Annual Report gives balanced overview of England Touch Association’s positive 2021

England Touch Association Chair, Mark Croston, and Chief Executive, Chris Simon, have both reiterated the positive direction that the organisation is heading in, despite experiencing challenging trading conditions in the 2020/21 reporting year.

At the end of the reporting year (end of September 2021) the Association was well on the way to breaking the 2,000 mark in terms of individual members (19 percent up on the same month in 2019) and seeing club and league affiliations increase by 55 percent compared to the same period, with more than 100 clubs now with the Association across the country.

However, the Association has also reported a pre-tax loss of £30,733, following an unpicking of historic accounting and stock valuation, and some exceptional one-off expenditures, with income during the year impacted by the pandemic, which was still in full force for much of the reporting year.

Nevertheless, with almost half of the 2021/22 reporting year already passed, the ETA is expecting a stronger summer with more tournaments, continuing increases in membership, a home European Touch Championships and an expanding footprint to capitalise on the increased interest in the sport across the country.

On the field there were more clubs than ever competing in the National Touch Series, an expanded Junior Nationals, and England completed an Opens division whitewash over the other Home Nations in a two-event Autumn Series in early September. This in turn was followed by more than 50 teams entering the inaugural Regional Roadshows at the end of October – despite not exactly traditional Touch weather! – and having the 2022 24-team Development National Touch Series becoming fully booked across all three events inside the opening 90 minutes of becoming available.

All of this activity was reflected in the numbers of people seeking to gain formal coaching and refereeing qualifications, with more than 100 people attending courses from across the country.

With a partnership with the Rugby Football League focused on participation, progress made towards having Touch included within the British Universities and Colleges Sport programme, and a number of other partnerships with professional clubs and coaching companies, the pieces are being put in place for a sustainable future in terms of playing numbers which in turn can bring added value for purposeful commercial partnerships.

For Croston the Annual Review marks the last of his four-year term in office as Chair due to his appointment as the Chair of the Federation of International Touch’s Board. He says that the organisation has transformed its outlook during that period.

"In this time the England Touch Association has gone from strength-to-strength and overcome the challenges posed by an unprecedented global pandemic,” he commented.

“In those pre-pandemic days the ETA consolidated its reputation for excellent administration by hosting several international events, notably the 2018 European Touch Championships and 2019 European Club Championships, as well as making the National Touch Series the leading group of Touch competitions in Europe.

“Since emerging from lockdowns, if anything the ETA is in a brighter position, with club affiliations and individual memberships both significantly up compared to 2019, and partnerships confirmed with the Rugby Football League as well as several progressive-minded professional clubs, companies and charities.

“During the past four years I have been fortunate to work with so many talented and dedicated people and thank each and every one of them. The most enjoyable part of the ‘job’ is of course the sense of togetherness within the Touch community.

“All the hard work undertaken during the various lockdowns in 2019 is now bearing fruit as the Association heads into 2022 which will see a further expansion of opportunities for clubs and players to experience competition, and England host the European Touch Championships once again. The lockdowns also gave us an opportunity to re-set, re-examine what we were doing and refresh ourselves as an organisation.

“Our 2020s Vision sets out the growth and development of the sport, and it is our responsibility to ensure we grow as a sport, along with our content, audience and our reach.

“The momentum is with us and the future is bright for Touch across England.”

“2021 was a challenging year for the ETA,” Simon added, “with the shackles of Covid-19 for much of the financial year, a shortened and late-starting domestic season, and the limiting of international Touch to the end of the summer, albeit successfully.

“As with other sport governing bodies, we focused much of the year on Return to Play for our members and, helped by a strong Board and loyal group of volunteers, we focused on getting our members back playing, maximising the awareness and growth of Touch across a wider playing audience, and to continue the development of the ETA to govern and administer the sport with strong investment.

“The sport of Touch as a whole and the ETA as an organisation are entering an extremely exciting period. We are about to launch our 2020s Vision for the next decade, along with what we intend to deliver over the course of the current World Cup cycle, combining long-term ambition with realistic delivery, and everything is pointing in the right direction.”

CLICK HERE to download the 2021 Annual Report.