Should NRL sponsor Touch footy?

[LeagueLegend]

S AFL does very well with its auskick programme and seems to me we already have an equivalent just that we don't ride the coat tails of it like we should.

Rugby leagues equivalent to Auskick isn't touch footy, rather it is Kids to Kangaroos a program administered by ARL Development - albeit poorly because it is not as recognised as what Auskick is.

 

[God-King Dean]

Very surprised LeagueTag or SuperTag or whatever you want to call it hasn't taken off yet.

 

[PaddyBoy]

Serious need of a bump.

I read a while a go that OzTag was offered to the ARL back in the day when it was first starting up for free (which they turned down). The ARLC should purchase OzTag or touch and pump some money into it.

If it had NRL branding you could make it the first stages when kids start playing league. I don't know about you guys but I started playing about 11-12 years old, before that it was soccer. I don't particularly see the benefits of kids playing footy instead of OzTag/Touch when they're 6-10 as:

A) Most of the kids don't touch the ball much more than once or twice a game early on apart from the best ones.
B) Mums will be more likely to let kids play.
C) Girls can play after U/12s.
D) Time becomes much more flexible (you can play on a Wednesday night).
E) People keep playing. I don't know about you guys but I'm 23 and a combination of being a fast bowler and a horrible defender in footy means my knees are shot.
F) Little kids become encouraged, and it promotes evasive running rather than biggest kid wins.
G) If it's 5 or 6 a side then every kids is going to get a turn, rather than what happens a lot where you get a few kids playing and the rest bored playing with the grass or their socks.
H) Cheaper, you just need trackies and some runners, you can have heaps of games on the same oval, insurance would be cheaper, etc.

Then they hit 11 and they can either switch to full contact or keep playing tag/touch. Because it's more flexible kids who might like other activities as well can keep going.

 

[BranVan3000]

I think it is a really, really good idea

 

[Bgoodorgoodatit]

i think this is a great idea. especially linking it to clubs.

i play in a comp called kick it touch. which is essentially rugby league rules with a drop kick for a kick off.

plenty of broncos players there. im just in a muck around mixed team but have seen yow yeh, thaiday, beale playing there to name a few.

a shit load better than touch footy. way more fun and like i said is basically touch rugby league with dropkicks for kickoffs.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

The ARL and CRL and I think some oters like the WARL already use LeagueTag either as a development tool or as an option for women. It's basically oztag but you can kick it any way you like and they have conversions and RL scoring. Oztag was going to try and sue the CRL for it. There are national rules for LeagueTag now and if anything the ARLC should be promoting and expanding it as an alternative to touch or oztag rather than trying to throw money at those other bodies/organisations. Oztag is a profit-making company that sells franchises. That's not how RL should operate at any level. And touch is not that close to RL and wouldn't want a bar of RL anymore. That's why they even try to call it "touch" instead of touch football. They want to distance themselves from other codes as much as possible.

 

[applesauce]

Serious need of a bump.

I read a while a go that OzTag was offered to the ARL back in the day when it was first starting up for free (which they turned down). The ARLC should purchase OzTag or touch and pump some money into it.

If it had NRL branding you could make it the first stages when kids start playing league. I don't know about you guys but I started playing about 11-12 years old, before that it was soccer. I don't particularly see the benefits of kids playing footy instead of OzTag/Touch when they're 6-10 as:

A) Most of the kids don't touch the ball much more than once or twice a game early on apart from the best ones.
B) Mums will be more likely to let kids play.
C) Girls can play after U/12s.
D) Time becomes much more flexible (you can play on a Wednesday night).
E) People keep playing. I don't know about you guys but I'm 23 and a combination of being a fast bowler and a horrible defender in footy means my knees are shot.
F) Little kids become encouraged, and it promotes evasive running rather than biggest kid wins.
G) If it's 5 or 6 a side then every kids is going to get a turn, rather than what happens a lot where you get a few kids playing and the rest bored playing with the grass or their socks.
H) Cheaper, you just need trackies and some runners, you can have heaps of games on the same oval, insurance would be cheaper, etc.

Then they hit 11 and they can either switch to full contact or keep playing tag/touch. Because it's more flexible kids who might like other activities as well can keep going.

Perfect way to get kids who's parents don't want the physicality of the game but can compromise and let the kid play touch.

 

[PaddyBoy]

The ARL and CRL and I think some oters like the WARL already use LeagueTag either as a development tool or as an option for women. It's basically oztag but you can kick it any way you like and they have conversions and RL scoring. Oztag was going to try and sue the CRL for it. There are national rules for LeagueTag now and if anything the ARLC should be promoting and expanding it as an alternative to touch or oztag rather than trying to throw money at those other bodies/organisations. Oztag is a profit-making company that sells franchises. That's not how RL should operate at any level. And touch is not that close to RL and wouldn't want a bar of RL anymore. That's why they even try to call it "touch" instead of touch football. They want to distance themselves from other codes as much as possible.

Yeah, but you're essentially purchasing the brand and then adding the NRL one to it. They could buy them and take the only competitors out of the market and then add NRL branding, subsidise and market it, and turn it into a not for profit thing.

Touch is close enough really, all you're trying to do is emphasise a certain skill set which would then become transferable to league. Futsal is very different to actual soccer, but it emphasises certain qualities that you would like to see from a proper team (quick passing, breaking down opposition rather than just kicking it upfield where the big kid can take it in the air) and I see these games as something similar but for league.

Pretty sure they only play Futsal at a junior level in the Netherlands (traditionally a place where a lot of skillful players come from).

 

[East Coast Tiger]

But every oztag comp in the country is owned by a franchisee. Are they going to buy them all out too? What's the legal situation for these people? What if they don't want to give up their franchises to the ARLC? I don't think it's as simple as buying Oztag and turning it into an RL development tool. And touch is a sport in its own right. We can no more buy it than union could buy league.

 

[PaddyBoy]

But every oztag comp in the country is owned by a franchisee. Are they going to buy them all out too? What's the legal situation for these people? What if they don't want to give up their franchises to the ARLC? I don't think it's as simple as buying Oztag and turning it into an RL development tool. And touch is a sport in its own right. We can no more buy it than union could buy league.

Well you could buy the overarching governing body and provide extra funding. I'm pretty sure if those people found out that you would be advertising the shit out of it and making all the little kids play it at mini level instead of league they wouldn't turn it down. Add in that you would like to subsidise the costs and they'd be baying for it.

It's obviously a little more complicated than I thought but it could be worked around if people really wanted it to work.

 

[clarency]

You could work your way through it.

e.g. We can assume that oztag owners are fans of rugby league. Therefore offer a full time position as manager/administrator of LeagueTag (whatever you call it) in exchange for licensing under the NRL banner.

It won't be easy but it's certainly feasible. And IMO certainly worth it.

 

[Gippsy]

Yep, it's a no brainer. Touch is played in every state, and by association, it would broaden the appeal of the NRL, in times of expansion, TV rights etc. There could be a lot of opportunities open up by linking with touch, IMO.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Touch wants nothing to do with RL. If they did they would have come to the NRL cap in hand years ago. But they haven't cause they don't.

Oztag is a profit-making enterprise for those who own franchises. If they didn't make money they wouldn't play. The ARLC can't just take over and tell these people they are now involved in a non-profit rugby league development role.

The answer is LeagueTag, which is closer to RL than both of them, and is already played around the country. It is fundamentally linked to local league clubs already in many cases. It just needs to be built up into something that can rival the likes of oztag. When people have a choice between LeagueTag and Oztag and rego costs for one are lower because it is not a profit-making venture it's not hard to figure which will win the players over.

 

[Perth Red]

Needs to be offered to every school in the country for zero $'s and including everything they need to get the kids playing inc some coaching and development time. Best investment we could make.

 

[simostorm]

Would sponsoring touch lead to more and better exposure of the NRL?

 

[Perth Red]

I think that having a national schools touch RL programme that was clearly identified as Rugby League and had links to NRL clubs and local amateur clubs would be massively beneficial.

 

[Teddyboy]

Rugby league already has its own version of Oztag. The CRL has LeagueTag and if the NRL IC or whatever it wants to call itself has any idea it will expand this right across the country. ARL development also uses it. Not only is it even closer to RL, but it conforms with and expands the development system already in place. If it was rolled out correctly it could usurp Oztag, which is essentially little more than a franchised business. A subsidised LeagueTag competition would be able to offer the same game, roughly, for a cheaper price and that would attract people from touch and esspecially oztag. The beauty of LeagueTag as it has been used with women and girls in the CRL is that it is linked to local senior clubs so women and girls are able to be part of the local club, play in its colours, on the same day as the men and pool resources. Every senior men's club in the country should have or aim to have a women's LeagueTag side run alongside it. And that's just for starters.

Agreed plus every pro/semi/amateur club so have an Touch/Tag section all year round.

 

[aqua_duck]

Touch is nothing like league, it's for skinny blokes with not much skill, anyone with a good football brain would be wasted in touch.

 

[adamkungl]

I don't particularly see the benefits of kids playing footy instead of OzTag/Touch when they're 6-10

Disagree. Although the option for non-contact should be well promoted.

The answer is LeagueTag, which is closer to RL than both of them, and is already played around the country. It is fundamentally linked to local league clubs already in many cases. It just needs to be built up into something that can rival the likes of oztag. When people have a choice between LeagueTag and Oztag and rego costs for one are lower because it is not a profit-making venture it's not hard to figure which will win the players over.

Does Leaguetag offer adult comps? Will look into this..

Touch is nothing like league, it's for skinny blokes with not much skill, anyone with a good football brain would be wasted in touch.

Not necessarily.

 

[adamkungl]

Googling League Tag provides absolutely nothing worthwhile for someone wanting to play the game.

Guess Oztag wins this round.