Here’s a guide to the game:
General
Touch terms
How to Play
Rules
Equipment
Teams
Mode of play and duration
General
Touch (known as touch football in Australia), Touch Rugby, and sometimes Six Down in South Africa. Touch is overseen worldwide by the Federation of International Touch (FIT), traditionally been played in Australia and New Zealand but the sport is expanding internationally and features its own World Cup.
Touch originated from the sport of rugby league in the 1960s, with the tackle of opposing players replaced by a touch. Touch is therefore not a contact sport but a limited-contact sport.
Distinctive features of Touch include the ease of learning, minimal equipment requirements and the ability to play it without fear of major injury. While it is generally played with two teams of six players, some social competitions allow up to seven players per team on the field. It is played by both sexes, and in age divisions from primary school children to over-50s. The mixed version of the game (where both male and female players are on the field at the same time) is particularly popular with social players, and it is widely played in schools.
Touch terms
Touch shares many terms in common with rugby league (eg cover-defence, offside, intercept). Below are some Touch-specific terms. The list is not meant to be comprehensive, and there are some regional variations.
• Acting Half or Dummy-Half or just Half or Dummy: the player who receives the ball following the rollball
• Dump or Quickie: a quick rollball to further attacking opportunities from the ensuing play.
• Fade or Drag: an angled run forwards and towards the wing/sideline in an attempt to draw defenders out of position.
• Mark: the position where the ball carrier was touched and the ensuing rollball must be performed. In the case of a penalty, the mark is where the tap must be performed.
• Phantom: a defensive player claiming a touch when no touch had in fact been made. Frowned upon by the vast majority of players.
• Rollball: must be performed once a player in possession is touched by the opposition or after a turnover. The rollball is performed by placing the ball on the mark, and either rolling the ball backwards, or stepping forward over it. The ball is picked up by another player on the attacking team
• Ruck: a basic attacking move intended to promote the ball down the field rather than specifically result in a touchdown.
• Scoop or Scoot: an attacking move following the dump, whereby a player runs from the half position in an attempt to get past the defensive line.
• Snap: to beat (ie run past) your opposite number with the ball in hand.
• Squeeze: a type of zone defence used to force attacking players to move the ball to the wings to gain and/or take advantage of an overlap (by which time the defence should have had time to re-align itself).
• Switch or Cut: a "scissors" move between two attacking players.
• Touch: the main defensive tactic in the game of Touch, similar to a tackle in some other codes of football. It forces the attacking team to stop and restart play. A touch is performed by the defensive team on any part of the body or clothing of the current ball carrier for the attacking team, or the ball itself. At the moment of a touch, it is customary (but not mandatory) for the defensive player who is performing the touch to shout "Touch", which alerts both the attacking and defensive teams and the referees that the player has been touched.
• Wrap: a variation on the switch move involving an additional pass back to the original ball carrier
The main aim of touch is to score as many touchdowns as possible and prevent the opposition from scoring any. Most competitive teams have special offence and defence plays to do this.
• teams are generally split into three positions: "wings" (the players on either side of the field ie. the 'right wing' and the 'left wing'); "links" (the players on the inside of the wings), and; "middles" (the players on the inside of the links.
• in attack, the "middles" (who are the 'playmakers') primary job is to set up the play which gives their team the best opportunity to score a try. The links and wings generally follow directions of the middles as their job depends on the particular offence being played.
• in defence, teams usually have a particular pattern or 'zone' defence involving all players
The winning team is the team with the most touchdowns at the end of the game.
These rules discuss the most common form of touch as governed by the Federation of International Touch but minor local variations are common. For the full set of rules see the F.I.T. Rulebook
Note that the sport of Touch has a number of recognised variations including:
• Beach Touch, where the defence has one less player than the attack and as the name suggests, is played on beach.
• 1-Touch, where the attacking team is allowed 1 possession to score before handing the ball over.
• 2-Touch, same as above except the attacking team is allowed 2 touches.
Possession
A team normally retains possession for a set of six consecutive touches. Possession transfers to the opposing team:
• after the sixth touch
• after a try;
• if the acting-half gets touched;
• from an intercept;
• from a dropped ball or other failure to maintain possession;
• whenever the referee indicates a turnover.
Defending
• From the tap, the defending team must be at least 10 meters from point of the tap
• After making a touch, the defending team must retreat five meters from the mark where the touch occurred and stay there until the dummy-half plays the ball. If any players do not retreat the entire five meters, or they leave before the dummy-half has touched the ball, they will be penalized.
• If a penalty is conceded, the defending team must retreat at least 10 meters from the mark of the penalty. If a player makes an attempt to defend whilst still inside the 10 meters, they will be penalised.
Scoring
A touchdown (or try) is awarded when an attacking player places the ball on or over the opposition's try line. The aim is to score more touchdowns than the opposing team. A touchdown is worth one point and scored by placing the ball in the opponent's in-goal area. There are no other methods of scoring.
Some local competitions operate special by-laws which allow multiple points to be awarded for touchdowns under various situations. The most common variation is awarding two points for a touchdown scored by a female player in a mixed game.
If you are over the try line and drop the ball instead of touching the ball on the groung it is counted as a drop ball and it is turned over and this means the opposition is awarded the ball.
Acting-Half
The acting-half is subject to a number of restrictions that do not apply to other players:
• If the acting-half is touched with the ball, the attacking team loses possession.
• The acting-half cannot score a touchdown.
• If the acting-half takes too long to retrieve the ball a penalty may be rewarded to the opposition.
The Tap
Play is started by a tap at the beginning of each half, following a touchdown and when a penalty is awarded.
• The tap is performed by an attacking player placing the ball on the ground, touching the ball with their foot, then picking it up and playing. NB: The ball must be released from the hands and come into contact with the ground or a change of possession occurs.
• The defensive team must stay at a minimum distance of 10 meters from the mark during the tap, unless they are positioned on their own scoreline.
• The defensive players can move after the ball carrier has touched the ball with his foot.
• The player who has performed the tap may be touched without losing possession.
• The attacking side must be positioned behind the ball when it is tapped.
• The attacking side may move the ball up to 10 meters directly behind the given mark when taking a penalty tap. In this case, the defending side must still remain 10-metres from the original mark, not the new mark.
The Penalty
A penalty is granted to the non-offending team if:
• the ball travels more than one meter after the rollball is performed
• the ball is passed forward.
• a "touch and pass" is committed (a pass after being touched).
• a player does not perform the rollball at the mark (overstepping).
• an obstruction is committed.
• a player is offside.
• a player acts contrary to the rules or spirit of the sport (eg time-wasting, using excessive force to make a touch, phantom touch (calling a touch when they clearly didn't make one), disputing decisions, etc).
Substitutions
• Substitutions can be made any number of times throughout the match. However, the game remains continuous and does not stop to allow substitutions.
• Players coming onto the field must wait until the player they are substituting with has come off the field. Failing to do so may result in a penalty for having too many players on the field.
• Players in a team who are not on the field must remain inside their allocated substitution box until they come onto the field
Equipment
The field
Touch is played on a grass, rectangular field measuring 70 X 50 metres (ie one half of a rugby league field). As kicking is not allowed, goal posts are not required.
The ball
Touch balls are oval and slightly smaller than rugby league or union balls.
Clothing
Players typically wear light clothing such as T-shirts or polo shirts and shorts. All shirts must be numbered. Women generally wear lycra bike shorts, athletic briefs or swimsuit-style lycra bodysuits.
Footwear
Players normally wear soft rubber cleated shoes, similar to those used in other grass sports such as cricket and field hockey. Screw-in cleats are strictly prohibited, though moulded-sole football boots may be worn.
Teams
• The teams can be male, female or mixed.
• Each team can consist of up to 14 players, of which 6 players can be on the field at any one time.
• Mixed teams typically comprise 3 females and 3 males on the field at one time.
• There is no limit to the number of substitutions a player or team can make.
• Substitutions may be made at any time provided the players are in the designated substitution box. Play is continuous and does not stop for substitutions.
Mode of play and duration
Mode of play
The ball can be passed or knocked (but not kicked) sideways or backwards between team mates who attempt to evade opposition defenders and score touchdowns.
Duration
The standard duration is 40 minutes (two x 20 minute halves) with a 5 minute halftime, though other time frames are often used to suit local conditions and competitions.
Tied at fulltime
In the event of a draw at fulltime (in a play-off or final), extra time of five minutes each way will be played (this may vary across regions/competitions). The team in front at the end of extra time wins the game. However, if the scores are still level, the teams enter a sudden death "drop-off" to find the winning team. A drop off will begin when the referee stops play. Each team loses one player every two minutes. The ref will re-start play after drop off. If a team scores from the tap off in sudden death, without the opposing team having had possession, the opposition have one set of six touches to score. If they don't score within those six touches the game is won by the first team that scored. Alternatively, the drop-off will continue until each team is down to three players (in mixed competitions, teams are required to have at least one female still on the field). From this point, the game will continue until the next touchdown is scored and the winner is found.
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