Did you miss any of this in 2019?
Gregg Cropper
Skilled and influential senior leader with over 10 years of experience in Sport Sector
2019 has been England Touch's biggest year, ever! Here's my quick month by month recap...
January
New project to help get prisoners back on track. England Touch and Koi Sports CIC announced a ground-breaking project to use Touch to help the rehabilitation of prisoners back into mainstream society.
England Touch confirmed that we would continue its broadcast partnership with 247.TV into 2019. With over 150 hours of viewing from over 40 countries!
February
We announced a number of new venues for the NTS series. This year we’ve further rationalised these from feedback and released the 2020 calendar already... keep reading below for more!
March
The team of Regional Leads were announced for the 2019 season.
Bath Hawks consolidated their place at the top of the Uni National Touch Series standings by taking home the Cup title.
April
England’s team at the 2019 Touch World Cup was much more than the 160 players and 20 coaches, as there was an extensive support staff also heading to Malaysia at the end of April. The support staff included team managers, physios, sports scientists, psychologists, medics, logistics and media, with nearly 30 individuals working to make the on-pitch teams the best they can be... Read all about it here: https://www.englandtouch.org.uk/news/posts/2019/april/the-team-behind-the-team/
We announced the 10 TWC captains
Seven retained their position from the 2018 European Touch Championships, while three players were handed the armband for the first time
We also welcomed new World Cup sponsors. Men’s Open – Champion Power UK. Mixed 30s – Peter Armitage Builders. Men’s 40s – Open Air Design. And thanks to Capita for their kind donation to the Women’s 35s team.
Maximuscle became England Touch's Official Sports Nutrition Partner
The 2019 Touch World Cup was live on the BBC Sport website and app and on BBC iPlayer, the first time the sport’s global showpiece has received such exposure. BBC Sport streamed five hours per day from the tournament site in Putrajaya, Malaysia, facilitated by Marketing and PR Manager Chris Wearmouth and I, another great step forward for our sport.
May
Produced a number of great TWC round up videos, including a final wrap up video...
We released our Annual Report after an outstanding year for the Association. Download link for the Annual Report by CLICKING HERE.
New appointments to England Touch board to give us a full compliment.
We launched the 2020 European Touch Championships expanding with a new International Series... More info on this event in next months blog.
June
Big changes in the High Performance set-up. The next cycle of Coaches appointed.
Launched #OneEnglandAwards...
July
Autotech Recruit signed on to support the England Mixed 15 team’s campaign at August’s Junior Touch Championships.
England Touch established a positive relationship with BBC Sport over the last 12 months, with the 2018 European Touch Championships, 2018 Nationals and 2019 Touch World Cup all being streamed via their website and app. This was in addition to England Touch’s live streaming of its Elite club tournaments on YouTube over the past 18 months, working with broadcast partner 247 Media.
August
We co-hosed the Club championships. Hot Custard brought the heat to Maidenhead with a dominant weekend in the inaugural European Federation of Touch Club Championships. The London-based team were the only outfit to go through the entire weekend undefeated as the European clubs showed just how competitive the sport is throughout the continent.
We announced Ben Powell as the Association’s new High Performance Director, one of the leading figures in both English and European Touch for a number of years.
England’s junior teams recorded the country’s (and competitions) best ever results at a Junior Touch Championships. Not only did all four teams win their respective categories, but between them they won 27 out of their 29 matches played, drawing the other two
We also announced the appointment of Chris Simon as the Association’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
September
After our biggest selection, the 2020 HPTS announced.
The South East earned the title of champion region following the completion of the 2019 Nationals tournaments.
October
Along with the addition of our larger pathway as we entered our development teams into the Challenge Trophy and Senior Cup, with some good results.
We also announced our Junior Teams for the 2020 cycle.
November
We celebrated a memorable year at Twickenham, with the 2019 #OneEngland Awards handed out at a special dinner at the home of England Rugby.
We announced the coaches who will be guiding the national age group teams over the next two-year cycle. It is a particularly exciting time for age group Touch in England, following an unprecedented clean sweep at the 2019 Junior Touch Championships.
December
Coaching courses back up and running. A number of Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching Courses have been announced for January, February and March 2020.
We released 2020 NTS dates with a few tweaks in the format of the Elite National Touch Series and Elite Men’s and Women’s National Touch Series. The NTS has grown and developed rapidly over the last two years along with the sport as a whole within England.
2020...
We're not sitting on our laurels - here are some of the things you can expect in 2020:
- The European Touch Championships returning to the University of Nottingham, with 11 categories and a new International Series making it a truly global event
- All of the Nationals coming under one roof at one venue on one weekend
- A select group of partner venues chosen for their quality and proactive approach to becoming centres of Touch excellence
- We will be hosting an international club competition, The Fortune Cup, later in the summer
- Expanded Youth pathway with new Under-20 teams preparing for the Youth World Cup
- Proactive approaches to growing the sport, working with our clubs to encourage Youth and grassroots development, and then pathways for players, coaches and referees alike
- More courses to upskill referees and coaches across the country
I'd like to extend a huge thank you for our army of volunteers, far and wide, players, coahes, referees, medical staff and everyone in between. WE ARE ENGLAND TOUCH!
Exciting times for our sport.... here's to 2020 and beyond!