Touch — a game in its own right

Press, 1 July 1983, Page 10

Touch — a game in its own right

A new sport has been given an administrative base in Canterbury with the formation recently of the Canterbury Touch Association.

Touch has its origins in rugby, but the driving force behind the game in Canterbury, Mr Frank Creighton, is keen that touch be seen as a game in its own right, as is the case in other parts of New Zealand and overseas.

Mr Creighton started organising touch — or touch tens as it was generally known — some six years ago. It was then a game mainly for ageing rugby players who wanted to remain active without the usual physical contact. In recent years the popularity of the game has grown considerably, with hundreds taking part in regular Sunday games. While the bulk of the

participants are still former rugby players, Mr Creighton is keen to bring in anyone who simply wants to play a running type of football, in which the main objective is that all enjoy themselves. The game takes its name from the requirement that when touched a player is deemed to be tackled and must release the ball. The tens tag came about from the number of players in a team, but New Zealand may move to teams of seven to conform with other countries.

Already there are many adherents with sporting backgrounds other than rugby, and Mr Creighton sees the spectnim widening as more realise what the game has to offer. “Before long we hope to be able to cater for whole families,” said Mr Creighton. He is encouraged here by the way the game has de-

veloped in Australia. There are more than 140,000 registered touch players in Australia and a national association has recently been formed. The game is played both winter and summer, and there are teams, which are nearly all sponsored, of men, women, boys and girls. The game has a number of strongholds in New Zealand and plans are in motion for the establishment of a national association. It is especially big in Auckland, where there are almost 600 teams turning out regularly. Wellington and Hawke’s Bay are other areas where touch is firmly established and the game has made a start in Dunedin this year. Mr Creighton is definitely a man of vision and he sees some exciting times ahead for touch. He is busy at

present working on a number of tournaments, in addition to running regular touch days, and the biggest is a national tournament in Christchurch next Labour week-end. He has taken the game into the Canterbury country areas this year, with considerable success, and touch will be one of the main attractions at a rugby fun day at Amberley on Sunday, July 31. “Sport is so much part of our lives these days, and touch is a game designed for those who want to play a running and passing game, without having to worry about injury or their state of fitness, and against players of a comparable age.

“A lot of fun is what the game basically offers,” he said.