Club Focus – Peterborough Touch

Peterborough Coach John Cranston joins us for our latest Club Focus.

What are the origins of ‘Borough Touch?

I believe Peterborough Touch started in 2014. Touch was taught at a few local schools.

Max Raymond's daughter Fran really enjoyed it along with some others. There was also a few South Africans playing socially, the two merged together and the club was born.

Local tournaments were played against Bedford, Norwich and Northampton etc.

That was until we could muster up teams in 2018 to enter England Touch events. We played as Orton Ospreys back then, Peterborough Tropics in 2019 and now Peterborough Touch.

Who are the characters in the Peterborough Touch scene? 

Lots of them!!! Lots of stories as well, but not for the internet! Sorry…

On personalities and bonding, one thing we are keen to work on and learn from other clubs is getting that social element embedded in the culture of the team.

The joining together of the local teams under one Peterborough Touch umbrella has helped us develop a culture and identity within the existing rugby union club. We still play inter club competitions as our old sides but come together for training and have one side for East Regional Development Series and Development NTS.

What are the challenges you have faced as a Touch club?

There are plenty of them. A couple of main ones stand out for me.

Covid has been a real blow for us. It happened as all the Peterborough teams and nearby Yaxley Yaks came together under the Borough Touch banner. But then everything closed down and we couldn’t see each other and get the single club off the ground.

We were apart for over a year when the whole point of merging had been to become stronger. That’s still an issue now as we look to mould the social and first teams into a joined-up unit.

Secondly, player recruitment and retention. This has always been a struggle. I think it’s common amongst most clubs. Players move on to more established clubs. People move away or go to university. Or can't always commit to a sport that does require you to give up a whole day of your weekend should you wish to play in a national event.

What’s the vision for touch at PRUFC?

The vision is pretty much the same as it was back in 2018. Get as many players playing as possible.

We want to be playing in national tournaments and representing Midlands in the respective age categories. That way we can be learning from the coaches there and bringing the knowledge back to the club.

We've had players go on to represent England before and it will happen again, I'm sure.