All Nations Touch at QEII
With more than 50 teams coming from 15 countries, this month’s All Nations Touch Championships at QEII will show how touch rugby is emerging as a global sport.
The 26-29 October event is the result of work by many people. It began in 2002 when the City Council and Touch NZ teamed up to bid for the rights to the 2007 World Cup of Touch. When this event was awarded to South Africa, the All Nations Touch Championships was conceived.
All open-grade finals will be televised on TV2 and Sky Sport. It will be the largest International touch event held in NZ, with New Zealand teams competing against those from Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, USA, Thailand, Singapore, Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga. The grades being played range from open through to over-45s, with Touch NZ and Australian Touch each fielding 10 national teams.
Touch NZ chief executive Dick Arnott says City Council support was essential. “This event could never have happened without the Christchurch City Council’s invaluable input and their shared vision for what we wanted to achieve,” he says. “An event of this magnitude at a world class venue like QEII Park and the subsequent TV coverage and publicity surrounding it will profile the game of touch like never before.”
The event will also see the public launch of the Touch Blacks, a new brand for the national mixed, men’s and women’s open teams. New Zealand teams in the other grades will continue with their usual titles, eg the New Zealand Men’s Over-35s.
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