Who is ITRA?

Adult Tag Rugby was introduced to the UK & Ireland in 2000, by the Irish Tag Rugby Association (ITRA), when the first Tag Rugby league for 36 teams was launched in Dublin. Since then, Tag Rugby has experienced phenomenal growth in Ireland with over 20,000 adults playing the game each summer in over 40 venues around the country. Due to this success, there are now a number of commercial organisations running Tag Rugby leagues in Ireland (including the IRFU), of which ITRA is by far the biggest and most successful.

Tag Rugby is an exciting, yet simple, mixed 7-a-side non-contact sport, played by men and women of all ages and abilities. A pitch is approximately 45m by 65m, roughly half of a normal rugby pitch, although with goalposts removed, you can get 3 tag pitches onto a standard football/rugby pitch.

Some people think that you need to have played rugby before to be able to play the game. This is not the case. Our research shows that almost half of Ireland’s tag players have never played rugby union. Tag Rugby is primarily about running and passing, where agility, speed and good hand-eye coordination are more important skills than brute force and strength. It therefore compliments a whole range of other sports, from football to hockey and from swimming to tennis. The beauty of the game is that it encourages people from all sporting backgrounds to participate together in social teams, bringing a brand new set of local people into your club.

While leagues can be run exclusively for male- or female-only teams, by far the most popular format in Ireland is mixed leagues where you have at least 3 females on the pitch at all times. The aim is to get the girls on your team involved in play as much as possible and, to reward this, females get 3 points for a try while males get just one.

The only piece of equipment that a player needs to play the game is a pair of Tag Rugby shorts. These are special shorts with Velcro strips on each hip, onto which you attach your two tags. Tag Rugby is similar, yet superior, to touch rugby because you “tackle” an opponent by cleaning removing their tag. This eliminates for a referee the potential confusion which arises in touch rugby, regarding whether a player was “touched” or not.

As well as running Tag Rugby leagues since 2000, we have also been involved in a number of hugely successful weekend Tag Rugby events including:

• The world’s largest Tag Rugby festival - the Pig n Porter Tag Festival - takes place annually in Old Crescent RFC, Limerick. 2010 was the 9^th year of the festival, which attracts 120 adult teams and over 1,200 players each year.
• Beach Tag Rugby Series, which take place on a number of iconic beaches all over Ireland during the summer season. Teams register to play in a tournament and travel from all over Ireland to that coastal venue for a weekend of sport and lots of socialising! In 2010, 200 teams played in the Beach Tag Series with 55 teams and over 550 players descending on the Banna Beach Resort, Co Kerry in September for the largest event in the Series.
• All Ireland Tag Rugby Finals. At the end of our summer season, the top teams from 45 ITRA leagues around the country play off in a one day tournament to find the All Ireland Champions – a showcase of the best Tag Rugby talent around.

Because it is a non-contact mixed game, Tag Rugby is perfect for the corporate market, as it allows male and female employees play together in a competitive yet social environment, which is not possible in football blitzes etc. Therefore we have also had great success over the years with Corporate Tag Blitzes for companies who want to get their employees involved in a day of exercise and fun. The client hires our services for the day and we run a Tag Rugby tournament that is catered specifically for the athletic standard of their employees.

Tag Rugby has become so popular in Ireland among the influential 21 to 35 year old group that we now offer leagues and tournaments all year round: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.