FAQs

When you log into your account you will see your membership details on the next page, including your membership number

All memberships (except for one-off membership) are valid for one year from the date of purchase/renewal request. Renewal periods are successive 12-month terms following your initial membership year, so if you wish to restart your membership for a full 12 months after a period of inactivity, you will need to register a new account; delayed renewal payments do not extend your membership beyond the registration anniversary. 

Existing members will receive a renewal reminder email when their existing membership expires. You do not need to renew or re-register until this point.

Yes, your unique number will be provided in your welcome email

Our membership software provider is Pay Here Ltd (trading as LoveAdmin) – all transactions are processed securely using either PayPal (for card transactions) or GoCardless (for bank transfers). More details on security are available here.

Please log in to your online account to update your records

Our insurance provider is now Sports Insure, part of AON. To see all the information about insurance cover provided for members, as well as the options to purchase add-on Touch specific travel insurance, please visit the England Touch Insurance Portal.

All O2 Touch Centres, and all O2 Touch activities at RFU clubs, are covered independently under the RFU’s insurance. Please contact the RFU for details. Play Touch RL clubs will need to contact the RFL for more details about their own coverage.

If O2 Touch Centres or Play Touch RL clubs wish to benefit from England Touch’s insurance they will need to take out Full Club membership with England Touch

In order to enter an England Touch tournament you must first affiliate your club. This costs £150 and includes a range of benefits - CLICK HERE to see more information about memberships. Your players must also be individual members of England Touch in order to play in any England Touch tournament, including the Nationals

We’d encourage you to as we think it’s worth it, but no, you do not strictly need Club membership. Please make sure you have adequate insurance in place as you and your players will not be covered under England Touch’s policy unless you are a member. Your players will not be able to participate in any England Touch-run events, regional or national representative sides, and you won’t have access to any development resources or experience. We do not want anyone to operate in isolation and welcome everyone to join England Touch; we aim to keep the cost of affiliation as low as possible

As the national governing body, England Touch has a role to promote, encourage, foster, develop and extend touch in England, under the Federation of International Touch (FIT) rules and guidelines. In order to do so effectively there needs to be agreed and maintained rules, standards and principles of operation.

Through the membership and affiliation structure England Touch can control and administer the game across England to consistent standards. This is essential to the development of one unified sport. There are potentially many variations of Touch that could exist; when individuals participate in an England Touch affiliated competition they know that it will be operated under FIT rules and the sport will be the same.

England Touch provides a range of activities and services for local venues, including referee training, coaching courses, insurance, promotion, and technical advice. England Touch also organises national and regional Touch competitions, and runs regional and national representative teams. Affiliation gives participants in your competition access to all of these. Individuals with England Touch membership benefit from playing in affiliated competitions and are prohibited by FIT rules from participating in competitions that are not affiliated to the relevant national governing body.

Affiliation gives leagues voting rights within England Touch and an opportunity to have their say in how England Touch is run and what it does to progress the development of the sport. England Touch is run on an entirely voluntary basis and all volunteers are Touch participants and operators who want to develop the sport

The widespread development of Touch in England is England Touch’s driving objective. However, this isn’t possible without some level of administration to ensure playing and refereeing standards and application of FIT rules are consistent across affiliated competitions. A national governing body is required to ensure agreed rules and standards, national development of the sport, national competitions, and international representation. England Touch fulfils this role.

That said, to play Touch all you need is a ball, some space and your mates, and you can have a game! That's how some of our biggest clubs have started!

Our membership scheme brings direct benefits to England Touch, and we want to be transparent about these. Many of these also benefit our members in the form of a better resourced and more responsive national governing body with an improved ability to develop and nurture Touch in England.

Secure income stream

England Touch is a not-for-profit association run for the benefit of its affiliated members. For many years England Touch operated on a ’hand to mouth’ basis, with affiliation income keeping the association afloat but not allowing it to notably grow or flourish. England Touch is still volunteer run with a limited income, but the current membership scheme serves as a sustainable income stream, allowing us a greater degree of budgetary planning with the potential to employ full- or part-time officers in the future, significantly increasing our capacity to develop the sport in England.

Understanding and communicating with members

Understanding the profile of Touch participation in England is key to England Touch’s success. By collecting and maintaining accurate data on our individual and institutional members we are better placed to support players, officials, and providers to find each other, appropriately tailor our support, ensure we are meeting best-practice standards of governance, attract potential funding, and work with other bodies to grow the sport.

Appropriate insurance provision

Adequate and appropriate insurance cover for both providers and individuals is vital for all involved in the sport. With much-improved membership data we are better able to ensure we fully comply with insurance requirements, and benefit from competitively priced policies providing the most appropriate level of cover

Membership and affiliation fees predominantly pay for England Touch’s affiliation to the Federation of International Touch (FIT) – the world governing body, and our insurance costs.

England Touch is a key member of the international Touch community and FIT affiliation includes indirect benefits including referee panels to improve our top referees and courses for coaches and coaching presenters. These costs account for over 70% of membership revenue. The remainder is used to cover the costs associated with administering and developing the sport.

Each section of England Touch has its own budget and plans for the future. The remaining income from membership is spent on:

• Developing and upskilling players, coaches, referees, and clubs
• Investing in youth development
• Good governance, working with the Sport and Recreation Alliance
• Marketing, promotion and website upgrades
• Professional fees
• European Federation of Touch (EFT) affiliation: a requirement for England Touch to be recognised by the FIT regional federation in Europe. EFT affiliation funds the expansion of Touch across Europe, leading to more opportunities for participant members

We are always looking for funding opportunities to minimise costs to members, but we currently receive zero capital funding from any source. This is why we need to charge a modest fee for affiliation

No. Affiliation is for the development of the game throughout England and is not used to fund the national (elite) teams. England Touch manages and develops the national representative teams but also the as the sport as a whole in England. The elite teams may benefit from some kit and team sponsorships but there is no funding of elite Touch through membership costs. Indeed England Touch only has one full-time employee!

Yes, all affiliated members have full access to the statutory accounts of England Touch. The summary is included in the annual report when it is published