It sure isn't rugby!

Women can indulge in touch football either in all-women or mixed matches.

At first glance it looks like rugby as players catch, run and pass the ball around. But touch differs as there are no crunching tackles or bruising physical contact.

But comparisons tend to persist though officials are slowly getting the message across that touch is not rugby union.

It has also been called touch football or touch rugby in some countries.

“Many in (the early days in) Malaysia incorrectly confused touch as a rugby union game and this stifled progress as rugby is a ‘full-contact’ sport played by a small number of young males and fewer females and has a high incidence of injury,” said Federation of International Touch (FIT) Malaysia director Bryan O’Connor.

“Whereas touch can be played by anyone and injuries are low as it is a low-contact sport,” he added.

The sport was played by expatriates and Malaysians in the 90s but has since evolved into an official sport with Touch Football Malaysia having been registered with the Sport Commissioner in 2007.

“Touch is played all over Malaysia socially and Touch Malaysia is continuing to work with groups in many states so as to deliver development tournaments and instigate technical courses for referees and coaches,” related Bryan.

Players going for the touchdown.

The national body is organising regular tournaments that include school and university teams as well as club and social teams which are staged at various locations in collaboration with schools, universities and community fields throughout the country.

Touch Malaysia coordinates touch tournaments regularly all over Malaysia.

According to Bryan there are regular events all over Asia and internationally, including the Asian Club Championships staged in Malaysia in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013 as well as other events like the European Championships, South Pacific Championships to name a few.

“The sport is driven by FIT and currently has 46 member nations,” said Bryan.

Malaysia is one of the eight Asian members of the FIT which includes India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

“‘Touch’ is fun to play and easy to learn and teach. As the name suggests – players run, catch and pass the ball similar to rugby, however they are ‘touched’ and not physically tackled and wrestled to the ground,” explained Bryan.

The aim of the game is to score a touchdown which earns a point and to score more than your opposition.

It is played on half a normal football field and teams have just six players on the field at any one time. Teams can have up to 14 players in a team.

Strange as it may sound, there are actually no goal posts. Players have six ‘touches’ to score a touchdown.

After six ‘touches’ the opposing team has six possessions to run, catch, pass and evade their opponents to score a touchdown.

A full game is played over two halves with each lasting 20 minutes with a five-minute halftime break.

“There are also modified formats for younger children and beach touch tournaments staged regularly which are always fun and popular,” said Bryan.

Touch is often described as “community glue” in that it entices participants from all walks of life, gender, age and physical size to play in a fun, healthy environment that has little or no prospects for getting injured.

“This game is played by males and females of all ages from boys and girls under six years to senior adult competitors in international events at the age of 55 years plus,” said Bryan.

The sport continues to attract social players by the droves and Jennab Zulkifly is one of them who learnt the game as a 13-year-old studying at International School Kuala Lumpur (ISKL).

“What I enjoy most about the game would have to be how open it is to all individuals of different athletic capabilities.

"Touch requires only six players to receive the ball or showcase individual skills,” she said.

“I think overall, given that touch groups can be all women’s/men’s or mixed, players whether they’re national players or keen novices to sports are always open to teaching and explaining the game to one another regardless of age, gender and individual talent.”

Jennab is an avid supporter of the game and always recommends others to play the game.

“It’s such a fun experience playing socially while maintaining that competitive drive playing in mixed groups,” she says.

Touch Malaysia has a number of aspirations for the sport that it could be included by the Education Ministry in schools and universities, establish junior academies in all states and hopefully, stage the Youth Touch world Cup in 2018.

Malaysia will for the first time, host the prestigious FIT (Federation of International Touch) Touch World Cup in April, 2019 at the Putrajaya Equestrian Park.