There was a time when sevens rugby wasn’t taken all that seriously. The 15-a-side code was king. Now, sevens is a professional sport and will be debuting at the Olympic Games this year in Rio. Touch is in a similar position to what sevens was as many people think of it as more of a hobby.
But there is much more to it than that, with international competitions like the Australian Touch World Cup held last year in April, as well as the European Championships taking place later this year. There is even a Middle East Touch Championships and John Larkins, head of ME Touch, has been trying to spread the word since moving to the UAE in 2012.
It’s been a tough road but ME Touch now has the support of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council. Sport360 spoke to Larkins ahead of the Zurich Corporate Touch 6s taking place in Dubai on March 4.
Everyone knows about rugby union and league, but tell us a bit more about touch?
Touch football was developed from rugby league back in the 1960’s in Australia. It’s not governed by World Rugby (old IRB) and actually has its own international governing body – the Federation of International Touch.
There is a World Cup every four years, and multiple international, national and regional championships across the world. These include the European Touch Championships every two years, the European Junior Touch Championships, and our very own Middle East Touch Championships.
Distinctive features of touch include the ease of learning it, minimal equipment requirements and the ability to play it without the fear of major injury. Played with two teams of six on-field players, the game is played by both sexes and in age divisions from primary school children all the way up to the over 50s.
The mixed version of the game, where both male and female players are on the field at the same time, is particularly popular with social players and is widely played in schools under the Federation of International Touch Rules across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain.
You’ve set up ME Touch. How is that going and what are your aims for the future?
It’s been a great learning experience. We’ve had our share of knock backs and doubters, but the popularity in schools – especially with young girls – speaks volumes.
Taking a sport that initially was not taken seriously in the UAE and trying to create grassroots programmes, school programmes and player pathways for youths and adults was never going to be easy. But we’ve been blessed to be able to call upon a number of committed volunteers keen to assist with the growth of the sport.
More recently we have gained the support from great partners like Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Daman Insurance, Tsunami Sports and, especially, Al Ghazal Golf Club, which kindly provides us with the pitches for our programmes. This has helped the programme to really take-off.
The mission for Middle East Touch has always been to create a community-based operation, incorporating a familyfriendly sport that can be enjoyed by everybody in a fun environment. How popular is touch in the Middle East and UAE in particular.
Middle East Touch U6s team #community Never to young! @AbuDhabiSC @alawani @mattjboucher @khaledqubaisi #inabudhabi pic.twitter.com/0dfF7fxrPy
— METouch (@MiddleEastTouch) February 20, 2016
We are making a real effort to track the impact of the programme this year and at present we have on average between 300-400 kids a week involved in our school or youth programmes and another 100 adults a week involved in senior programmes.
The adult numbers swell around tournament time when we can have between 30-50 teams participating from across the UAE and the Middle East.
You had a coaching workshop down at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships and were lucky enough to have All Blacks legend Zinzan Brooke there. What was that like?
Very humbling. Zinzan played touch back in the 80’s when he was playing sevens for New Zealand. The guy was so incredibly accommodating to everybody while he was here. Not only did he run clinics at the Golf Championships, but he also assisted with our own TAPOFF TOUCH after-school classes.
He even had time to play 40 minutes of touch in a friendly game against Dubai Exiles masters team. We’re really looking forward to him coming back again for the school championships in April.
Tell us more about touch competitively across the globe?
Last year, Middle East Touch attended the Australian Touch World Cup in April, the England Nationals, and the Junior European Championships. We also travelled to India. This year, Middle East Touch will be attending both the European Championships in Jersey and the Junior Championships in Amsterdam.
We will be hosting international touch football teams here in the UAE as well. What sort of future does touch have in the UAE?
Our goal is to become a sport that is accessible to all schools, not just private expat schools. We would love for the sport to be played in public schools and we’re working closely with our partners – the Abu Dhabi Sports Council – to make this happen.
We have plans to hold more international events and we’re working closely with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council to bring international events, like the Federation of International Touch World Club Championships and Junior Touch Championships, to Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
The Zurich Corporate Touch 6s is coming up. Tell us about the event and why should people get involved.
This is a fantastic opportunity for some healthy corporate competition among UAE businesses. It is also a great way to encourage UAE employees, who are usually stuck behind a desk all day, to get fit and active.
What’s also great about this event, is how it really is for the whole family. There is lots of entertainment on the day, including some dedicated kids’ skills sessions run by myself and Apollo Perelini – what more could you ask for more?
You’re a kiwi so how did you avoid the obsession with the All Blacks and union to start touch?
They’re actually the same thing. Most of the All Blacks 15s and sevens teams have played competitive touch at some level. There are also a number of former New Zealand representative touch players in the All Blacks – the Black Ferns and the New Zealand sevens men and women’s teams.
At home we play both – touch is played all summer.
Tell us about your own rugby background?
I played rugby in Wellington from the age of five years until I was too old to carry on. From then on, I continued to coach both rugby and touch until my move to the UAE in 2012.
Who were your idols growing up?
Michael Jones (All Blacks), Eric Rush (New Zealand sevens), Richard Hadlee (New Zealand cricket) and Michael Jordan (NBA).
Just how much of your week is taken up playing touch?
We currently run programmes seven days a week. The earliest class is at 07.30 and the latest class finishes at 22.00 on a Sunday night.
What do you do to wind down?
I like to read, especially about what other coaches are doing to get better results. I also love a good movie. If I feel the need to get out or away from touch, I try to shoot some hoops or get on a golf course.
