Touch Rugby in Rome

By Radzi Buckman an expat touch rugby player.

A perfect excuse to throw around an oval ball, run after each other, work in a sweat, burn some calories and then enjoy a beer in Rome is Touch Rugby Roma. Formed by an Italian rugby lover the group is based on the simple pillars of rugby, social involvement and heaps of fun. The community attracts players of all skill levels and is designed to increase the involvement of non-rugby players. Training sessions are broken into two categories: A.) One for players with some rugby experience AND; B.) One for players with absolutely no background in Rugby.

Touch Rugby Roma is not the typical rugby club that attracts a predominant majority of buffed-up, male players but to the contrary the most dedicated players of the group are female. The flavor of the community is one of “family”, and it’s normal to see players bring along their kids, wives, friends, dogs, parents and everyone else in between for a good laugh.

The rules of the game are quite simple: The basics involve dividing into teams of 6 to 7 players who form two teams. The objective is to carry the oval shaped ball over the try line (scoring region) without being touched by the opposing team. The touch is a one handed “tap” to any part of the body, which is inflicted from the defending team upon a player of the offensive team. This is done whilst the ball is in the possession of the attacking player being tapped. No tackling or aggressive actions are allowed in play. At this point the attacking player stops and recycles the ball to his team by rolling it under his or her legs. Each team is allowed 6 attempts (i.e: can be touched 6 times) before crossing the line. The ball is turned over to the opposing team at the end of the 6th touch and play resumes.

The only requirement to participate is an open mind, the ability to run (a little bit) and willingness to have some fun. The group is open to expats and there are a fair amount of players who are able to speak English (Coach is bilingual) in order to translate instructions. Trainings are held on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 8.30pm which is perfect for working expats. The training location is Lungotevere Dante, 5, 00146 Rome. Italy (Look it up on Google maps). Should you need transport support, take Metro Line B - Direction Laurentina to station Marconi and most players will be glad to give you a ride to the field. To organize this, drop by the website and request a ride on the forum.

We look forward to welcoming more expat players to the team.

Arrivederci.

PS: We host the first Touch Rugby Roma tournament on the 6th June, 2009! All are welcome!!!
Website: http://www.touchrugbyroma.it/
Club President: Giuseppe Orsini - presidenza@touchrugbyroma.it
Club Coach: Christian Grelli - direttoretecnico@touchrugbyroma.it