• Every Thursday, in its “Off-Pitch” section,

    20 Minutes

     explores new, unexpected, unusual, clever or booming spaces for sporting expression.

  • This week, focus on Touch, a sport imported from Australia in the early 2000s that is very similar to rugby.

    Ostensibly.

  • In fact, Touch asserts itself as a complementary discipline to this distant cousin, with its own rules and its own federation.

An oval ball that is flattened behind an in-goal line, passes to the back, frank camaraderie and a lot of intensity... For those who observe the ballet in jumpers on the training ground of the Rotonde, in Strasbourg, the scene looks like a classic rugby training.

With one detail: here, tackles are prohibited and the difference is made with your fingertip.

Welcome to the wonderful world of Touch, a discipline born in Australia in the 1970s and imported to France at the beginning of the millennium, whose name is pronounced in English and is still regularly accompanied by the mention “rugby”.

Impossible not to mention the direct relationship between the two sports, as the Touch was inspired by this distant cousin to define the main lines of its rules.

“A super nice atmosphere”

On the meadow, on the other hand, the differences are fundamental.

In addition to the absence of the tackle, it is forbidden to kick or hit the opponent.

Each team is made up of six male and/or female players, who compete twice for twenty minutes on a field of 70 meters by 50. Ah, and as its name suggests, it is enough to touch the ball carrier, would not -what with the fingertips, to stop it and generate a new phase of play. It is therefore a question of sneaking in like an eel to flatten the leather behind the opponent's in-goal line, and thus score a try that counts as a single point.

Another particularity of the Touch: the mix.

Like every Thursday, the Strasbourg Lions meet for one of the two weekly training sessions.

Among the twenty people who are warming up in an atmosphere that is both serious and funny, seven women are arguing with their teammates for the right word that will make the assembly laugh.

To the delight of Clémentine, 26: “The mixed aspect is really a plus because you have the best of both.

And the atmosphere is really great.

"I did not stop rugby because it was too violent"

Former rugbywoman, she converted to Touch three years ago.

And she assures him: “I did not stop rugby because it was too violent, I liked that.

Above all, the young woman found “a good compromise” in this new discipline.

“There is the team sport side, the “oval ball” side, but without the apprehension of the tackle.

»

Clémentine cites the example of a friend who came to Touch after having tried rugby "because she didn't really like contact", or even "old rugby players who were seriously injured and can no longer practice".

“It keeps them enjoying the sport.

Touch is really a good complement to rugby, whether it's the entry or exit door.

»

"A great way to bring people into the world of ovality"

A point shared by Thibault Zettel, director of development at Touch France, the federal equivalent of this still little-known sport.

"We do not replace rugby," he says.

On the contrary, it's even a great way to bring people into the world of ovality.

Before citing the Australian example and its million practitioners.

“And there are many countries in the world where several types of rugby exist.

»

He also expected the powerful French Rugby Federation (FFR) to take an interest in this “very demanding sport, in which you have to be very agile, mobile and have very good cardio”.

The characteristics of a modern rugby player, in short.

Except it didn't go as planned.

“The FFR did not want to develop this discipline and puts forward a rugby 5 for which there are no established rules.

Unlike the Touch which relies on an international federation.

»

“35% women” among the 2,000 licensees

With 2,000 licensees, including "35% women", the Touch is still working to build credibility in the French sports landscape.

For this, an application for approval will be filed this month with the Ministry of Sports.

“Accreditation would be decisive in removing certain obstacles.

In rugby, many see us as sub-rugby, ”said Thibault Zettel, who keeps the World Cup organized in France in 2023 in the back of his mind.

“Our goal is to be recognized for what we can represent and to increase the number of practitioners to reach 5,000 licensees within three years.

I have no doubt that our potential is enormous.

The director of development is counting in particular on the twenty schools of Touch that already exist, spread throughout the territory.

“They are already having great success.

In Strasbourg, for example, for the third school season, we have 30 children registered.

And none of them come from rugby.

»

“A school of tolerance”

Thus, it is not uncommon to see teenagers mingle with seniors during training.

In Strasbourg, Benjamin and Léo (14 years old) blended perfectly into the collective.

Just like Olivier (53 years old): “What I liked was the mixed and intergenerational aspect.

It's really a school of tolerance, with the idea that we can play together and that the quality of the team predominates over the individual quality.

A certainty: on the ground, there is no time to get bored.

"The advantage is that we touch a lot of balls, it puts everyone on an equal footing", notes Quentin, the sports manager of the Strasbourg Lions, who continues to play rugby next door. .

Our "Off-road" file

“In rugby, there are those who are cold in winter!

he smiles.

Same observation for Marguerite, 26 years old: “At XV, I did not like stoppages, there we have more fun.

Fun, pleasure, but also ambition.

With a view to professionalizing the Touch France structure, Thibault Zettel became the federation's first employee in January 2021. Two months later, Titouan Marsan joined him as a work-study student in charge of communication in particular.

To reach even more people, that goes without saying.

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