2014 Tag Rugby Partnership

It is with great pleasure that we are announcing that this years Tag Rugby will be in partnership with Try Tag Rugby.

About Try Tag Rugby

Tag Rugby began in Australia as a training aid for Rugby League teams. Former St George Dragons halfback Perry Haddock founded the sport while coaching the 1992 St George under 20 side. Since its beginnings in 1993, Oztag has grown in popularity across Australia in urban and rural areas. 28 teams participated in the first season in summer 1992-1993 playing in the Cronulla and St George areas of Sydney. Today, well over 160000 players take part in Oztag competitions nationally.

Whilst taking off in Australia Tag Rugby quickly spread across the Tasman to New Zealand. The popularity of Tag Rugby in NZ can be seen by the large number of Kiwis turning out in Try Tag Rugby competitions throughout London. 

The Irish Tag Rugby Association (ITRA) introduced Adult Tag Rugby to Ireland in 2000 in association with the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) when the first ever league was run for 36 teams. The sport has become particularly popular in Ireland where upwards of 30,000 players regularly play the game. Festivals or blitzes are a big highlight in the Irish Tag Rugby season. Blitzes such as the Pig N Porter in Limerick which attracts over 100 teams are extremely popular.

Tag Rugby in England has developed slower than Ireland and Australia but there have been pockets of interest. The sport is played regularly in Devon and also throughout Northern England, where Bull Tag in Bradford has at times been a large scale competition. Tag Rugby also developed via Inter Message Board Rugby League (IMBRL) where message boards representing clubs took part in tournaments and friendly matches.

In London Tag Rugby has been played regularly since 2008. Competition kicked off when Alistair Davis and Ian Howe put a proposal to the London Skolars Rugby League club to run a weekly Tag Rugby competition. With the help from London Skolars General Manager Ben Araud, a four team Men’s Tag Rugby competition took place at Finsbury Park over the summer.

In 2009 Alistair Davis joined new London Skolars General Manager, Phillip Browne, in re-launching Skolars Tag Rugby as a mixed competition. With strong support from volunteers such as James Bambrick and Nimai Parmar, the competition expanded to eight teams, gaining sponsorship from the nearby Faltering Fullback pub.

The success of Skolars Tag showed the potential for Tag Rugby as an adult participation sport in London. In August 2009 Phillip Browne and Alistair Davis agreed to go full steam ahead with the development of Tag Rugby in the UK by launching Try Tag Rugby Ltd.

Try Tag Rugby Ltd are looking to expand their model into the North Of England, and we are pleased to welcome them on board our event as a way to show what they can do and also help us on the day.

The big difference for our event this year will be the following:
The playing format will be four male and three female players on the pitch. All standards are welcome, with the initial group stages splitting into Cup, Plate and Bowl competitions. This year’s competition will be played under Try Tag Rugby rules. For those who have played in the Nathan Cubitt Tag Event before these rules are very similar to what you are used to and can be found by clicking here. So for all our teams from previous years, you need some ladies in your teams, so get out there and get inventive!!!

Registration 
Registration for The Nathan Cubitt Tag Rugby Event is now open for teams and individuals to register. Players must be 16+ to register. The cost to enter is £40 per team or £8 to enter individually. If you choose to register individually Try Tag Rugby will place you in a team of 11 players. All team and individual registration fees will go to charity with money raised being split half and half between the Nathan Cubitt Trust and the Matt Hampson Foundation. This year a new regulation has been brought in that all players must wear a pair of Tag Rugby shorts. Tag Belts will not be permitted. Shorts will be available to hire on the day for £2 or to buy for £12. The Trust has reduced the £50 entry fee to £40 to help towards the hire cost of the shorts, so you are only really only finding and just over an extra £1 each.

 The use of Tag Rugby shorts brings The Nathan Cubitt Tag Rugby Event in line with other Tag Rugby events and organisations around the world. The use of Tag Rugby shorts will help improve both the quality of the game and player safety. 

Registration for this year’s event will be via the Try Tag Rugby online registration system. If you are new to Try Tag Rugby (anybody who hasn’t previously played in a Try Tag Rugby competition. This includes those who played in Nathan Cubitt event during the last two years) and you would like to register a team or as an individual, please proceed to the respective team registration section or individual registration section of the website. 

If you are a team organiser of a team which has played in a Try Tag Rugby competition before, please log into your profile here to re-register your team. If you are an existing registered player who would like to enter as an individual, please register here. Don't delay as registrations close at 9AM, Tuesday 20th May. 

Note: Team and individual places will only be confirmed upon receiving payment of £40 for teams and £8 for individuals. All players and teams registering for the event agree for their information to be shared between Try Tag Rugby and the Nathan Cubitt Trust. If you have half or two thirds of a team interested, please email info@trytagrugby.com to see if we can help you with extra players. Your team will be charged a pro-rata fee* if additional players are added to bolster squad numbers. Chances are we'll be able to help! 

Fancy Dress
Please note with fancy dress this must not interfere with your Tag Shorts or be a danger to other players, it must not over hang your shorts or you must be able to wear shorts over it and tuck your top in. So please get inventive ladies and gentlemen.

Any questions with regards any of the above, please contact Mark Dunstan on 07595337159 or email nathantagrugby@gmail.com

I know some teams may have pulled together mainly male teams already, so maybe you want to split to 2 teams with the ladies added, we know there are plenty of ladies out there that are interested in taking part, so drop us a line if you are struggling and we may be able to help.

By following the registration process above, this means that you will know your fixtures before the day and the day will be run a lot smoother.