The England Touch Nationals return to Nottingham this coming bank holiday weekend (29 April to 1 May) with three days of action-packed competition in the largest event of its kind. 46 teams, 700 players, 60 referees and a team of event and support staff will arrive at the University of Nottingham’s Highfields Sports Park to fight it out in 10 categories of competition across three days.
Whilst Nottingham has become a regular host of England Touch’s signature domestic event in recent years, it will be the first time in its new format, combining all age categories together and running as a season opener. The merging of the opens and seniors’ events from last year and moving them to the start of the calendar has resulted in the largest Nationals event the organisation has ever run.
Saturday sees the start of three days of opens’ competition in Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed categories, alongside the weekend events for Men’s 30s, Women’s 27s, 35s and 40s. They will culminate on Sunday when the other masters’ categories of Men’s 40s, Men’s 45s and Men’s 50s get underway. Those will then culminate on Monday alongside the open's finals.
Competition gets underway at 9.30am on Saturday with the first round of the Mixed Open and Women’s 27s, 35s and 40s matches and 9am on Sunday and Monday. The finals take place on Sunday and Monday afternoons, although they’ll be almost non-stop action across the whole weekend with six fields running for most of the time. There will also be a festival atmosphere on site with a catering village and PA system to keep the crowd entertained between matches, and a bar operating at the Nottingham Hockey Centre next door.
For those coming to watch, the site is located next to the University tram stop on University Boulevard, as well as being served by good bus transport from Nottingham City and Beeston. For those needing to drive, they’ll be free parking available at Nottingham Hockey Centre – please note there is no parking available on the main site.
Whilst there’s no replacement for watching the action live and up close, matches on Field 1 will be live streamed from the ETA (England Touch Association) website – www.englandtouch.org.uk. The schedule is now live here, although field 1 matches are liable to change during the weekend.
Nottingham and the University in particular are used to hosting major touch events, with the European Championships held at Highfields in 2018 and 2022. After the success of last year, the venue will see some of the top junior players in the world arrive in July with the first Atlantic Cup event being hosted by University of Nottingham Sport. Teams from across Europe, the USA, South Africa, China and Cayman Islands are set to take on the best in England, with many from Nottingham expected to take part in mixed 15s, boys, girls and mixed 18s and men’s, women’s and mixed 20s teams.
Then next year, England will host the World Cup for the first time when an expected 130 teams and 3000 players and officials will arrive in Nottingham for the signature event in July 2024.
Nottingham is synonymous with Touch participation locally, with leagues running since 2005 and a successful and buoyant Nottingham Touch Club since 2011. The club plays in the National Touch Series and has 130 members and the leagues run throughout the year – both are based at Gresham Sports Park in West Bridgford. The summer season is about to get underway with the club offering taster sessions on Thursday 27th April and Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th May from 8pm. For further information contact the club at nottinghamtouch@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.
For further information on the Nationals event, please contact marketing@englandtouch.org.uk, or visit www.englandtouch.org.uk.
To learn more about hosting an event with University of Nottingham Sport, please visit our dedicated page here.
Posted on Thursday 27th April 2023