Touch World Cup

[russ13]

Sport-starved NSW finds its touch

Alexandra Smith

June 7, 2011

FIRST we secured the Bledisloe Cup. Now NSW has locked in the slightly less well-known Touch Football World Cup as the Coalition tries to shake the image of NSW as a state that cannot compete for events.

NSW has managed to beat the sport-loving states of Victoria and Queensland to the right to host the event in 2015, which organisers say could attract 150 teams and 4000 people to NSW, with games to be held across the state.

Touch Football Australia's chief executive, Colm Maguire, said Australia secured the rights to the cup last year after outbidding several countries including Italy and Singapore. Events NSW then secured the games for the state.


''Events NSW presented a holistic package taking into account our total event strategy, which was an outstanding prospect for the sport,'' Mr Maguire said yesterday.

The Deputy Premier, Andrew Stoner, said the cup would inject as much as $20 million into regional NSW. ''We are thrilled to have secured the right to host the 2015 Touch Football World Cup,'' he said.

''This announcement is a significant one for the state as we have secured not only the 2015 World Cup but a range of high-level events leading up to it.''

Mr Stoner said touch football was growing in popularity around the world.

''This comprehensive package will encourage kids right across the state to get involved in touch footy,'' he said.

''The deal has secured NSW as the home of touch football in Australia for the next five years and will bring huge economic benefits to all parts of the state.''

As well as the cup, NSW will also host the National Touch League and Elite 8 Series from this year until 2015.

Australia has hosted the touch world cup twice, including in Sydney in 1999 when 67 teams representing 19 nations gathered to compete. The past two cups have been held in Japan and South Africa.

This year's cup will soon kick off in Scotland, with Australia's team about to fly out for the 100-team event and if past form is anything to go by, they have nothing to worry about.

Australia has won every world cup since it began in 1988 and the women's open team has one of the best records across any sport and has never lost a game at the world cup in its 22-year history.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/sportsta...#ixzz1OYUKJBap

 

[hutch]

i cant believe we didnt align with touch footy years ago. it is a non contact form of rugby league. i fear it is too late now!

 

[russ13]

It is something the new commission could look into.


See this thread:

http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=313171&page=15

 

[hutch]

It is something the new commission could look into.


See this thread:

http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=313171&page=15

i highly doubt they would, they probably have other things to worry about and ive got a bad feeling that the commission will not care about anything but the nrl, which is not good for international rugby league.

even worse, i have a bad feeling that one day the irb will incorporate touch footy into their organisation somehow. they have the cash, they are good at expanding their game and they would do it to spite rugby league.

 

[Der Kaiser]

Touch is not a sport its like 5 a side Soccer-a Social event which you cant really take seriously. Sadly for RL, Touch has its own federation and is well linked with Union.

 

[hutch]

I disagree, touch is definately a sport, it is taken pretty seriously here in australia. It just also has a social element to it, which is something rugby league can't have because of the physical nature of the sport!

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Same here in New Zealand, people who play touch competitivly, take it VERY seriously.

 

[Packy]

Have a work colleague going to Scotland to ref this years world cup.

True, but useless info for ya.

 

[russ13]

Touch is not a sport its like 5 a side Soccer-a Social event which you cant really take seriously. Sadly for RL, Touch has its own federation and is well linked with Union.

How is linked to union?

Have they upsurped control or something.

As Hutch said there is nothing in Australia to remotely connect union to TF.

All of the officials & managers that I know have a RL background.

 

[Hindyscrack]

Touch and Tag should be under the league umbrella...

However the new commission will be totally focussed on the NRL and will be too blind in seeing the benefits of developing these sports.

 

[BDGS]

Touch is rugby league, but with it's own federation. Look at it's wikipedia page named "touch football (rugby league) and look at the rule book. It's obviously league, the only connection it has to union was it I fan find is off wiki. Below:

"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.

Pretty much says that touch set up some guideline for IRB touch but everything from what matches and how that game is played is up to union and touch federation has no control or connection to this.

I.e touch is not union, it's league.

 

[adamkungl]

touch footy has nothing to do with Union. Nor does it officially with RL, unfortunately, but it should.

 

[BDGS]

The world cup jersey designs look very much like league designs. Especially on the Fiji one, jerseys can be found on their website.

Obviously there is no official connection between league and touch but any blind man can see it's a form of league and not union. There is also a very strong social connection between rugby league and touch.

I think that the fact that the organization in charge of touch has gone to fairly stony lengths when making the guidelines for IRB touch that it is not in any way connection to union. The rules and many other factors makes it obvious it's league.

 

[Der Kaiser]

Sadly the IRB has now claimed Touch as their own.

http://www.irblaws.com/downloads/EN/Touch_Rugby_EN.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_football_%28rugby_league%29

Touch is overseen worldwide by the Federation of International Touch (FIT)and now by the International Rugby Board (IRB). Touch has traditionally been played in Australia and New Zealand but the sport is expanding internationally and features its own World Cup.

Dennis Coffey is the Secretary General and is a Union guy who cant even get him self to mention Rugby League and in the video says South Sydney Rugby! Its him that has got Touch Rugby involved with the IRB and Rugby Union. Here is the video from the Euro Championships in Bristol last year from the IRB website. The denying of Rugby Leagues influence is clearly on show from the Touch Secretary General. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fivI01UxO0g

 

[BDGS]

Why would the FIT distance themselves from the IRB touch game then in their guidelines?

 

[adamkungl]

Sounds like the IRB has just come up with their own 'Touch Rugby' rules.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_football_(rugby_league)#Touch_Rugby_IRB

The International Rugby Board, world governing body of the rules of Rugby Union, published in November 2010 a draft of leisure rules of Touch Rugby IRB for developmental purposes.
The document says literally: "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.

I can find no official link between the FIT and the IRB

 

[BDGS]

That's right AK.

And the FIT distancing themselves from IRB touch to me shows a connection to League.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

They distance themselves from RL too. In fact they don't even like to be called "touch football". They prefer just "touch". It's a pretty crappy sport and at international level Australia dominates with NZ the only one that can beat them. Sounds familiar actually. But they don't even have a third nation that is particularly strong.

 

[RL1908]

Bottom line is RL is heading down the path of gridiron - the only people who play it (or will play it) are those at the pro level, those aspiring to break into the pro level, the junior path towards the pro level, and those diehards/tragics of the game who are indifferent to the injury and loss of income risk.

Cross code comparisons and pointing out participation numbers in RL is meaningless, and ultimately on a downward path, if no one plays the game apart from the groups mentioned above.

RL either accepts it won't have comparable participation numbers, social & school numbers to rival other codes, OR it develops and/or embraces a modified form of RL to fill the void.

Any sane business would choose to do the latter, as it provides future fans, sponsors, as well as placates school teachers and parents (where, as we all know, females have the greater influence on decisions about where little Johnny plays).

I think embracing the Touch movement is a forlorn hope - they are long gone - spurned at their rejection by RL admin in the 1980s, never to return. In many respects, touch is a game that has its own problems too in terms of how it is played.

To the credit of the RFL in England they are embracing touch/flag football. RL in Aust & NZ needs to do the same, even if it means devising another RL-branded safe/social/school friendly form of RL akin to touch.

There is nothing in AFL comparable to touch/flag RL. Many Saturday footballers who would play RL take up RU instead. It is an issue that RL must address.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

The Country Rugby League has its own version of oztag called LeagueTag and this is also used by the ARL Development.