Pride Month Wrap

We look back on a fantastic month of Pride activity and announce our partnership extension with Pride In Touch.

England Touch Pride Weekend

The opening round of the mixed National Touch Series in June saw the first England Touch Pride Weekend take place as our location in Banbury was transformed with progress rainbow flags, face paints and rainbow sweatbands. Across our officials, volunteers and players, there was plenty of support and colour.

On the Sunday there was also an historic exhibition Pride match broadcast on our live stream.

Participants volunteered to play in the lunchtime match from over 15 teams who formed two special Pride teams on the day for a 20-minute match, with specially designed Pride In Touch vests produced for the occasion, sponsored by Physique.

The match was played in a great spirit with England Touch CEO Chris Simon getting the match underway as referee and LGBTQ+ broadcaster and Pride In Touch Co-Founder Nick Heath on commentary.

Catherine Gage from Liverpool Otters played in the match and commented: "As a member of the LGBTQ+ community it was an honour to be involved in the Pride Exhibition match. In amongst the competitive nature of the National Touch Series, it was a great event that sparked a great sense of pride and togetherness, regardless of gender and/or sexual identity."

Robert Norrie of the Banbury Saxons described the match as "supportive, fun and uplifting" and went to add that it was "really lovely to be part of something celebrating inclusivity in Touch for everyone."

Ian Stodart, who mesmerised the crowd with weaving runs throughout, explained what the match meant.

He said: "Playing as a Barbarian team amongst players from different experiences and backgrounds all with smiles, laughter and the support of everyone around is what makes me proud to play Touch."

England Touch CEO Chris Simon is already excited for next year’s Pride Weekend and explains the importance of creating a platform for embracing the LGBTQ+ community.

He commented: "We’ve being doing work off the pitch to lay a strong foundation for equality, diversity and inclusion across our sport. Things like policy work, looking at our short and long term strategy and training our workforce. This work is a continuous effort but we wanted to really embrace Pride Month.

"From working with our partners Pride In Touch we know these events provide an important platform to recognise and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and their allies but also to remind us that there are unique challenges and barriers this group faces in access to and enjoyment of sport.

"Seeing so many people embrace the weekend hopefully demonstrates we’re moving in the right direction and it’s something we want to build on. We see the Pride Weekend being a regular fixture in our annual calendar for years to come."

Pride In Touch, Manchester 2022

The following week saw our partners Pride In Touch host their second annual LGBTQ+ inclusive tournament, hosted in Manchester by the Village Spartans. England Touch were proud to be official partners of the tournament for a second year.

Teams from Liverpool, Chester, Wigan, Clapham and Newcastle came together at Sale Sports Club for an eight team tournament that was a great success. The winners Clapham Feelers beat Wigan Warriors Community Foundation in the final and it was followed by a memorable evening social on Canal Street.

Pride In Touch co-founder Tom Hall gave us the rundown and explained how the tournament fits into the organisation’s vision.

Tom said: "Pride In Touch as an organisation exists so that anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, can access touch anywhere in the world and enjoy a truly inclusive experience. To achieve that vision our presence needs to reach far beyond our headquarters in London, which is why we were excited to take our flagship tournament to Manchester this year.

"To have engagement from these brilliant clubs in the north was fantastic. We had LGBTQ+ individuals attend from the region who had never played the sport before and who have now said they’re hooked, which is a big part of what we’re all about. It was a great day all round and planning is already under way to find our host city for 2023."

Pride In Touch partnership extension

Given the success of our relationship with Pride In Touch to date, England Touch is pleased to announce an extension to our partnership, renewed through to 2024.

Through work on and off the pitch, our organisation hopes to continue to learn how best to provide a welcoming environment for everyone, including the LGBTQ+ community, as we continue with our belief that ours is a sport for all.

Jane Sabugueiro, England Touch non-executive director and board representative of the organisation’s equality, diversity and inclusion working group, commented on the renewed partnership.

Jane said: "As an organisation we’ve achieved a lot in past 12-18 months to be even more inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. We couldn’t have done this without the guidance and accountability that Pride In Touch provides. To continue to be one of the leaders in this area we need to make ongoing progress and maintain our awareness of challenges that exist in our sport for the LGBTQ+ community.

"It's why we're proud to extend our partnership with Pride In Touch as part of embedding equality, diversity and inclusion into our organisation’s strategy. We're looking forward to what we can achieve together over the next two years."

Nick Heath, Pride In Touch co-founder explained the importance of long-term commitment from national governing bodies like England Touch.

Nick commented, “This partnership has already had a real-world impact. Our policy work has been welcomed by trans and non-binary participants while our events have brought the sport to new LGBTQ+ players. To have achieved this in such a short time already demonstrates the value of this partnership and the agreement of its extension is great motivation and inspiration to see what more we can achieve together.”