Tips for Social Touch

Suggestions for social Touch

If possible, commit to a regular time and the same venue so that people will always know where to come, without the need for emails, calls, checking on a website each time, etc.

Foster an ethos whereby players can arrive and leave whenever they want, between the stated times that your kit-carrier has committed to being there.

Start playing when numbers reach 4 versus 4 (if you only have 3 versus 3, ignore the rules about the Dummy Half). As people arrive, they join whichever team has fewer players. When numbers reach 10 versus 10, split into 2 games.

Honesty counts! If a touch is called quickly, and not corrected with a quick ‘MISS!’, it counts; if a player calls ‘Forward Pass!’, it counts; if a player calls ‘Touch Pass!’, it counts UNLESS it is the player effecting the touch (that player may only call ‘Touch!’)

Try to maintain the flow of the game as much as possible, without significantly compromising the rules, e.g.:

• don’t penalise ‘forward passes’ if they were actually fairly ‘flat’ (travelling parallel to the scoreline) or the result of the Dummy Half popping the ball up from the ground and forward to a running player
• don’t penalise ‘touch passes’ if the touch was effected whilst the ball-carrier was in the movement of passing but hadn’t yet released the ball
• don’t allow delays at the rollball!

More experienced Rugby players may reflexively ‘drop the shoulder’ or try to ‘run through the tackle’ – someone with tact will need to pull them up on that! (There’s actually no advantage to this as all forward momentum is lost when they have to return to where the rollball needs to be played).

Make sure there’s time for a drink, ice cream, barbecue, etc. in the park or at a local cafe or pub after each game!