Some basics about tactical play

This isnt a criticism but there are some things people have got to learn.

A ) Moving up in defence especially on your own line. Defence wins you games. There are different defensive moves but all require ALL players to move forward and put pressure on the attacking team-at the moment this isnt being done. Its easy to make easy metres often or to create something as the defense is giving the opposition too much time with the ball

B ) The Play the ball is way too slow. This is often where you will catch teams off side. Whoever is at dummy half must either run forwards or pass straight away. There is far too much people getting the ball and slowly passing it. I am sure the people who went to Euros saw how fast the Better teams were at the Play the ball area.

C ) Some of the guys seem to not want to pass to the girls in the team. I dont know why but it has been mentioned by a few of the girls. I wont name names but some are known for ignoring the girls and its not on. You have to use all your team-and often the girls are very good at doing the first 3 phases especially.

D ) Run on to a ball and not wait for the ball to come to you. Getting the ball stood still is pointless. You lose likely 1-2 Metres if stood instead of running onto the ball

E ) If somebody is running across the face of the opposition its often because he is dragging the defence one way and it creates gaps. What is needed is for one or two to run an angle giving a further option for the ball carrier. The game is about creating options and chances-and then executing them

F ) If somebody makes a break its important to back up! Just because you have passed the ball doesnt mean your job is done. You should be looking to back up in case

G ) Girls shouldnt be on the wing as they often get exposed by the faster guys. It happens often that a guy will attack a girl on the wing. Its just an easier option to attack than a somebody like Duncan, Nick or one of the girls in the middle who are usually well helped by a guy who has pace and usually more experience etc

I second each of those points

I agree with these points as well.

Furthermore I've got two more points to add (which goes mainly for the rugby player):

1) in Touch it doesn't help if the ball carrier runs from left to right and back. It's not possible for the other team members to follow and hence often leaves the ball carrier without a dummy.

2) also in Touch it doesn't make sense to accelerate from far behind, catch the ball and crash into the defense line. This is an absolute waste of time since you have to go back to the mark which gives the defense the necessary time to get back onside.

oh, and by the way:

Girls are not only good for the first 3 balls, we can do line attack quite good as well. A girl can also be on the wing in defense but needs to be backed up by a quick guy who should be the link. And if the defense works properly it doesn't matter anyway whether there's a guy or a girl on the wing.

Whoever moderates posts can stop changing the the fecking titles. Dont like it feck off! The title was OK as it was

Its OK I wont be coming down again so you can all play social touch very happily and at a slower pace. I have had enough of it and had enough of people. I try and give 110% but obviously people dont like this. Well sod it. People dont like me or how I play well good-I dont need you and you dont need me. Goodbye!

@Dally M

My post wasn't supposed to be a personal attack or anything. I said I agree with all your points and just added a few. And the points I added is what I personally noticed. And these are things that quite a few of the player do that come from rugby where this is obviously normal.
Any you say yourself that you want to have a fast game. The points I added make the game faster.

Needs fleshing out a little but not bad at all. I'd give it a 7/10 for effort. I just felt that your heart wasn't really in it to get a higher flounce rating.

before this thread nose dives from being a the start of some very good points to slanging match, I'd like to add some comments to DallyM's points:

A ) Moving up in defence especially on your own line.

ESPECIALLY on your own line. Not only is it tactically sound to not let the attacking team come at you but for you to go at them, it is also the law within the 5m area. If the attacking team is in possession of the ball outside of the 5m line, the defence MUST all move forward continuously until all players have lef the 5m area. The speed of the forward movement is not imporant, but it must be a continuous movement.

B ) The Play the ball is way too slow

agree totally with point. Dummy halves often arrive too slowly and there is seldom a quick burst either from dummy or the first receiver to make use of the retreating defence.

C ) Some of the guys seem to not want to pass to the girls in the team.

I don't remember how many times the ball was passed to one of the girls, too few though. I do remember that of the ferw occasions when one was given the ball in a good attacking position, it invariably resulted in a score.

D ) Run on to a ball and not wait for the ball to come to you

this is especially imortant with the first pass from dummy half. call for the ball early and receive the pass at full pace. This makes all the difference when trying to attack a defence which is back-pedalling. It is vital in touch for the fist couple of touches to get the defence into disarray.

E ) If somebody is running across the face of the opposition its often because he is dragging the defence one way and it creates gaps

true to an extent. for this to work you need lots of communication and runners at different angles to exploit the gaps, otherwise no one is quite sure how to react.

F ) If somebody makes a break its important to back up!

a couple of times on sunday score were made due to good backing up and others were fumbled because of no back-up. Even the fast runners like Duncan can get chased down (especially when Shaggy or Nomis are doing the running)

G ) Girls shouldnt be on the wing as they often get exposed by the faster guys

some of the girls are faster than some of the guys It is important that fast runners in the opositin are identified and marked. It is not always possible to avoid having a girl on the wing but if it so, the link must provide extra cover and not be a slow fat blob

H) Don't pass the ball too firmly. It really hurts when it hits the end of the finger

totaly agree with this. in fact all the points are valid. some more than others and sme not all the time. the fact is we should play people where they are best. me i‘m a link or middle in attack, or so i've been told (or is that missing kink and large middle?). and every position in defence as we all should be. but touch is a fluid game, one minute your center next your somehow on the wing and having to defend it 'cos somebody dropped the ball on the drive. thats the game.

yes sundays can be a bit slower than competition speed - i herad this from a couple of people allready. thats why its specificly called social touch. we also dont play on the flatest of surfaces so overstep is something we tend to do a little too much. but things can only get better if we talk to each other and encourage each other, we should suggest and help each other improve our standards.
Why is munich the best team to ref with? because we all took a concentrated efort to cut down on the back chat last year.
Why can our defence be the strongest out there? same reason.

We were nigh on 20 people yesterday, it was at the beginning confussed and a bit of a muddle. We are now on a financialy sounder footing, we will also be collecting the subs asap for the last couple of months too and we are intending to buy some form of bibs in order to split into two teams to encourage competative play time on sundays. the subbing buy the way was much better yesterday, but if we increase it 50% we'll increase the playing game speed too. but for that we have to be organised into teams - none of this polite, you first stuff;-)

There are ways to introduce improvements into the sunday games without it not being social. We're on the right track here, discuss it put it in the brain, and try it out on sunday.

ALot of the above points are related to tight fast drives, scoots, and such. It the responsibility of us all to get those who dont know in the know.

oh, and fab try Inflateable. Your game play is improving every week.

now, i shall go back to my rule book to improve my ref skills. - i was working on positioning and not talking yesterday. my own personal check list so to speak.

why don't we use the blue and the grey t-shirts now that we have the proper team kit?

because they would then have to be washed every week, and as with lots of other material things i would end up with having to do that. sorry didnt want to beat about the bush on that. i have no probs with bringing stuff in the car as i'm pretty regularly there and organised enough to remember to hand off to someone else without requiring them to drive half way round munich in an emergency last minute ditch action. (apart from last thursday appologies to all) but washing 32 t-shirts on a weekly basis is not really on. plus we havent all the grey ones back yet. otherwise i'd say tis a good suggestion. can we get bibs with numbers? or we organise a wash rota (which oscars football team does, well the mums), but that requires people to commit to a) washing them and turning up the nwxt sunday or at the latest organise a transfer on friday after work.

Advice sought:
I am clearly bloody slow when taking the roll ball and tend to stay static once passed to the DH. Should I move always fwd and to the left and then back ready to take the pass from the DH. Is there a standard system for people like me who cannot run and think at the same time.

Also, are there books on TR? Can't google any!

i havent found any. nomis is of to aus in a couple of weeks i've asked him to have a look.

I have one from New Zealand you can borrow or make copies from

that would be fab!

OG also still ahs my union coaching book. that has some good warm up and basics. can i have it back please? then i can do some copying.

Wanna meet up and go for a beer and can then give you it as Sundays for next few weeks am watching the Footy (RL finals) from Australia.And Tuesdays not sure about for now as lot going on at the moment

certainly. I will just have to remember to bring it on sunday. I have a very bad memory though.

dont worry its down n my priority list below find osama bin laden.

you only want obl for his the american government's money!

Even in Sydney touch footy is a minority sport so there may not be much available in shopping mall sports and book stores.

But the Touch Football Australia web site (http://www.austouch.com.au) has some equipment, books, videos, touch shoes, etc. for sale.

touch has the largest number of registered players of any sport in the whole of australia. It beats aussie rules, league, union and soccer. apparently. Including school kids, about 770,000 aussies play touch compared to about 450,000 aussie rules players. contact rugby numbers exclude school kids under 15 so are not comparable but union has 165,000 and league 172,000. (all approx. figures)

The problem with those figures is that there is a lot of very social touch being played.

When I lived in Australia, I was involved in a few lunchtime work touch rugby comps over the years. Most of the people who played used it as an excuse to get out of the office and go for a run once or twice a week. There's no training and a lot of people don't even really care too much about the tactics involved and many didn't even really care about the sport. All these count towards the figures though

People involved in Rugby union or League or Aussie Rules take the sports more seriously and train midweek, etc.

Obviously, touch with its 20 minute halves and no contact is ideal for a lunch comp, whilst contact sports would take too long and then finish you as a productive employee for the rest of the day.

There are more serious competitions, but nowhere near as many as soccer, rugby or Aussie Rules. Of course, touch is also not a professional sport in Australia. There is little TV coverage and hence even less literature available. This is what makes touch a minority sport even in Australia.

Personally, due to the committment and the serious approach to the game, I won't be playing any more Aussie Rules when I get back to Australia and will probably just play social cricket and Oztag - and maybe even some touch!!

From the people I know in Australia as Hazza says its mainly a lunch time knock around or something to keep fit with in the Rugby off season or by people injured badly that cant play contact sports anymore. Training isnt really taken seriously by most and is just a run around. Many kids play it but mainly because the parents are concerned the kids will get hurt playing League (or Union). Many of these end up playing the contact sport later.
Rugby League ( and Union) is where the money is and former Touch Rugby players like Benji Marshall (Rugby League) drift to one of these due to being payed good money and better structure due to the money and setup off these sports.I suppose its like in Europe where many people play soccer as a kick around rather than join a team as such or go training
I would think that maybe getting in contact with Australian Touch would be more better and maybe can refer Nomis where to buy a book if he has time in Australia. It would save him looking around!

I should have said low profile sport instead of minority sport.


A typical rugby league try involving Benji Marshall is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVyvR0uOVtM

and this may be what DallyM is also trying sometimes when playing touch.

Yeah, OK - low profile then if you want.

Although I meant minority as far as serious interest goes.

I am a minority person, but what about my question on my static behavoiur after rall ball?

Depends on the situation.

If it's the 2nd last or last touch, then it's probably better to go back into the line to provide a passing option. If it's early in the possession and the person you've given the ball to is running straight at the line to get a quick roll ball and catch the defense off-side, it's probably better to follow the player and make yourself available as dummy on the next play.

I think the best thing to do is to watch the player you're passing to and see what s/he's up to. You can even see what their intention is a lot of the time before you've even passed - depending on how quickly they're running and at what angle. Then play accordingly. Unfortunately, you're going to have to run and think at the same time...

I find these figures for touch hard to believe as, according the FIT, there are in the region of 1.1 million registered Touch players worldwide. It is unlikely that 70% of the Touch community is focused in Australia. Where did you get your information?

"According to the Sweeney Sports [2] report, the biggest sports in Australia based on interest, are swimming (61%), Australian rules (54%), cricket (54%), tennis (52%), and soccer (50%). These are followed by rugby league (42%), and rugby union (40%). The levels of interest are based on participation, attendance and media interest." (From Wikipedia)

I would say Touch is both low profile and minority - it has no media coverage to my knowledge, probably has hardly any attendance (I speculate), and is on-the-whole played socially! That's like saying frisbee should be counted or keepy-ups with a footy in the park!

@tartan:
I am of the personal opinion that the original ball carrier (who was just done the roll ball) should get back asap behind the dummy. I find that if you're close to the touch line, the defence tend to line up on your mark and leave the blindside slightly open... Often if I play at dummy half I will whisper "Come right/left" to the original ball carrier and put him/her outside the last man who is caught unawares by the change of direction. In the middle of the park, however, I would probably avoid getting in the way of the dummy's pass by staying in front of him for as long as i can get away with before coming back into the offensive line. I think it's horses for courses really, and also down to who you are playing with - if it were DallyM or Nick I would move out wide and look for the passing option as they look to offload a lot of the time. A lot of other players hit up and look for the quick dummy to catch the defence offside, in this case I would follow closely for the quick pick up. As DallyM said up top somewhere the dummy has to make a quick decision as to whether he will pass or make a quick dash, too much time is spent dilly-dallying around the tackle zone and this gives the defence time to step up and potentially sack the dummy half.

Actually, I would believe that 70% of all touch rugby players are in Australia.

There are a hell of a lot of comps going on there. Also, I'm not sure if they count 2 or more players if 1 person plays for 2 or more different teams. It's a common occurance in Australia.

hmmm... according to the English Touch website there are over 1 million registered players in Australia so maybe you're right!

I don't see how they can account for everyone so all the numbers must be low, i imagine there are loads who don't play with a club but just for fun in their lunchbreak or whatever as someone mentioned above. This goes internationally. At Sheffield Tigers (Union) we play touch (although to be fair we don't play it properly ) twice a week and I've always played it at school.

like i stated the touch numbers includes school kids playing (so too do the asussie rules numbers). I believe the number was something like 500,000 for aussie school kids and 270,000 adults. The 270,000 would compare to the 165,000 union players, though as Hazza pointed out, union has a professional tier at the top.

I don't think any of them are right to be honest - there are so many conflicting figures on various sites!

the union, league and aussie rules are on wiki and relate to numbers from 2004, i believe. the touch numbers were from the FIT.

okey dokey now for my tuppance worth. The generall rule is to make the rollball then move to one side, continuing in the same direction of travel. There are several options:

1) simple rollball: you take one or two steps to the side in the same direction as you were traving. This allows for a quick pickup and the dummy have can take a couple of steps forwards, immediately putting you onside (provided you move sideways and not much forwards). It also means the dummy half doesn't get his/her head burried up your arse! The dummy half then has the option to pass straight back to you or to the right (support should be ready) or make the break. You should always be ready to receive the ball straight away. Also don't worry about getting in the way - if you're there, then the DH can pass to you. This differs from Union and getting between the scrum half and fly half.

2) dump and split: In this case you make the rollball and move hard to one side, again continuing in the same direction as you were running. The DH can take a couple of steps and put you onside, as long as you move sideways and not much forwards. This move can be very effective when attacking the line.

You are almost never doing the wrong thing by doing 1) or 2). I guess there's always the possibility of a static roll ball, i.e. restart or on the line, in which case you could remain where you are, as the dummy half is also stationary. When a bit of momentum is involved, though, it is especially important get out of the way of the of the dummy half's line of running by stepping to one side to allow for q quick pick up and keep the attacking momentum.

Does that help?

D.

you shouldnt be static. you should be moving.

a static player is easier for a defence. as your the "dumper" you should have communicated with the dummy as to the choice of move. if in a three man drive you should be getting ready to be the next dummy. if its a scoot you need to scissor of in the opposite direction as the dummy around the "touch" defender putting yourself in a position to recieve a fast ball back from the dummy. (i tend to over run here at the mo myself). if playing "pfeffer" you want to be trying to take a defender with you if not fix one on you, giving the sweeper more space.

movement confuses a defense. a confused defense cant defend.

i guess we need to work on these again. maybe on sunday we should all try to be a better "dumper" and "dummy"?

I analyse Australian Rugby League games that I have and on the net and especially look at players like Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, Matt Gidley, Jamie Lyon, Darren Lockyer, Brett Kenny and how they created things in games. The sidefstep I use sometimes I nicked of Brad Fittler as he had a brilliant step and some times the one handed passing like running at a certain player so I creat an overlap then slip a pass out last second I got from Matt Gidley and Jamie Lyon. Obviously Touch and League are diffent but some things work in both.I never watch a Rugby League game without anylsing the defence or Attacking options. I am a little strange maybe in that I do this but helps me understand and read the game better and especially how to read interception passes that I often get on Sundays.Plus i have had some good League and Touch coaches in the UK like former GB League players Paul Dixon and Nicky Kiss and former England Touch Player Chris Holdsworth