Eight teams and more than 70 players from across the region gathered at Pershore Rugby Club on Sunday (23 November) for the club’s first tournament in the newly set up Midlands Mixed Friendly Touch League.

Final victors for the Pershore tournament trophy were Camp Hill in what was a very competitive, but very good-spirited, competition and one of Pershore’s three teams came a close second, beaten 3-2 in the final. Teams were entered also from Droitwich, Greyhounds (Hereford), and Wellesbourne (Stratford), and individual players from Upton also joined several of the teams.

The Mixed Friendly League was set up this autumn to run alongside the successful Midlands Ladies Touch League, which now comprises 15 teams and Pershore’s tournament was the second ‘trial mixed tournament’ of the 2014 season, which finishes at the end of November. A series of mixed tournaments is being organised for the 2015 season, which runs from March to November.

Administrator of both leagues, Fizz Bewley, who is also the Chair of Pershore RFC’s Touch Section said: “ Touch rugby is a brilliantly inclusive game – men and women and children can all play together because it is non-contact – and all of the women’s teams in the MLTL are finding that there are as many men who want to play it as women. Certainly, at Pershore, we have a large group of men and teenage boys who train with our women’s touch team. And so it was an obvious next step to set up a mixed touch league too so that the men have an outlet for their touch talent.”

Each mixed touch team must have a minimum of two women (aged 12 upwards) of the six players on the pitch at any one time; there is no minimum number of men and there can be unlimited substitutes, from a total of 14 per team.

“We have players from all kinds of backgrounds,” said Fizz. “Some simply want to come and train to keep fit. Most have never played rugby before and there are others who have retired from playing contact but really enjoy all the running around and tactical play that touch provides, with the same oval ball. The new Mixed League is already proving to be very popular and is played in a really relaxed atmosphere, which is great for new players who are learning, because there is no pressure.”

Touch rugby training takes place at PRFC, which is an O2 Touch centre, every Wednesday at 7.30pm or Sunday at 10am. And anyone, 13 and over, can come along and have a go – the first three sessions are free. The last training session before breaking for Xmas, will be on Wednesday 3 December and will resume on Wednesday 7 January. Contact Fizz 01905 381080 for details.