Tag rugby

Tag 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 similar to rugby league with attacking players attempting 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. Tag rugby is also used as a development game / alternative by the rugby union community.

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 Ireland and Australia.

Tag Rugby variants

OzTag

OzTag is a non-contact form of rugby league. Former St George Dragons halfback Perry Haddock founded the sport while coaching the 1992 St George Jersey Flegg side.

Games are usually played over 40 minutes. 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 six 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.

Mini Tag

Unlike OzTag, Mini Tag is based on rugby union rather than rugby league. It does not have an equivalent of the six tags law and instead tackled players must off-load the ball. Tries are worth five points each.

Mini Tag is currently the only form of rugby union permitted by the English RFU for under-8 and under-7 age groups. 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 1993, OzTag 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 36,000 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

Tag Rugby UK Limited brought the game of Tag Rugby to England in 1991. It runs leagues for adults.

In 2003-4, the RFU 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.

Skolars Tag Rugby will be held at Finsbury Park, London during the Summer of 2008 for open age men’s teams.[1]

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[2]. The Irish Rugby Football Union[3] 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 30 venues all over the country. 2008 is shaping up to be even bigger.

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 three players must be female), 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 of 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.

International Tag Rugby League Festival

The Rochdale Swarm are to host an International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival on the 30th of May 2009.

Teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales have entered along side a Team drawn from Rochdale Fijians and the local Asian Community.This is along side teams from all across England The Festival is a non-contact, mixed gender 7-a-side competition, were at least 2 of the 7 are from the opposite sex.

With an unprecedented demand for places it will be the biggest ever adult Tag Rugby League Festival held in the UK.

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See also

• Touch football - also known as Touch Rugby
• Flag football - the equivalent spinoff from American football

External links

Australia

• Oztag Australia
• The unofficial Oztag website
• Oztagsa - South Australian Oztag Association

England

• RFU pdf Mini Tag
• Tag Rugby UK
• Tag Merit League
• FevNet Rovers Community Rugby League - members of the Tag Merit League
• Skolars Tag Rugby

France

• Sophia Rugby - 1st French Tag Rugby Association

Ireland

• Irish Tag Rugby Association
• Irish Rugby Football Union
• Astro Tag Rugby
• Angels Tag Rugby - A Dublin-based Tag Rugby Club