"Touch," "Touch," "Touch" was the cry echoing across the playing fields of the Shanghai Rugby Football Club on November 3 as hundreds of enthusiasts chased rugby balls on a windy day for the 9th Shanghai International Touch Tournament.

This tournament is the biggest Touch competition in Asia with the largest number of divisions and includes games for juniors, women, mixed teams and players aged over 35. The annual event attracted more than 400 players in over 40 teams from around China and across Asia, including teams from Beijing, Nanjing, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.

This could be the social sport of the future for China. Hundreds of spectators watched the game, some with real enthusiasm and some trying to work out the rules and wondering whether or not they might start playing themselves. Touch evolved from rugby union and rugby league where players played touch variations during training sessions or in the off season to remain fit and practice moves. In these forms of the game, players are not tackled but have to pass or drop the ball the minute they are touched with two hands by an opposing player.

Born in Australia

The game is believed to have emerged in Australia in 1923 as a training method for rugby league players, but the first official Touch game under established rules was not played until the 1960s.

Most games are played 15 minutes each way, with a one minute break at half time. Teams comprise four to six players with unlimited substitutions. Points are scored when a player places the ball on or over the touch line. Unlike rugby union and rugby league, Touch does not require goal posts.

When players in a team have been touched six times in succession without scoring, the ball goes to their opponents. Teams also lose possession for putting the ball over the sidelines, or knocking or passing the ball forward.

Touch is also known as Touch Football and Touch Rugby. In China, it's often referred to as Touch Rugby. "The word rugby scares away lots of Chinese, who naturally link the game to violent physical clashes and the high possibility of injuries," said Zhou Junyan, a local Shanghainese who started to play Touch seven years ago.

"Touch is very accessible. It's easy to learn and little kit is needed - just a ball and a place to play and then the magic ingredient is people," said Jeremy Burks, the Interim President of the China Touch Association, which was formed last year. He told the Global Times that people shouldn't worry about injuries as the sport emphasized teamwork and tactics instead of an individual player's physicality.

According to Burks, Touch in Shanghai was first played in a semi-organized fashion in the mid 1990s and the sport has been gaining in popularity in recent years. "Lots of men, women, girls and boys are playing Touch in Shanghai. The Shanghai Touch Association plays social Touch every Saturday and every Monday evening. At the weekends nowadays 50 or 60 people play and on Mondays, we can see 30 to 40," said Burks.

Older is better

For himself, Burks said Touch was a game that he has learnt over time. "And I like the fact that it's a sport that, even if I'm getting older, I'm getting better at it," said the 50-something enthusiast.

Chinese faces are still minority on the field. But those that do play have picked up the game for different reasons. Zhou Junyan, who was competing at this tournament for the fifth time, took up Touch seven years ago after a health scare. "I passed out when I got overstressed during a video game. That was shocking. I was only 33 and was in such poor condition. So I was determined to get some exercise," Zhou told the Global Times.

Living close to Green City, a foreign community in the city, Zhou happened to see people playing Touch there and volunteered to join in. "The first time I played, I collapsed on the ground after just a few minutes of running," he laughed. "It's hard to tell the day-to-day difference, but my body is now in a much better condition than it was seven years ago."

Xu Bo is the leader of a local team at last weekend's competition. He regularly plays Touch with other members of the Shanghai Touch Club and thinks the game is also a good social platform. "We can get to know people from different cultures and from various backgrounds and I've made lots of friends," Xu said.

He began playing Touch three years ago, and told the Global Times that it was easy to pick up the sport but difficult to advance without special training. "The routine tactics and strategies are easy to learn. But if we want to go further, we need to get special training, like sprinting and learning how to suddenly change speed and direction when we sprint."

Attractive sports-loving newcomer Lin Lin is on the same team with Xu Bo - the team members all work for the same company. Lin said teamwork was what she valued most in the sport. "We learn to interact better with each other, which also helps at work. It usually takes two months to get the team working smoothly. I think the sport enhances my friendship with my colleagues," she told the Global Times.

For 13-year-old student Liu Xuya, from Nanjing, Touch is all about making the most of her skills. "I'm good at sports, like sprinting. My coach recommended that I take up Touch. It's fresh for me and I've enjoyed working together in a team to outplay our opponents," she told the Global Times. She came to the weekend tournament as a member of team Mulan, a team of all girl students from junior high schools in Nanjing.

Team Mulan's coach Cao Ziying told the Global Times that this sport has been promoted in eight junior high schools in Nanjing and will spread to more this year. "Players need pace and endurance but for the most part it doesn't demand great strength and fitness. Teamwork is more important," he explained.

Cao said he had brought a girls' team to Shanghai because he believed that traditionally, Chinese women were more hardworking and better able to cope with hardships than their male counterparts. "So women tend to achieve high levels in sports faster, like our women's football team. I will never expect men's football to make a breakthrough," he told the Global Times sadly.

Groundbreaking

At the weekend tournament, team Mulan played against Shanghai international school teams. Jeremy Burks said this was kind of groundbreaking. "It's very rare in the world that international schools compete against local schools. International schools just compete in sports against each other," he said.

Currently in China, the junior high schools in Nanjing are among the first to include Touch as a sporting alternative for students. "Nanjing is really stepping up - they have announced that 30 schools will play Touch," Burks said.

And this could happen in Shanghai as well. A senior sports education official told the Global Times that Touch could be a program included in the Sunshine Hour, a weekly physical exercise project in the city.

"Touch is both fun and competitive. It requires teamwork and can involve students, teachers and parents given that it's a sport for all ages and both genders," the official said. There could be a problem in that most of the city school playgrounds were covered in polyurethane synthetic surface and not grass so that authorities would have to look for suitable alternative venues where students could play. The official said there could also be some concerns about the levels of physical engagement in the sport at present.

"We'd like to see if we can help the local sports authorities with coaching the students. One interesting idea is to have the coaching in English. They could play the sport and learn the language at the same time," Burks said.