Where and When

The competition has now been confirmed for  Saturday 27th June 2009 at Stothert and Pitt RFC, which is a couple of miles outside of Bath city centre, on the A4 towards Bristol.

Details

This year, 2009, the tournament will again be part of the England Touch Association's National Touch Series.

The competition will be a 16 team mixed tournament, utilising the 3:3 player ratio, with teams split into 4 groups of 4.

Registrations are NOT open as yet, but if you wish to express interest in entering a team then please send us an e-mail.

Tournament History

The Bath Touch Tournament has been running for 6 years now, and this year we’re hoping to continue in the great tradition of providing a successful top class tournament for some of the very best touch teams the UK can offer.

It's a hugely popular tournament amongst the touch rugby community and is a great day out for the whole family.  So please come along.

The first 3 years of the tournament were organised extremely successfully, by local touch player at the time, Tim Sawyer.  His hard work and dedication to the sport of touch ensured that this tournament quickly grew to be one of the best, if not the best in the UK.

Bath Touch Rugby Club took over the organisation of the tournament, when Tim and his wife decided to move to Australia.

In respect of Tim's hard work, we ensured that his chosen charity (RUH Forever Friends Appeal) and the Stothert & Pitt RFC venue were maintained.

To find out how we did, why not read the reports below from the 4th, 5th and 6th Bath Touch Tournaments.

The 4th Annual Bath Touch Tournament took place at Stothert and Pitt RFC on Saturday 16th June 2007. The tournament retained its reputation of attracting high quality teams from all over the UK, with twenty sides from Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Reading, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, and London looking to be crowned champions.

Teams were divided into 4 pools of 5 teams each, with the top two teams progressing to the Cup competition, the third and fourth placed teams progressing to the Plate competition, and the last placed teams playing off for the Shield.

The Shield went to Bristol Touch, who played fellow Bristol side Fijian Stars in the final.

The Bath teams put in a great effort with the Shortstriders reaching the Plate quarter-finals and Inappropriate Touching reaching the Plate Final. Unfortunately, they were unable to take away the silverware and lost to London side Evolution.

The Cup competition was a high quality affair with several teams containing many international touch players and a great show of how touch rugby can be played at the highest level was put on display to all those watching. The Bareback Riders took on Colenso Kites in the final, with the Riders pulling through to win a thrilling match, 2 touchdowns to 1.

The other winner on the day was the RUH Forever Friends Appeal, the chosen charity of the Bath Tournament. £1000 was raised by the teams and their players and this money has been put towards the development of a new NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) ward at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

The 5th Annual Bath Touch Tournament

This year, the 5th Annual Bath Touch Tournament took place on Saturday 7th June 2008, again at Stothert & Pitt RFC.  As part of the ETA's new National Touch Series, it proved to be another huge success.

Last year's losing finalists, Colenso Kites, again reached the final, hoping to redeem themselves from last year's heart ache.  However, again they lost to a magnificent Colonials side, who proved that they were worthy winners in the end.

Again, the RUH Forever Friends Appeal were winners, this year taking £1800 to put towards the new NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) ward at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

The 6th Annual Bath Touch Tournament

The 6th Annual Bath Touch Rugby Tournament took place on Saturday 27th June at the magnificent Stothert & Pitt RFC and was yet again a massive success.
 
16 fantastic touch teams from all over the UK took part, providing onlookers with some quality touch rugby displays.  You'd be hard pushed to find higher quality matches on these shores.
 
The day was the 6th leg of the English Touch Association's National Touch Series.  Teams have been taking part in similar events all through the Spring/Summer season, with teams earning points depending on where they finish in the competitions.  With only two legs remaining it's becoming very tight at the top.  For the current standings and previous results, take a look on the England Touch website (www.englandtouch.org.uk).
 
There were four pieces of silverware up for grabs on Saturday.  Local Bath teams Shortstriders and The Hornets contested the Shield Final.  The spoils went to The Hornets, but not before the game went to an extra time drop off, in which the Striders thought they had snatched it; just a foot in touch and a trip into a thorny hedge denying them the win.
 
In another closely fought match the third tier Bowl was won by Oxford, who beat Thames Valley.  The second tier Plate went to the Gurus, who dispatched the Bareback Riders.
 
The main event saw London Galaxy take on London Otters Grey in the Cup Final; both teams occupying the top two spots in the current NTS table.  It promised to be a close match, but the Galaxy team eased to a 5 - 2 win and increased their lead at the top.
 
The real winner on the day though, was the Royal United Hospital's Forever Friends Appeal (Registered Charity Number 1058323, www.foreverfriendsappeal.co.uk), who were presented with a cheque for £1000.  The money will be put to great use in the hospital's NICU Space to Grow Campaign, raising funds for a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.
 
In all, a great day was had by everyone, and we can't wait for next year.  If you're interested in finding out more about the Bath event then please email us at nts@bathtouchrugby.org.uk.  Also, why not take a look at the England Touch website for more information on touch rugby in England  (www.englandtouch.org.uk).