Tag rugby

Tag rugby, or flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt that has two velcro tags attached to it, or shorts with velcro patches. The mode of play is based on rugby football with many similarities to touch rugby, although tag rugby is often deemed as a closer simulation of the full contact codes of rugby than touch. Attacking players attempt to dodge, evade and pass a rugby ball while defenders attempt to prevent them scoring by "tagging" – pulling a velcro attached tag from the ball carrier, rather than a full contact tackle. Tag rugby is used in development and training by both rugby league and rugby union communities.

Tag rugby comes in several forms with OzTag and Mini Tag being some of the better known variations. Tag rugby has the highest participation levels in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

History

According to sports writer Terry Godwin, writing in 1983, tag rugby was first developed in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar Rugby Union. Due to the lack of grass pitches, an alternative variant to rugby union was developed. A 10-inch cord was tucked into the waistband, and its removal by an opponent with a shout of "tag", was classed as a 'tackle'. If the attacking team had failed to score by the fourth 'tackle' the defending team were given possession of the ball.[1][nb 1]

The codified version of tag rugby was created and pioneered by physical education teacher Nick Leonard in England in 1990 following an idea given to by a former service man called Barry Johns. He described to Nick how navy servicemen on board ship or whilst playing on hard grounds overseas played the Gibraltar variant of rugby. Leonard then devised a set of rules suitable for children using belts and coloured ribbons attached by Velcro and organised the first ever schools Tag Rugby festival at UCP Marjons, Plymouth in 1991. This annual event celebrated its 20th festival in 2011.

The game was also being played in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1983. A group of students including: Brad Ondner, Sean Bittner, Glen Bowling, Jesse and James Hagen, Brian Whitezman, Kevin Stevens, Jake Kershner, Brian Rice and Todd Hipke developed the game after a football practice at Navajo Field in Scottsdale. The group used the game to develop endurance for football and basketball but it was also a game that a person of any age could play and have success. This group initially used a football but found that by using a rubber kickball, anyone could play. Flags were worn, so this group called the game - flag rugby.

Tag rugby variants

OzTag

OzTag is a non-contact form of rugby league. OzTag is a variation of British tag rugby. Cronulla Sharks & St George Dragons halfback Perry Haddock introduced the sport in Australia while coaching the 1992 St George Jersey Flegg side. Together with Chris Parkes, the two took the sport to fields across Australia. Today, it is played by over 100,000 players in organised leagues across the country.

Games are usually played over 20 minutes a half. The normal dimensions of the field are 70 metres x 50 metres. Eight players in each team are allowed on the field at a time.

The attacking team has five plays or tags to try and score a try or take the ball down field as close to the line as possible. Like most versions of tag rugby, a tackle is made when one of two velcro stripes, known as tags, is removed from the ball carrier's shorts.

Players can pass and kick the ball and tries are worth one point and there are no conversions. Kicking in general play is allowed but it must be below shoulder height of the referee and on zero count with no play-the-ball (from playing a knock-on advantage for instance) or after the 4th tag.

For mixed gender games, there is a maximum of four male players per team on the field and a try scored by a female player is worth two points, compared to one point for male players.[2][3]

Mini Tag

The rules of under-7s Mini Tag possess some rugby union features, like an unlimited tackle count. It does not have an equivalent of the six tags law and instead tackled players must off-load the ball. Under-8s Mini Tag on the other hand, retains a six tag law (RFU Continuum 3.5.g) which requires that on the 7th tag the referee will stop the game and give the ball to the other side. The restart is with a free pass. For the full set of rules of Mini Tag see the Mini Tag Rulebook.

Mini Tag is currently the only form of rugby permitted by the English RFU for under-7 and under-8 age groups.[4] Mini Tag requires the use of a size 3 rugby ball and does not allow scrums, line-outs or kicking.

Tag rugby worldwide

Australia

Since its beginnings in 1992, OzTag (or Walla Tag) has grown in popularity across Australia in urban and rural areas. Twenty-eight teams participated in the first season in summer 1992–1993 playing in the Cronulla and St George areas of Sydney. Today, more than 80,000 players take part in OzTag competitions nationally.

There are Oztag competitions running all over Australia, with the largest areas located in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. Competing teams are in six divisions: women's open, mixed, men's open and men's over-30s, 35s, and 40s.

England and Great Britain

In 2003–04, the English Rugby Football Union introduced Mini Tag into its junior development program called The Three Stages of the Rugby Continuum, replacing touch rugby.

Tag rugby also developed via IMBRL (Inter Message Board Rugby League) where message boards representing clubs took part in tournaments and friendly matches. Some developed into full-contact teams, others became tag teams and others folded. In 2008, a Tag Merit League was established based on the RL Merit League format. The league was developed with the intention to encourage new clubs outside the older IMBRL circuit to play tag rugby league. The Merit League operates on normal rugby league laws with tags taking the place of tackles.

In 2009 Try Tag Rugby began running adult tag rugby competitions throughout London using OzTag rules.[5] By the summer of 2011, over 1,000 players were regularly taking part in week night evening leagues across London at locations such as Finsbury Park, Gladstone Park, Wandsworth Town, Tooting Bec, Richmond, Shoreditch, Highbury and Southwark Park. The number of competitions continues to expand with over 240 teams competing across venues in London and Reading in the summer of 2014.[6] Try Tag Rugby also host the annual London Tag Rugby Championships which attracts teams from across the UK and Europe. 42 teams registered for the event in 2013, playing 136 matches under 17 referees across nine pitches; a UK record for an adult Tag Rugby tournament.[7] In September 2014 the Rugby Football League and Try Tag Rugby announced that they would be forming a partnership to increase participation in the sport across England.[8] In early 2015 Try Tag Rugby announced they were expanding to Yorkshire, with leagues set to begin in April 2015.[9] Try Tag Rugby have continued to grow the game substantially in 2016 with 507 teams competing in early summer leagues. [10]

Try Tag Rugby are the UK's official delegates of the European Tag Federation (ETF) and the International Tag Football Federation (ITFF).[11] The Great Britain Tag Rugby Team has hosted inbound tours from Australia in 2011 and 2014, and the Tongan over 30s Men's team in 2013. The Great Britain mixed open and men's teams also competed in the 2012 Tag Rugby World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, while 2013 saw the first annual Britain and Irish Cup.[12] In 2016 Ireland won British & Irish Cup for a third time, by defeating Great Britain 4 - 2 across a record six categories.

Ireland

The Irish Tag Rugby Association (ITRA) introduced adult tag rugby to Ireland in 2000 in association with the Irish Rugby Football Union when the first ever league was run for 36 teams. Their league is known as Volvic Tag . The Irish Rugby Football Union began to run its own tag rugby leagues in 2007 following a split with ITRA.

The sport has become particularly popular in Ireland and in 2007, over 28,000 players in the two programmes making up more than 1,700 teams took part in tag rugby at 50 venues all over the country. This increased in 2008 and 2009.

There are four major types of tag rugby played there. They include men-only leagues, women-only leagues, mixed leagues (in which a minimum of one player must be female with no more than four male players on the pitch), and vets league (over-35s). Each type is usually played in four different ability categories ranging from A league (the most competitive) through B, C, and beginners league (the most inexperienced and usually the least competitive). Veterans leagues comprise teams of players all over 35 yrs old.

Many companies pay for or sponsor company teams as a method of recreation hence this format of rugby's popularity and its non-contact nature makes it playable for mixed sex and age teams and inter-office competitions.

The Pig 'n' Porter Festival is held each July in Old Crescent RFC, Limerick. It is the largest single Tag Rugby tournament in the world with up to 150 tag teams taking part each year for the top prize. The tournament regularly attracts teams from England, Scotland, France and the Netherlands.

In 2014 the ITRA introduced Rep rules which aligned their laws with the International Tag Federation. Players have the opportunity of playing for their Regional Teams (Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Kildare) from which players can play in the Tag World Cup representing Ireland.

New Zealand

In 2003 the New Zealand Rugby Union established "Rippa rugby" – a variant of tag rugby – as a developmental game for young children, and for primary school tournaments.[13]

Tag20 Group and Kiwitag amalgamated in 2010 and now administer a variation of tag rugby in New Zealand known as "Tag20 Rugby" which can be played "by all age groups from 5 to 55 and beyond".[14] Prior to its amalgamation with the Tag20 Group Kiwitag had acted as an umbrella organisation for some of those playing tag rugby in New Zealand since its introduction to the country by John Ackland in 1993.[15]

Tonga

Tonga National Tag Team is the Tonga national tag team also known as Laione Hau or Tonga Tag. Established in October 2011, The first official national Tonga Tag team participated in the Pacific Cup hosted by New Zealand in February 2012. All variants of Tag Rugby and Flag Football are played in Tonga.

USA

A tag game known as EagleTag, or non contact rugby league or flag rugby, is played in the United States using the same rules as Oz Tag.[16] Another tag game based on the laws of rugby union, known as American flag rugby, takes place in a league every Saturday morning in July in Morris County, New Jersey.[17][18]

International tag rugby league festivals

The Rochdale Swarm International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival returned for its7th year on 1 August 2015.[19] Teams from France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales regularly participate alongside teams drawn from Rochdale, including Fijians and the local Asian Community, plus Kiwi and Aussie exiles. This is complemented by teams from all across England. The festival is a non-contact, mixed gender 7-a-side competition, where at least 2 of the 7 are female.[20]

The Pig 'n' Porter Tag Rugby festival, the largest in the world, is held each July on the grounds of Old Crescent Rugby Club, Limerick, Ireland. Over 120 teams take part in the weekend event. The popularity of the event can also be attributed to the après-tag festivities which include a hog roast and live music.

The Malta International Tag Rugby Festival was launched in 2011 with teams having contested the festival in its first two seasons from England, Scotland, France and the Maltese islands of Malta and Gozo. The festival is a partner event of the Malta Rugby League (MRL). London's Try Tag Rugby All-Stars have been a regular feature at the festival every year since its inception and the festival is becoming known as 'the hottest tag rugby festival in Europe'. Winners of the Malta International Tag Rugby Festival have been Try Tag Rugby All-Stars - UK (2011), Try Tag Rugby All-Stars - UK (2012) and Tumeke - UK (2013).

In 2015 the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia will host the Tag Rugby World Cup.[21]

See also

International

Australia

England

France

Ireland

Malta

New Zealand

Tonga

United States

Footnotes

Notes
  1. ↑ Despite several sites reporting that tag rugby was invented by Perry Haddock in Australia around 1990 (this is OzTag, a variant of Tag Rugby), Godwin's wrote about the topic seven years prior. Godwin does not mention when the sport began on Gibraltar, but he does explicitly use the term "Tag Rugby" to describe the game.
References
  1. ↑ Godwin, Terry (1983). The Guinness Book of Rugby Facts & Feats (2nd ed.). Enfield: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 186. ISBN 0-85112-264-7.
  2. ↑ Oztag Rule Book 2013
  3. ↑ "Mixed OzTag Comp Registration". fsaa.com.au. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Tag Rugby". Rfu.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-10. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  5. ↑ "Try Tag Rugby". Try Tag Rugby. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  6. ↑ July – A Huge Month for Northern Hemisphere Tag Rugby | Australian Times
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ http://www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/31137/try-tag-rugby-and-rfl
  9. ↑ http://www.trytagrugby.com/locations/yorkshire-home/leagues/. Missing or empty |title= (help); External link in |website= (help);
  10. ↑ http://www.trytagrugby.com/news/2016-08-08/try-tag-rugby-see-participation-numbers-soar/
  11. ↑ "International Tag Football Federation - Home". Internationaltagfootball.com. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  12. ↑ Tag rugby on the rise as Ireland contest Tri-Nations Cup |
  13. ↑ Small Blacks Rippa rugby Archived May 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑ Bauer, Gary (2014). "History of Tag Rugby". Tag-20. Archived from the original on 2014-01-25. External link in |publisher= (help)
  15. ↑ "What Is Kiwitag". kiwitag.webs.com. 2009. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. External link in |publisher= (help)
  16. ↑ "EAGLETAG is the American version of Flag Rugby. Flag Rugby is the latest craze in recreational sport that has competitions running all over Australia, New Zealand, England, and now in the USA!" (What is EagleTag (PDF), New York Raiders Rugby League, 2010 External link in |publisher= (help)).
  17. ↑ Rank, Katy, "Morris Spreads Rugby Fever to 1000+ Youth" (PDF), Rugby Magazine, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-18, retrieved June 2013 Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  18. ↑ "American Flag Rugby". YouTube. 2008-04-22. Retrieved June 2013. Check date values in: |access-date= (help) (republished on the website of American Flag Rugby)
  19. ↑ "Rochdale News | Sport News | Rochdale International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival 2013". Rochdale Online. 2013-05-23. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  20. ↑ Wynn, Mark (2009-11-29). "Rochdale Swarm". Pitchero.com. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  21. ↑ 2015 Tag Rugby World Cup | Try Tag Rugby, Play Tag Rugby in London, Reading and Yorkshire
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