TAG RUGBY

MATERIAL: 1 rugby ball; One bib or tag per

ORGANIZATION: Groups of 6-10 children.
player.
Depending of the number of children that
are taking part in the lesson.
PART OF THE SESSION: Main part
LENGTH OF THE GAME: 10 minutes
DEVELOPMENT:

Tag rugby, or flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt
that has two velcro tags attached to it, or shorts with velcro patches.
Attacking players attempt to dodge, evade and pass a rugby ball while defenders
attempt to prevent them scoring by "tagging" pulling a velcro attached tag from the
ball carrier, rather than a full contact tackle.
If the attacking team had failed to score by the fourth 'tackle' the defending team were
given possession of the ball.

Introduction

According to sports writer Terry Godwin, writing in 1983, tag rugby was first developed in Gibraltar by
the Gibraltar Rugby Union. Due to the lack of grass pitches, an alternative variant to rugby union was
developed. A 10 inch cord was tucked into the waistband, and its removal by an opponent with a shout
of "tag", was classed as a 'tackle'.
We can consider the beginning of the Rugby on 1823. The tradition says that William Webb Ellis, an
student at the College of Rugby, a city from the west of England, with the purpose of disobeying the
rules of football, took the ball with his hands and carried it to the rivals goal and scoring in a medieval
football match.
Different cultures from all around the Earth had games where the players held a ball with their hands
and had to carry it out to a goal or through a bigger structure. The mutual influence of these games is
difficult to determine. Some of them are the pok-ta-pok from the Maya People (500 b. C.) called tlachtli
by the Aztecs, the kemari from the Japanese (200-300 a. C.), the linao from the Mapuche People, the
episkyros from the Greeks and the harpastum from the Romans