |
| Ultimate Touch Osnabrück | Osnabrück | University sports at the University of Osnabrück | |
| Ricklingen Raccoons | Ricklingen | Department of SV 1908 Ricklingen | |
| Touch Rüthen 09 | Rüthen | School sports community of the Friedrich-Spee-Gymnasium Rüthen |
Austria
Touch has existed in Austria since 2007 and was first played in Vienna . The first Austrian team took u. a. participated in several tournaments in Germany. Work on the formation of an Austrian national team has been in progress since 2008, and in the same year it took part for the first time as a visiting team in the European Championships in Massy. In addition, the “Austrian Touch League” (ATL) was created in 2009. Since then, the Austrian national teams in the various categories have regularly taken part in international tournaments, such as the “Mainland Cup”. In October 2009 “Touch Austria” (TA) became an official member of the FIT as the Austrian touch association. The association currently has three clubs from Vienna and Vorarlberg .
Switzerland
In Switzerland, Touch is played primarily in Baden , Basel , Geneva , Lucerne , Zurich and Zug . The first touch club was founded in 2001 in Zurich and the first tournaments were held in 2004. In 2007 the “Swiss Touch Association” (STA) was founded. In the same year, Switzerland took part in the world championships in Stellenbosch for the first time. In 2008 the STA became a member of the FIT. In January 2009 the first touch club was founded in the Swiss Romandie . The STA is currently in talks with touch groups in other cities in Switzerland to formalize the sport there as well. The Swiss clubs also take an active part in European club tournaments.
Other German-speaking areas
Touch has been played in Liechtenstein since 2013. Organizational contacts exist primarily with the STA in neighboring Switzerland.
Touch has been played in German-speaking East Belgium since 2003, especially in the communities of Eupen , Kelmis and Lontzen . However, the sport takes place mainly within the local rugby game operation and is based on events in Wallonia . Tournaments are also organized by the “General Belgian Touch Association” (ABTV) as a superordinate touch association, to which four touch clubs are currently officially affiliated.
In Luxembourg , touch was initially practiced as a purely recreational sport without fixed structures for many years. The “Luxembourg Touch Federation” (LTF) has been the supreme body since 2011, organizing tournaments, training referees and being in contact with other associations. In the same year, a selection of countries from Luxembourg also took part in the World Championships for the first time. The games and training sessions of the Touchverband take place regularly in Weimerskirch . In addition, touch is played at irregular intervals in Dudelange , Walferdange and Zessingen .
Independent touch teams without association affiliation also exist in German-speaking South Tyrol in the regional centers of Bolzano and Merano there , as well as in the partially German-speaking greater Opole area .
International tournaments
European championships
The European Championships take place every two years. They were held for the first time in 2008 in Massy , France , in 2010 in Bristol , England , 2012 in Treviso, Italy and 2014 in Swansea, Welsh . In 2016 the Channel Island Jersey and in 2018 the English Nottingham hosted.
World championships
First held in 1988 in the Australian city of Gold Coast , the World Championships are held every four years. In 1991 the tournament took place in Auckland , New Zealand , in 1995 in Hawaii and 1999 in Sydney , Australia . In 2003 the Japanese Kumagaya hosted, in 2007 the South African Stellenbosch and in 2011 the Scottish capital Edinburgh . In 2015, the Australian Coffs Harbor served as the venue, followed by the Malaysian Putrajaya in 2019.
literature
- David Woolley: Touch Rugby - Everything you need to play and coach , Bloomsbury, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-47-290242-9 (Eng.)
