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Could touch rugby be an Olympic sport?

22nd January, 2014
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The New Zealand Warriors hit the road trying to build some consistency against the New Zealand Warriors. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Wayne Drought)
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22nd January, 2014
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While many may know about touch rugby and may have even played it socially, few know of how big the game actually is.

Touch has more regular female participants worldwide (not including school participation) than any other code of rugby.

Touch has more 21+ male participants than any other code of rugby worldwide.

Touch federations in Australia and England have formal working agreements with the NRL and Premiership Rugby respectively.

Touch, is not too dissimilar to other variants of rugby in which it has its supporters and detractors.

The facts above however are clear indication of the sport’s popularity.

The recent agreement between the NRL and Touch Rugby Australia will see rugby league-associated adult participation increase by almost 300 percent.

Let’s forget the RLIF’s limited capabilities as global governors of the sport. Let’s also forget that the Southern Hemisphere is well behind the RLEF in developing the sport among new nations.

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What I want to focus on is the rugby league’s greater ambition to follow rugby union by having a presence in the world’s biggest multiple sports events starting with the Commonwealth Games.

I am not yet convinced that rugby sevens’ inclusion into the Olympic Games is a huge problem for rugby league. In fact I see it as an opportunity.

While non-traditional nations will receive very small grants to develop sevens programs, their appearance in the Olympics among the top 16 nations is about as likely as Australia’s chances of hosting the FIFA World Cup by 2050.

The natural progression for clubs in smaller nations is to start playing thirteen a side rather than fifteen. A version of the sport which can be argued is closer in style to sevens than union.

However, the key decision makers in league currently have their eyes set on nines being the sport of choice for global appeal. I believe that the sport of rugby league would have a greater chance of gaining worldwide appeal via touch.

This is a sport which has obvious appeal to adults not suited too or comfortable with the physical aspects of full rugby.

Furthermore, it promotes all the non-contact skills in an exciting, fast paced environment.

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Perhaps the most appealing part of the sport is that it allows for mixed gender teams, a rare opportunity in contact sports and one that is reserved only for Equestrian in the Olympics.

A second mixed gender sport in the Olympics would be a welcome addition to “the Games” and a positive story for mixed gender sport.

With the official laws from the Federation of International Touch derived from league, the governing bodies of thirteen a-side would have the added benefit of promoting athletes playing ‘full contact touch’ as an almost gladiatorial pursuit, to new international markets.

If I were in the hierarchy of touch rugby right now, my target would be for the sport to gain Commonwealth Games Federation recognition before continuing with an application to Sport Accord.

Such successful applications could see the sport catapult its way to high profile international exposure.

Touch rugby in the Olympics I feel is far more a reality than rugby league nines or whatever it will be marketed as.

Holding an influential position in international development of rugby league, I would firstly convince my colleagues of the benefits touch rugby can have for increased international profile and then maximise that potential before touch rugby associations realise it themselves.

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