Want to give it a go?

The next term of the Gloucester Junior Touch football season is about to kick off and new players are welcome.

Head down to the Number One Oval on Thursday February 7 at 4.15pm or visit the Facebook page for more information about how to get involved.

The competition finished off strong at the end of 2018 with over 80 players coming out each week from both primary school and high school.

Ages range from seven years old to 16 years old, with players broken up into age divisions and placed in different teams each week. There is a bit of a warm up and skills session before the players get into the game.

Touch Football, often referred to as `Touch’ or `Touch Footy’, is a sport that can be played anywhere at any time. The overall aim in a game of Touch Football is for your team to score more touchdowns than your opponents. This is achieved by placing the ball in your opponents `Touchdown Zone’.

Played on a rectangular field 70 metres long by 50 metres wide, a game of Touch Football is played over 45 minutes, divided into two 20 minute periods with a five minute halftime break.

Teams can be made up of up to 14 players with a maximum of six players on the field at any one time; however some competitions do allow 7, so be sure to check before starting. Teams must move the ball down the field toward their `touchdown zone’, without passing the ball forward, dropping the ball on the ground or kicking it. Each team has six `touches’ before they need to handover the ball to their opponents.

When touched an attacker must stop and `roll the ball’, unless it is the sixth touch. Defenders are required to be back a minimum of five metres when an attacker rolls the ball or risk being called `offside’ by the referee. Any infringements will result in either a resent of the ‘count’ or a turnover.