Tag rugby

Tag rugby has the highest participation levels in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

[1][nb 1] The codified version of tag rugby was created and pioneered by physical education teacher Nick Leonard in England in 1990 following an idea given to by a former serviceman called Barry Johns.

Leonard then devised a set of rules suitable for children using belts and coloured ribbons attached by Velcro and organised the first ever schools Tag Rugby festival at UCP Marjons, Plymouth in 1991.

The attacking team has five plays or tags to try to score a try or take the ball down field as close to the line as possible.

[2][3] The rules of under-7s Mini Tag possess some rugby union features, like an unlimited tackle count.

[4] Mini Tag requires the use of a size 3 rugby ball and does not allow scrums, line-outs or kicking.

Since its beginnings in 1992, OzTag (or Walla Tag) has grown in popularity across Australia in urban and rural areas.

Twenty-eight teams participated in the first season in summer 1992–1993 playing in the Cronulla and St George areas of Sydney.

42 teams registered for the event in 2013, playing 136 matches under 17 referees across nine pitches; a UK record for an adult Tag Rugby tournament.

[9] In early 2015 Try Tag Rugby announced they were expanding to Yorkshire, with leagues set to begin in April 2015.

[10] Try Tag Rugby have continued to grow the game substantially in 2016 with 507 teams competing in early summer leagues.

[13] In 2016 Ireland won British & Irish Cup for a third time, by defeating Great Britain 4 - 2 across a record six categories.

In 2019 off the back of great momentum from the 2018 World Cup, Great Britain won the British & Irish Cup for the first time, defeating Ireland 4–2 in London, winning the Women's Seniors, Women's Open, Men's Open and Mixed Seniors categories, with the tournament once again expanded to six categories.

The sport has become particularly popular in Ireland and in 2007, over 28,000 players in the two programmes making up more than 1,700 teams took part in tag rugby at 50 venues all over the country.

HKTag developed in direct association with Hong Kong Rugby League (HKRL), itself established in 2015.

The First Kiwitag module was launched and run by Ackland from Fowlds Park in Auckland on Monday nights for 8–10 weeks.

The Otahuhu and Porirua based NZTag body led by Wally Tooman and Hilda Harawera gained control of the game at international level, with the rest of the tag modules at the time from Howick, Northcote, Mt Albert, Waitemata Pakuranga and Ellerslie excluded and left to fend for themselves with no assistance from Otahuhu-based NZTag or the Auckland Rugby League.

It was not until the summer of 2000 that a meeting initiated by Stan Martin and William Halligan of the ARL was held at Carlaw Park between all the exiled tag modules to bring everyone together under one umbrella in the Auckland region.

Oztag Australia's Perry Haddock would eventually reach out to the Chairman of Auckland Kiwitag Mr Claude Iusitini to play New Zealand teams selected from players outside of the Otahuhu Module for the first time and continue to do so to this day.

Established in October 2011, The first official national Tonga Tag team participated in the Pacific Cup hosted by New Zealand in February 2012.

[25][26] The Rochdale Swarm International Mixed Tag Rugby League Festival returned for its 7th year on 1 August 2015.

In December 2015 Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia hosted the Tag Rugby World Cup.

International Australia England France Hong Kong Ireland Malta New Zealand Tonga Samoa South Africa United States