Variations of Oztag

Getting tired of playing Oztag and want to try a new variation of the sport? Well, in Australia, not only has Oztag become an exciting alternative to Touch Football, there are now exciting alternatives to Oztag itself. Here are just some of them.

Supertag

For those who want to play Rugby League, but are not fond of the tackling that comes with it, Supertag is a fantastic substitute. Supertag is a winter sport played with 10 senior players and 11 junior players on a full sized Rugby League football field. This allows you run to your hearts content just as you would if you were play the contact sport. The game commonly runs for 15-20 minutes halves and focuses primarily on the passing, catching, tagging and kicking aspects of Oztag or Rugby. Commonly, there would be 10 a side for senior teams with mixed division playing 5 males and 5 females and eleven a side for junior teams with mixed division playing 6 boys and 5 girls. Also unlike Rugby, Supertag is played to encourage the non-tackling rules of Oztag and allows players of all skills, size, weight and ages to participate. It hence reduces the intimidation by larger players, increases diversity and different social interactions. 

Beachtag

Clearly from the name you can tell that this is Oztag played on the beach. Despite assuming that playing on sand would be difficult, Beachtag is fast paces and dynamic. It is set on a modified field of 50m x 30m and consists of 6 players with a maximum of 10 on the field at any time, running for 10 minute halves. Competitively, Mixed divisions would consist of 3 males and 3 females. Of course, if you're heading to the beach this weekend with your friends and decide to get active, Beachtag would be great fun for everyone, especially here on the sunny beaches of Australia!

League Tag

This sport may or may not be considered a variation of Oztag, but I thought I'd give you a brief idea on what it is. League Tag is a version of Rugby as it maintains the basic structure of the original game. However, rather than tackling players would 'tag' the ball to represent a tackle. This way, it can be used as a coaching aid to give players a rough idea of Rugby League without them sustaining any injuries, were contact involved. Also uniquely different to Oztag, League Tag allows the ball carrier to try and prevent the ball from being tagged. For example, you can knock the defenders arm away when they reach for your tag and hold-them off. Of course, you cannot hold defenders off in anyway that would injure them such as fending to their face. Personally, I think this is a great variation because 'tagging', or rather 'touching' a ball, sounds a lot easier than pulling flapping tags from a moving person.

And there you have it, a list of Oztag variations that you can try out yourself, both competitively or just with friends and family! I'm positive there are plenty more different variations of tag out there to be found, some of which may not even be official. In fact, why don't you challenge yourself to create your own version of Oztag?