Touch Rugby is feeling its way towards a bright future
CHRIS WEARMOUTH previews what will be the biggest ever Touch World Cup
SEVERAL hundred players, coaches and support staff have blazed a trail to the Far East for an oval ball World Cup – but it’s not Japan in September, it’s Malaysia, kicking off tomorrow.
Swap 15 players for six, and one team from England for ten, and you start to have an idea of what the Touch World Cup is all about.
But this tells only part of the story.
Touch Rugby is growing at an exponential rate in all four corners of the globe, and this year’s World Cup is going to be the biggest ever, with over 100 teams from 27 nations heading to Putrajaya, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, for a six-day showpiece occasion.
Despite there being only half-a-dozen players on the field at any one time, a Touch squad consists of 16 players per team. For England this means that 160 players will be making the journey, along with a support staff of more than 50 coaches, team managers, physios and medics, sports scientists, sports psychologists and media.
There are two fullymixed teams of men and women, five men-only teams and three womenonly teams, with ages
ranging from players in their teens all the way up to over-45s.
It is the biggest group that has been sent by England to a World Cup, and they will be joining thousands of other players in Putrajaya, including teams from Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
All of the England players have been attending a number of weekend training camps over the course of the autumn and winter, all of them amateur and paying their own way for the privilege of representing their country.
“Every player who has earned selection for the trip to Malaysia has shown massive dedication and commitment,” England Touch chief operating officer Gregg Cropper said.
“The tournament is at the end of a training and playing cycle which has lasted the best part of a year. To be considered for England selection you have to play in the Nationals at the end of August, and those teams have plenty of selection and training weekends during the course of the year leading up to that.
“Investment includes both time and money, and hopefully this will be rewarded by great performances and winning medals in Putrajaya.”
England Touch is on an upward curve at all levels. At the international stage England retained the European Touch Championships title in Nottingham last July – a tournament which was live streamed by BBC Sport Online – and were the only nation to win a medal in every category of every international competition in 2018, with the four age group teams all finishing in the top three at the Junior Touch Championships in Scotland.
At the other end of the development pathway 17 new School Development Officers are developing networks of schools, and at every stage in between there is consistent growth year-on-year.
Throw in a turnover which has more than doubled to nearly £500,000 in the last two years, new partnerships with England Rugby, Maxi Nutrition and Rugbyshield, and pre-submission for formal recognition from Sport England and you have a sport on the rise, according to Cropper.
“We’re seeing growth at all levels,” he adds. “More players were putting themselves forward for England selection this year than ever before, and with standards increasing there were a lot of close calls and disappointed players.
“This reflects how quickly Touch has developed in England, and we can only see good things ahead as we look to transition from being a wholly-amateur sport to one which has a paid executive and is well set for the future.” For more information about England’s Touch World Cup campaign head to englandtouch.org.uk/Malaysia-2019