Touch Football is a team sport, that was derived from American Football, to enable mainstream population to play the sport of Football. Touch Football has all the rules used in the full form of the game, except the full-contact aspect. In this form, players instead of tackling their opponents to the ground, just have to touch them for the play to be over.
The sport is played only at an amateur level, without any protective gear, and has no standardized rules. Field sizes and number of players vary depending on availability. There are several variations in the format in which the sport is played. Some of the variations are:
- Games are played with one-touch or two-touch tackle format, depending on whether a touch with a single hand or both hands are required to end a play.
- Games are played in formats where all forms of kicking are eliminated and the only form of scoring is a touchdown.
- Games are played for various time durations, or are played till one team scores a fixed number of points first.
- Games have different formats based on what length is considered as a first down. Some formats don't use first downs and just use a number of consecutive completed passes, for change of possession.
Similar Sports
- American Football — a team sport played on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. Each team attempts to advance an oval ball down the field into the end zone by running or passing it. It is also known in some parts of the world (outside of the US) as Gridiron. In the US it is referred to simply as football.
- Flag Football — instead of tackling players to the ground in this sport the defensive team have to remove the flag or a flag belt from the ball carrier.
- Touch Rugby — a team sport derived from Rugby Football, in which the tackling is replaced with just a touch.
- Tag Rugby — a team sport similar to touch rugby in which instead of a tackle, a velcro attached tag is pulled off the ball carrier.
- Flag Football — similar to American football but instead of tackling players the defensive team have to remove a flag from the ball carrier.
Related Pages
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports