Cos'è il Touch - What is Touch

What is touch

Touch is a social sport born in Australia in 1960 and is a derivative of Rugby League. Game is played on a half rugby pitch by 6 players (3 girls and 3 boys) minimum contact, maximum fun. Today more then 15.000 boys and girls play the game in Europe.  

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Rules

These rules discuss the most common form of touch as governed by the Federation of International Touch but minor local variations are sometimes used. For the full set of rules see the F.I.T. Rulebook (pdf)
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 (or a Turnover) transfers to the opposing team:

Defending

• From the tap for the start of game, or from a penalty, the defending team must be at least 10 metres from point of the tap.
• After making a touch, the defending team must retreat the distance the referee marks, at least five metres from the mark where the touch occurred and stay there until the Half touches the ball.
• If a player does not retreat the entire distance the referee marked, they are considered offside. If a player makes an attempt to defend whilst still inside this distance, they will be penalised.

Scoring

A touchdown is awarded when an attacking player, who is not the acting-half places the ball on or over the opposition's score line. Each touchdown is worth one point.

The Half

The Half (or Acting-Half) is subject to a number of restrictions that do not apply to other players:

• If the Half is touched with the ball, the attacking team loses possession.
• The Half cannot score a touchdown. Attempting to do so results in a change of possession.
• If the Half takes too long to retrieve the ball the referee can call play on and defenders are allowed to move forward before the Half has touched the ball.