Touch/Tag Rugby League TTRL

[The Rocket]

4 hours ago, HarrogateKnights said:

Totally agree with this point. Our club considered TTRL (Oztag) but even if we decided to run it ourselves from the club the tags are £45 for 2 sets and then each player would have to pay £17 each for a pair of approved shorts before you get going . We settled on X-League due to it being run by the RFL. Touch Rugby run by the England Touch association is a sport that is dominated by Union teams on O2 touch festivals seem to try and take that variant. When Covid allows we are having our own social X-league even every Friday 7-8pm then option to go to the bar after and the clubs social secretary is at the heart of this arranging after games meet ups for food etc every so often. We will be involved with the X-League world cup this year too. I played tag and it is something that we may consider socially if the interest gains and have a minimum contact evening with both options available. 

G`day Harrogate, I`ve been back a few times now to have a look at the footage you posted of X-League being played on what looks like a tennis court, I also searched high and low for the post where you describe the rules of X-League but have been unable to find it, Pedant gives one clue away below about the touch being on the ball, and I think you mention kicking somewhere as well. Couple of things, firstly I assume the game could be scaled up so that more than three players per side could be accommodated, is that so, and perhaps if you could refer to me something to get a better handle on the rules.

You explain very comprehensively above where you are coming from in trying to set a `Touch` competition that is not automatically associated with English Rugby union on the one hand and yet your desire to avoid the prohibitively expensive costs associated with a TTR franchise for your participants on the other, especially in what is a bit of fun on a weeknight. 

I suppose the RLF are in a bind here because they can`t subsidise the costs of shorts and tags for Rugby League clubs like yourself because they are affiliated with the TTR franchise system and they TTR I gather are making money out of selling that kit. And having read the TTR franchise promotion you posted earlier it is depressingly `rugby this` and `rugby that`, honestly it sounded like one great big promotion for union to me.

Do you ultimately consider X-League to be to be English Rugby Leagues` long term competitor with England Rugby`s domination of the Touch competitions, would that be your ultimate goal, you did mention that you are having a WC in November and have RFL backing., and what are their plans with X-League, is it being encouraged at other clubs. I read somewhere here the other day about Coventry`s popular Touch and Tag competitions, I wonder who they are aligned with.

It would seem to me that the RFL, IRL even the ITFF all need to sit down and plan a comprehensive strategy of what needs to be played and where.

 

 

[HarrogateKnights]

42 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

G`day Harrogate, I`ve been back a few times now to have a look at the footage you posted of X-League being played on what looks like a tennis court, I also searched high and low for the post where you describe the rules of X-League but have been unable to find it, Pedant gives one clue away below about the touch being on the ball, and I think you mention kicking somewhere as well. Couple of things, firstly I assume the game could be scaled up so that more than three players per side could be accommodated, is that so, and perhaps if you could refer to me something to get a better handle on the rules.

You explain very comprehensively above where you are coming from in trying to set a `Touch` competition that is not automatically associated with English Rugby union on the one hand and yet your desire to avoid the prohibitively expensive costs associated with a TTR franchise for your participants on the other, especially in what is a bit of fun on a weeknight. 

I suppose the RLF are in a bind here because they can`t subsidise the costs of shorts and tags for Rugby League clubs like yourself because they are affiliated with the TTR franchise system and they TTR I gather are making money out of selling that kit. And having read the TTR franchise promotion you posted earlier it is depressingly `rugby this` and `rugby that`, honestly it sounded like one great big promotion for union to me.

Do you ultimately consider X-League to be to be English Rugby Leagues` long term competitor with England Rugby`s domination of the Touch competitions, would that be your ultimate goal, you did mention that you are having a WC in November and have RFL backing., and what are their plans with X-League, is it being encouraged at other clubs. I read somewhere here the other day about Coventry`s popular Touch and Tag competitions, I wonder who they are aligned with.

It would seem to me that the RFL, IRL even the ITFF all need to sit down and plan a comprehensive strategy of what needs to be played and where.

 

 

Thanks for checking us out, we use that pitch as a training pitch. It's designed for 5 aside soccer but allows us to train better as players haven't got the space of 50-60 metres like you would on a grass pitch setup. Also it's cheaper, floodlit and all weather. Generally it's 7 a side for 13 minutes so we have been doing attack vs defence drills etc. I was on the AGM call today of X-League and there long term aim is for a X-league UK circuit going to different venues etc amongst other tournaments and bringing X-league into the RFL coaches framework as part of using X-league to develop skill sets. 

We can offer X-league for 1 hour (4 x 13 minute games) for £2-3 per player turn up and play. That's without any kit sponsors or anything like that. X-League see it as a stepping stone up or down through to contact RL or you could play X-league in its own right. Since those videos have been taken we have had regular 5 a side games on that pitch which we might have to scale up to a bigger pitch at some point. 

[HarrogateKnights]

3 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

There are Tags in Wheelchair RL. The players look to have one on each arm and several replacements. How do they manage to afford these if they`re so expensive?

The more I watch League Tag, the more I`m recognising the skill and positional sense involved in making the tags. The angles and footwork are similar to how a smaller player in Tackle RL avoids being front-on with a bigger opponent. Is there the same defensive technique involved in making the touch on the ball in X-League?

Also, isn`t the touch on the ball in X-League difficult to reliably referee? In Tag it`s either on or off, very clear-cut.

I have found from playing both X-league is more like full contact as you tend to tackle the ball in a sense when wrapping up your opponent and is a little more physical due to the tag positions on the side of the shorts but you do raise a valid point on the referee at the moment alot of it is a "gentleman/captains" agreement, rather than playing for competition you would admit if ball was touched and not seen by the referee. 

[The Rocket]

I`ve been reading a book called `Why the West Rules......for now` by Ian Morris, which I`ve seen widely quoted in other books and even his ideas mentioned in documentaries. It has been called a `modern day classic`. One of the theories he pursues is the idea that the city/state started in Mesopotamia and migrated to Egypt then Greece etc as the different geographical advantages of those places had suited the further development economically of larger and larger cities.

His theory is fundamentally that a theory or concept, be it cities or capitalism may originate in one area but may shift to other areas as other factors in that area may be more conducive to its development. The home of capitalism shifting from Britain to the U.S. being another example.

It got me thinking whether the same theory could be applied to how Rugby League was taken from its` birthplace in the north of England planted in Australia and why it has been so much more successful. Applying Morris`s theory a possible solution that I came up with was because League was planted over here 100+ years ago when Oz was largely a nation of the working class the game has been taken up into the middle classes by those same families as their children gained an education and moved into the professions as well as still being a game of more manual professions, i.e. there was a more conducive environment for the game to grow over here out of its` working class roots. This combined with being such a rapidly growing and spreading country.

Funny enough that same upward push of League has probably led to union being pushed further into more areas that are solely the reserve of those who considered themselves the `upper class `originally. A very small percentage of the population.

Got me thinking where is the next growth spurt or area more conducive to League`s growth going to occur. I can`t help but think that it will be those areas that embrace the low contact forms of our game as being the most important form of the game. The Tackle version will spring from that but not be the dominant form of the game. Maybe that could be Asia who knows.

Coinciding with that was the ARLC announcing today that a big funding push to be announced soon for grassroots boys and girls Tackle League and for Touch and Tag League as well. Great to see their high up on the agenda as well.

According to Morris`s theory there may be reasons why a good idea may not expand to its` full potential or hit a ceiling, in one region, now whether Touch and Tag will ever really take off in our countries where it maybe seen a Tackle `lite`, and not really suitable for grown men but potentially in new regions be it Asia, Africa whatever, it may not meet the same resistance.

If any Touch/Tag players make it this far, I mean no offence.

 

 

[unapologetic pedant]

16 hours ago, The Rocket said:

According to Morris`s theory there may be reasons why a good idea may not expand to its` full potential or hit a ceiling, in one region, now whether Touch and Tag will ever really take off in our countries where it maybe seen a Tackle `lite`, and not really suitable for grown men but potentially in new regions be it Asia, Africa whatever, it may not meet the same resistance.

The way Soccer took off about 30 to 40 years ago in the USA as a sport for women and girls, was independent of both women`s Soccer in more established Soccer nations, and men`s Soccer in the USA. They became the dominant Women`s nation, despite Soccer remaining domestically obscure.

It`s possible to imagine something similar with Oztag/League Tag, where enthusiasts in a populous Asian country will import the game, establishing it in clubs and throughout their education system. Once they crossed the threshold of achieving critical mass, it could grow like wildfire.

The question then would be how integral this Tag success was to Rugby League. Would it be known internally and externally as non-contact RL? Or, as with Oztag/Tag Football/TTRL in Aus/NZ/Eng/Ire, be seen as a completely separate game, culturally and organisationally detached from Tackle RL. 

[The Rocket]

13 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

The way Soccer took off about 30 to 40 years ago in the USA as a sport for women and girls, was independent of both women`s Soccer in more established Soccer nations, and men`s Soccer in the USA. They became the dominant Women`s nation, despite Soccer remaining domestically obscure.

It`s possible to imagine something similar with Oztag/League Tag, where enthusiasts in a populous Asian country will import the game, establishing it in clubs and throughout their education system. Once they crossed the threshold of achieving critical mass, it could grow like wildfire.

The question then would be how integral this Tag success was to Rugby League. Would it be known internally and externally as non-contact RL? Or, as with Oztag/Tag Football/TTRL in Aus/NZ/Eng/Ire, be seen as a completely separate game, culturally and organisationally detached from Tackle RL. 

I believe it was something similar with Women`s soccer in Japan. 

What was it about these two countries that allowed women`s soccer to take off.

Perhaps part of it was that soccer was seen as being a bit of an `un-manly` sport and therefore not the preserve of largely `men-only`.

Personally though, I think that soccer probably gave women in those countries a game that allowed them to express their physicality in a way that `small` court sports don`t.  I`ve watched a bit of it over the last couple of years, the W-League our national Women`s comp is broadcast on the ABC. There is an openness and freshness to it that I found enjoyable, I recall even remarking to my sons that what a great sport for women especially given the bonus that some of the girls in the Women`s comp have played in different Leagues around the world. What a great experience.

But back on track that `freshness and openness` is reminiscent of the women`s Rugby League this year, not bogged down like the men`s game can be, can`t put my finger on why or what is the difference though. I do know in the women`s game you do see that style of tackling that you see in kids footy, where they aren`t quite game enough to go head first into the tackle and tend to make that old kids move of arms wrapped around your opponents waist, head held clear and drag them down through being a dead weight. Not sure if I`m making myself clear there. I am sure that is not the only difference though. I suppose a lot of it is that old joy de vivre of the beauty and enjoyment of the running game and open spaces., probably what the American women get out of soccer.

This is where I suppose Oztag/League Tag can offer something similar, I agree that getting into the education system, anywhere for that matter, basically where it is almost compulsory for kids to play, not sure whether it`s the same in your part of the world but kids over here by and large have to participate in a sport at school, at least great if it`s on offer, is ideal.

Whether Pedant it does take a life of its` own is something we can`t worry too much about, I suppose ties can be maintained and developed and an invitation to our WC would be a good starter.

One last thing on this topic though which I guess is related, there has been a push from within the NRRRL, that`s the group above Group 3 where I live, by some of the women in their 8 team League Tag comp to abandon that comp and form a 4 team women`s tackle comp. Coincidentally I spoke to one of the guys involved in running our local comp yesterday and asked him if he knew what was going on, he agreed with me that why would you give up an 8 team comp and replace it with a 4 team comp but obviously some of the girls in the League Tag want the extra physicality, I assume, that tackle offers. There has been no resolution so far as he knew, but it is an insight into how the game may evolve overseas if the non-contact versions take off first. Hope fully one will lead to the other.

 

[unapologetic pedant]

9 hours ago, The Rocket said:

I believe it was something similar with Women`s soccer in Japan. 

What was it about these two countries that allowed women`s soccer to take off.

Perhaps part of it was that soccer was seen as being a bit of an `un-manly` sport and therefore not the preserve of largely `men-only`.

I was going to mention Japan but (and I`m not an expert on this), I don`t think there was the same discrepancy there as in the USA. I think Japanese Soccer had a similar status for men and women, reflected in the 2002 men`s WC they co-hosted with South Korea. Both these Asian nations BTW, are good candidates for League Tag development.

The cultural factors to which you allude will play a role, but ultimately I suspect Soccer grew in USA and Japan because enough people in decision-making positions wanted it to happen. Like the effort mustered by an Olympics home nation between the award of the games and the event, where particular sports are targeted for recruitment and investment.

The rest of your post highlights a concern about the direction of Aussie women`s RL. The media coverage is constantly pushing them to play individually and collectively like the men. This has happened in women`s Soccer, and it`s the poorer for it. Apart from the style of play, we now see women`s Soccer players feigning injury, whining at officials, and time-wasting by the corner-flag with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Women`s RL should value their differences from the men`s game. One such is League Tag. If the numbers are there for both Tackle and Tag all well and good, but it`s a mistake to jeopardize the success of a women`s comp by transitioning too much too soon.

[unapologetic pedant]

A piece on the Auckland RL site says over a 1000 players will be at their KiwiTag club challenge next week, up from 700 last year despite Covid. Hard to know whether this Tag growth in RL clubs is bringing any closer a merger with NZTFI. Everybody must be aware of the potential.

I`ve started noticing some teams wearing belts to which the tags are attached. Is this a possible way round the prohibitive cost of Tag shorts?

[Harrogate Fire Ants]

8 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

A piece on the Auckland RL site says over a 1000 players will be at their KiwiTag club challenge next week, up from 700 last year despite Covid. Hard to know whether this Tag growth in RL clubs is bringing any closer a merger with NZTFI. Everybody must be aware of the potential.

I`ve started noticing some teams wearing belts to which the tags are attached. Is this a possible way round the prohibitive cost of Tag shorts?

Probably but tag shorts are only £13 each not exactly an end game in pricing especially with the costs of boots these days. 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Harrogate Fire Ants

[OriginalMrC]

10 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

A piece on the Auckland RL site says over a 1000 players will be at their KiwiTag club challenge next week, up from 700 last year despite Covid. Hard to know whether this Tag growth in RL clubs is bringing any closer a merger with NZTFI. Everybody must be aware of the potential.

I`ve started noticing some teams wearing belts to which the tags are attached. Is this a possible way round the prohibitive cost of Tag shorts?

Paid £12 for mine and over two years later they are still pretty much as new despite being washed numerous times. Hardly prohibitive pricing I would say

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, Harrogate Fire Ants said:

Probably but tag shorts are only £13 each not exactly an end game in pricing especially with the costs of boots these days. 

 

1 hour ago, OriginalMrC said:

Paid £12 for mine and over two years later they are still pretty much as new despite being washed numerous times. Hardly prohibitive pricing I would say

I`m confused. These two posts are at odds with the Harrogate Knights post on the previous page. He quotes £17 for shorts, £45 for two sets of tags and gives the general impression of these costs being the decisive factor against Tag.

 

[Harrogate Fire Ants]

On 05/02/2021 at 00:21, unapologetic pedant said:

 

I`m confused. These two posts are at odds with the Harrogate Knights post on the previous page. He quotes £17 for shorts, £45 for two sets of tags and gives the general impression of these costs being the decisive factor against Tag.

 

It depends how you do it. If you join a league run by TTR you have to buy the official shorts which are in the region of £12-15. You then pay per "season" 8-10 games depending on the league roughly £35 per player. However you have to travel to the venue where all other equipment and referees are supplied. In that sense it can get quite costly as £35 every 8-10 weeks plus travel for a 40 min match where you might not play all of it. 

If you do it yourself as a club you have to buy the base materials, shorts, tags etc and then play at a venue. It's all dependent on the players that are interested, we as a club are looking at having a tag social side on top of our Friday evening X-League depending on numbers. 

Edited February 8, 2021 by Harrogate Fire Ants

[unapologetic pedant]

18 hours ago, Harrogate Fire Ants said:

It depends how you do it. If you join a league run by TTR you have to buy the official shorts which are in the region of £12-15. You then pay per "season" 8-10 games depending on the league roughly £35 per player. However you have to travel to the venue where all other equipment and referees are supplied. In that sense it can get quite costly as £35 every 8-10 weeks plus travel for a 40 min match where you might not play all of it. 

It seems that competitions are only likely to be viable if the RFL have a degree of oversight. 

They could incorporate the existing TTRL, where the costs are (albeit probably with difficulty) already defrayed. Then try to build on that platform, particularly transitioning players from Oztag to League Tag through the community clubs.

The other option is for the RFL to secure some public funding by pitching the health and social benefits of Tag. Currently the likes of Sport England will have an image of RL consisting only of Tackle. They know such a heavy contact game will attract few participants. Hence, their expenditure is not cost-effective. The sight of players on crutches or with arms in slings will also cause those charged with improving the health of the nation to conclude funds might be better spent elsewhere.

It`s the RFL`s responsibility to change perceptions by prioritising Tag, and presenting RL to official bodies as a contact/ non-contact package with mass participation potential. At the moment, there is no evidence they possess such foresight.

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, unapologetic pedant said:

......It`s the RFL`s responsibility to change perceptions by prioritising Tag, and presenting RL to official bodies as a contact/ non-contact package with mass participation potential. At the moment, there is no evidence they possess such foresight.

Tell 'em.

[Harrogate Fire Ants]

3 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

It seems that competitions are only likely to be viable if the RFL have a degree of oversight. 

They could incorporate the existing TTRL, where the costs are (albeit probably with difficulty) already defrayed. Then try to build on that platform, particularly transitioning players from Oztag to League Tag through the community clubs.

The other option is for the RFL to secure some public funding by pitching the health and social benefits of Tag. Currently the likes of Sport England will have an image of RL consisting only of Tackle. They know such a heavy contact game will attract few participants. Hence, their expenditure is not cost-effective. The sight of players on crutches or with arms in slings will also cause those charged with improving the health of the nation to conclude funds might be better spent elsewhere.

It`s the RFL`s responsibility to change perceptions by prioritising Tag, and presenting RL to official bodies as a contact/ non-contact package with mass participation potential. At the moment, there is no evidence they possess such foresight.

I totally agree with the above. In setting up the new club over the last 12 months the "minimal contact" variants definitely have to be at the forefront. Full contact at open age community level becomes a harder sell especially with commitment of potentially 2 training nights and game day on a Saturday at most open age clubs. TTR/X-League gives you fitness and ball handling skills plus still a good product with the speed of it. We have pretty much lost Touch Rugby although it has 6 tackles and the roll the ball "O2 touch" and England touch change the other rules to make it more like union each year. 

Its what we group them in is it. Minimal contact Rugby League or Social Rugby League or a mix of both. TTRL could easily be played at club level and enter a team into your local TTRL league too, same as X-league and their tournaments. 

[OriginalMrC]

This thread annoyingly just goes round and round in circles. TTR is already aligned with the RFL and is extremely successful! 

[Harrogate Fire Ants]

On 08/01/2021 at 13:02, The Rocket said:

G`day Harrogate, I`ve been back a few times now to have a look at the footage you posted of X-League being played on what looks like a tennis court, I also searched high and low for the post where you describe the rules of X-League but have been unable to find it, Pedant gives one clue away below about the touch being on the ball, and I think you mention kicking somewhere as well. Couple of things, firstly I assume the game could be scaled up so that more than three players per side could be accommodated, is that so, and perhaps if you could refer to me something to get a better handle on the rules.

You explain very comprehensively above where you are coming from in trying to set a `Touch` competition that is not automatically associated with English Rugby union on the one hand and yet your desire to avoid the prohibitively expensive costs associated with a TTR franchise for your participants on the other, especially in what is a bit of fun on a weeknight. 

I suppose the RLF are in a bind here because they can`t subsidise the costs of shorts and tags for Rugby League clubs like yourself because they are affiliated with the TTR franchise system and they TTR I gather are making money out of selling that kit. And having read the TTR franchise promotion you posted earlier it is depressingly `rugby this` and `rugby that`, honestly it sounded like one great big promotion for union to me.

Do you ultimately consider X-League to be to be English Rugby Leagues` long term competitor with England Rugby`s domination of the Touch competitions, would that be your ultimate goal, you did mention that you are having a WC in November and have RFL backing., and what are their plans with X-League, is it being encouraged at other clubs. I read somewhere here the other day about Coventry`s popular Touch and Tag competitions, I wonder who they are aligned with.

It would seem to me that the RFL, IRL even the ITFF all need to sit down and plan a comprehensive strategy of what needs to be played and where.

 

 

Hi again, 

Regarding TTRL you are right in the sense of franchising as the kit sales are sold solely on their website and the leagues are run as a franchise. 

The best website is 

https://xleaguerl.com

The above breaks down the rules etc. I am on the steering group for X-league hence the promotion, the videos you have seen so far are of us playing on a 4G cage pitch practicing attack vs defence we usually play 5v5 but in tournaments thats 7v7. We have been tapping into the Corporate market (ideas taken by listening to Coventry and London tag leagues as well as Leeds) and our social sessions are arranged at 7pm on a Friday for people who want a bit of fitness and fun, we can get 4, 13 mins games in a hour if run to schedule. Realistically X-league has a big gap to fill in a sense of getting to the touch Rugby standards. The idea along with the World Cup in November is to have a yearly "grand prix" circuit of X-league tournaments held around the country. We are also going to be running a mid week North Yorkshire round robin cup which we have had alot of interest to expand the variant with the view of that becoming Yorkshire wide maybe as a county competition, then expanding that to county vs county for country selection as it gets bigger. 

In all honesty I think most of the TTRL players are fitness people 1st off who are looking for something different than the gym, the vast majority won't know the RFL are linked to the franchise as other than it being played at magic weekend it doesn't get mentioned. 

[unapologetic pedant]

28 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:

This thread annoyingly just goes round and round in circles. TTR is already aligned with the RFL and is extremely successful! 

One annoying point definitely keeps coming round. Some posters keep depicting TTRL and the RFL as "aligned" without giving any further detail.

On the TTRL site, the RFL are listed as a partner alongside their commercial sponsors. There is no mention of an organisational role for the RFL, nor of any active cooperation. So what tangible form does the alignment take, and what benefits have accrued to the game of RL from it?

[Harrogate Fire Ants]

5 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

One annoying point definitely keeps coming round. Some posters keep depicting TTRL and the RFL as "aligned" without giving any further detail.

On the TTRL site, the RFL are listed as a partner alongside their commercial sponsors. There is no mention of an organisational role for the RFL, nor of any active cooperation. So what tangible form does the alignment take, and what benefits have accrued to the game of RL from it?

That's the bit that's frustrating as with X-league on the AGM we had Ashley Denton from the RFL community department on the call. It is being spearheaded by former player Des Foy, who has created the concept adapted from Eurotag. However TTR is listed on the RFLs website but no explanation as to how the 2 organisations work together. Even if no monetary benefit, awareness benefits are just as powerful. 

[OriginalMrC]

2 hours ago, unapologetic pedant said:

One annoying point definitely keeps coming round. Some posters keep depicting TTRL and the RFL as "aligned" without giving any further detail.

On the TTRL site, the RFL are listed as a partner alongside their commercial sponsors. There is no mention of an organisational role for the RFL, nor of any active cooperation. So what tangible form does the alignment take, and what benefits have accrued to the game of RL from it?

I don't get what your point is. TTR is a variant of Rugby League which is very successful and played by a lot of people. Surely lots more people playing a form of the sport is the benefit to Rugby League. It is in a lot of ways its a different sport, and is also a separate business so other than being the governing body and promoting the game I am not sure what else you think the RFL should do? 

[Harrogate Fire Ants]

1 hour ago, OriginalMrC said:

I don't get what your point is. TTR is a variant of Rugby League which is very successful and played by a lot of people. Surely lots more people playing a form of the sport is the benefit to Rugby League. It is in a lot of ways its a different sport, and is also a separate business so other than being the governing body and promoting the game I am not sure what else you think the RFL should do? 

I personally (not sure if achievable) would like the RFL to operate TTR the same way FIFA/The FA do with Futsal. Yes 11 aside is a different sport to 5 aside but it has the same governing body. I don't know what Futsal brings FIFA but imagine it's a similar principle. It's great TTR gets a slot to show at magic and I personally think its great that so many people are playing 

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

I don't get what your point is. TTR is a variant of Rugby League which is very successful and played by a lot of people. Surely lots more people playing a form of the sport is the benefit to Rugby League. It is in a lot of ways its a different sport, and is also a separate business so other than being the governing body and promoting the game I am not sure what else you think the RFL should do? 

Don`t know how much of this thread you`ve read. The following two examples have been set out previously. But I`ll give it another go.

Cronulla Junior Rugby League. - Around 90 League Tag teams fielded by junior RL clubs in the area. A typical gameday schedule reads - under-9s Tackle, Under-9s Tag, under-10s Tackle, under-10s Tag, and so on through the grades to open age. That`s real alignment. All organised as an integral part of the Cronulla JRL, under the aegis of the NSWRL who procured a sponsor in the form of Monarch.

Auckland Rugby League. - 11 junior RL clubs running off-season KiwiTag modules. This means each club is playing a form of RL, and using their clubrooms and facilities, all year round. Thereby maximising their membership and revenue. Largest at Hibiscus Coast Raiders has around 900 players. All controlled by the ARL who this Saturday will bring the clubs together for their annual KiwiTag gala.

There is nothing remotely comparable in the RFL`S diaphanous, ill-defined "alignment" with TTRL.

[unapologetic pedant]

9 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Tell 'em.

I keep telling The Rocket. He`s the man. Well-connected, hobnobs with billionaires, stands for no RU nonsense, full of Aussie kick-ass energy. And there is now a vacancy over here.

[unapologetic pedant]

Said we wouldn`t revive this thread, but I can`t resist transcribing some passages from a story on NRL.com about the Mudgee Dragons. No need to add anything, it all speaks for itself. -

The Dragons, based in NSW Central West, field teams from the under 6s to under 16s - including multiple women`s League Tag sides - in group 10 competitions and have grown by 58% since 2019.

Mudgee JRL secretary James Hughes partly attributes the influx of new players to Sydneysiders moving to regional locations amid the pandemic, but the club also prides itself on upholding core values - "We`re very big on being family-oriented. We want our six-year-old kid to go right through the club until he`s 16; then we want his brother to come in, then we want his sister to come in".

"League Tag has had an increase of about 30 participants; that`s a 67% change from last year" Hughes said, "It`s the first time we`ve been able to field a team in all the age groups in League Tag. Two in 11s, one in the 13s, and two in the 16s".

[Man of Kent]

I'm enjoying playing touch again down here in Kent. Off to play in a minute, actually.

It's a weird one because our games are notionally under the 02 Touch umbrella but the sessions seems to be run by England Touch, which works with the RFL (as well as the RFU) and is affiliated to the Federation of International Touch, which in turn is affiliated to the NRL via Touch Football Australia.

Also, I notice Wigan Touch Warriors are one of the leading touch sides in England. So touch is not a totally union thing here.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Man of Kent