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Touch Rugby joins School Games
Touch Rugby has joined the School Games programme for 2026, and is ready to be selected within the Events Calendar for the forthcoming summer term competitions.
Touch Rugby has been included among eight sports in Wave 4, chosen to strengthen inclusion, accessibility and consistency across the School Games programme.
Touch Rugby within the School Games programme is aligned with school-specific guidance from the England Touch Association, supporting young people of all abilities, including SEND participants.
Clear progression is provided between intra-school and inter-school competitions, making it easier to deliver competitions that are fair, fun and inclusive for every participant.
As well as guidance for running Touch Rugby competitions, England Touch has developed several fun games to improve core skills needed throughout the game. These have been tailored for primary and secondary environments, and are free to access by any school across the country via the England Touch YouTube channel.
“We are really excited that Touch Rugby is now officially part of the School Games and exists as an option for schools nationwide to choose to participate in,” said Sammie Phillips, Director of Pathways and Performance, England Touch..
“We know that Touch Rugby is a fully inclusive, accessible and engaging sport for young people of all ages to get involved in, not just as players but as young leaders refereeing and coaching the game too.
“The Touch Rugby formats designed for the School Games are easily adaptable for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and we have included ‘super powers’ and a new ‘how to make it more inclusive’ section within each game, alongside the ‘how to make it easier/harder’ sections so adaptations for young people with SEND are interwoven into the formats facilitating greater inclusion and engagement for all participants.
“We are looking forward to supporting delivery of the Touch Rugby formats and giving many more young people the ability to get active and develop key curriculum and interpersonal skills through participation in Touch Rugby.
“A huge thanks to the team at Youth Sport Trust for supporting us on every step of this journey and giving us the opportunity to showcase Touch Rugby and England Touch’s participation and performance pathways to many more young people.”
“We’ve seen first hand with the National Schools Touch Championships how much children enjoy playing Touch Rugby, and how quickly the sport becomes embedded within a school,” added Dom Tripp, England Touch Schools Lead. ”This announcement will help accelerate Touch Rugby’s growth, which is very exciting for all of us!”
This announcement, which comes six months after England Touch signed up as an NGB & Sector Affiliate of the Association for Physical Education, is the latest milestone in the exponential growth of Touch Rugby within schools.
Entries into the 2026 National Schools Touch Championships is approaching 250 teams (representing more than 3,000 players). This is nearly double the entries from 2025 (2022: 8 teams; 2023: 27; 2024: 98; 2025: 123), with an 84% retention rate year-on-year, and 65% of entries are from state schools.
The Junior Touch Cup for clubs is also expanding in 2026, and with England hosting the 2026 European Youth Touch Championships at Warwick University this coming August, the foundations are all in place for the sport to continue its expansion.
To find out more visit: www.englandtouch.org.uk/schools
