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thesouthafrican.com | 7 - 13 January 2014 |
Sport
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Upcoming Touch and Active Touch Leagues for 2014 in London | With many more Touch leagues happening across London in 2014 there will be lots of great competitions, one day tournaments and fun social events throughout the year on the pitch at all times and up website. One of the best and most BY TRACY ANDREW THE first Active Touch League will start the week commencing the 20th January 2014. We will be running one league on Monday evenings at Canary Wharf and another two leagues on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Wandsworth. Active Touch is a new indoor game and is a cross between Netball, Rugby, Touch and Football. It is played at an indoor arena or on a basketball court with four mixed players on each team. The players find it a great way to keep fit when it’s cold outside and maintain their skill levels through the winter period. For more information on the rules of Active Touch, or just to have a look at how it is played visit www. in2touch.com The Winter touch league will commence on Sunday 16th February at Clapham Common. There will be three different divisions; Men’s, Mixed and Ladies. Registrations for this league are now open and the league runs for eight weeks. You can register a team of up to 14 players, or if you don’t have a team you can register as an individual and we can place you in a team for the season. To register visit the In2Touch website (www.in2touch.com) or send an email to tracy@in2touch. com Touch is played with six players
to eight rolling substitutes. For a mixed team you must have a minimum of two girls on the pitch at all times. Touch is a minimal contact sport with just the slightest touch on the player or the ball counting as a touch. Each team has six touches to try and score a touchdown. Touch is played at many different levels; from the very social to representing your country at the Touch World Cup. The next Touch World Cup will take place in Australia, the birth place of Touch, in 2015. This competition is gearing up to be the best World Cup yet as countries from around the world take on the two toughest teams, Australia and New Zealand. The Spring and Summer months are the busiest times for touch as the warmer weather allows team mates to socialise more freely over a drink after the games. The Spring season will start around late April and Summer will begin in early July (exact dates to be confirmed) with both leagues lasting eight weeks. There are various leagues around London with many different divisions such as Regents Park, Richmond, Surrey Quays, Putney/Wandsworth, Clapham/ Wandsworth and Clapham Common. Registration for these leagues will open shortly. In2Touch run various day tournaments throughout the year. Teams can enter through our
How did the Proteas fare in 2013? BY JEREMY BORTZ
OVERALL, the Proteas will look back favourably on 2013. In the longer format of the game, they ended the year where they began: as the top-ranked side in the world. Series wins at home against New Zealand and Pakistan at the beginning of the year were comprehensive with the scoreboard reading played five, won five. After an extended seven-month period of inactivity, the Proteas were rusty in their first Test against Pakistan in the UAE and were outplayed for virtually the entire Test. They came back, however, to win the second Test and extend their unbeaten away record to an incredible eight years. They last suffered a series defeat away from home in Sri Lanka in July-August 2006. The year ended with a gutsy and hard-fought series win against India on the back of an epic drawn first Test at the Wanderers and a crushing 10 wicket win at Kingsmead in the second. That win was especially pleasing after four previous losses at the ground. Underpinning these results were consistency of selection. Outside of the spin department where Imran Tahir and Robin Peterson swapped starting positions, the only changes
were those enforced through injury. That consistency has been rocked with the retirement of Jacques Kallis; undisputedly one of South Africa’s greatest ever players and filling this irreplaceable void will be a key issue for the team going forward. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Proteas recorded confidence-boosting wins away from home against Pakistan and at home against the number one ranked ODI side to leave fans frustrated and confused. Personnel wise, the side looks more settled at the end of the year than it did at the beginning. Quinton de Kock cemented his place at the top of the order with three consecutive hundreds against India, only the fourth player in the history of the game to do so, while the return of Dale Steyn is hugely significant. Much like 2013, 2014 will see the Proteas play far too little cricket. There is no cricket until February when Australia visit for three Tests and three T20’s. The World Twenty20 follows in late March before another lengthy break until July when Zimbabwe are scheduled to tour. The year then concludes with a visit by the West Indies. Here’s to February!
popular day tournaments is the In2Touch Social World which is held in August/September. Each team must dress up as a country they are allocated. For example if your team is representing Australia players could dress up as Kangaroos or Crocodile Dundee. Teams play throughout the day in their outfits, and socialise with all the other teams, making for a fun day out. But make sure you register early as it fills up quickly. There are many more tournaments, competitions and leagues throughout the year. To find out what’s on you can have a look at our website (www. in2touch.com) or you can send an email to tracy@in2touch.com.