Masked Eagle said:
Daniel said:
Masked Eagle said:
well it is the exact reason that Oz Tag was started. It was designed to be a lot more like Rugby League. I have played both and whilst Touch requires more fitness, it doesn't compare as a game to Oz tag.
Being able to run proper angles and plays is great.
The guys that play both touch and Oz tag are usually better skilled players, just because they are used to avoiding being touched at all. Every single one of them that I speak to in our comp though, much prefer Oz Tag now that they have actually played it for a year or two, a few of them have stopped playing touch all together, like me.
The amount of people in touch that call out "got him" etc and completely lie makes it horrid, it's all about running backwards constantly and moving constantly, just not enjoyable
No one playing touch at any decent level calls phantoms. Anyway, I would say players who play Oztag and who fend are just as guilty and equally as prevelant as players who call phantoms in touch. Both are cheats.
Touch is much better for a players development, especially for a ball player. Faster pace of the game, reduced thinking time, sharper skills because you can't drop it.
I have played both for the best part of the last 20 years, I played in the very first Oztag comps in the ACT and it was great fun when it first started, my biggest problem was in the summer when the "Footy" teams played and it was more tackle than tag. I even gave up touch for a few years but as the seasons went on I turned back to touch and haven't played Tag for a few years now. Personal choice I suppose, but for me I enjoy the pace and the challenge of playing touch a lot more than Oztag, especially against players coming through who have age, and definitely a lot more speed on their side than I currently do.
When it first started there was some contact but if anyone is fending or causing contact now then they aren't being run properly.
The principle thing we are taught as referees is that all contact is bad, there is no such thing as accidental contact, and if there is any contact it absolutely has to be a penalty to one team or the other (there are key indicators for this too)
We had a season with a lot of new referees and contact started creeping in, it took a season for us to train them up enough to give the confidence to call it. They are now even calling contact if you reach around for the tag and cause any level of contact with your arm.
So the league players were the problem not the game.
If it wasn't quick enough for you, you were probably playing in a slow comp. At state level even as a referee it is so quick, you barely have time to set the 7m before the ball is played. It made coming back to refereeing at the local level a breeze as I could walk the triangle more or less and only had to run through for breaks.
It sounds like you suffered from poor officiating rather than a poor game