By Jeremy Burks
Contributing Writer
An army of pasty-white legs assembling at Yongsan Family Park in early March can only mean one thing: the start of the touch rugby season in Seoul.
The touch season kicked off last Saturday, with perfect conditions enticing a healthy mixture of regular and new players to Yongsan Family Park for the first run off the year.
Those new to Korea can take comfort in the fact that touch is alive and well in Korea with Saturday morning sessions attracting a fantastic cross-section of the community.
As the game is a low-contact sport and relies primarily on passing and teamwork, it allows for young and old, men and woman, experienced and inexperienced players to compete evenly against each other, which is a rarity in most sports.
``It's social both on and off the field, so I encourage new players and those new to the area to come down and give it a go,'' says regular player Wade Broderick.
The touch committee has set a number of goals for the year to promote and develop the sport in Korea.
``Touch is such an accessible game. We think it will really take off in Korea. Especially boys and girls now have the chance to pick up a new sport and we have a bunch of people who have volunteered to coach in English.''
This year, regular tournaments will again be sponsored by the Spire Group, with the Spire series consisting of seven tournaments spread from March to November, with the highlight being the ITS International Touch tournament to be held in Seoul in September.
Following last year's format, teams will be vying for points, which will accrue over the entire series. Last year's overall winner was not decided until the last tournament of the year, making for an exciting series full of friendly rivalry and post-match revelry throughout the season.
The first tournament of the year will be held on March 21 at the Jamwon rugby ground in Apkujeong, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
New teams and individual players are encouraged to get in contact with the tournament coordinator Shane Lowndes to register their interest as soon as possible.
Please register your team by emailing him at
For those who would like to know more about touch rugby and how to get involved, visit www.touchtagrugby.blogspot.com, or simply head along to Yongsan Family Park on Saturdays from 10 a.m.