Leeds City Council, in partnership with the Rugby Football League and the Rugby Football Union, will be hosting the 5 th National Disability Tag Rugby Festival at South Leeds Stadium. This annual event will take place on Friday 8th October 04, commencing at 10.00am – activities will run through to 2.00pm.

Significant support for this event has also come from the Yorkshire Federation of Disability Sports Organisations (FDSO) and the West Yorkshire County Sports Partnership.

Tag Rugby is a minimal contact version of Rugby, containing many elements of the full game. However, by concentrating on the running and ball-handling skills of the game, and restricting the degree of physical contact, Tag Rugby is accessible to a wider range of players. In this instance to players who have learning disabilities, minimal physical impairments and/or sensory impairments.

The format of the festival will incorporate a round robin competition for Under 11’s, Under 16’s and seniors, as well as having a coaching clinic for hearing impaired players.

Teams and individuals have been invited from all over Yorkshire with some guest teams coming from further afield. At present over 25 teams, including boys and girls have registered to take part in this event. It is also hoped that the Leeds Schools currently taking advantage of the ‘Activate’ Rugby Coaching will also be taking part.

Match Officials on the day will include RFL Super League referees, Karl Kirkpatrick, Steve Ganson & Ashley Klein.

Stuart Cummings RFL Match Officials Director, "Match Officials perform in all levels of community rugby league and we see this Festival as another opportunity for us to get involved. We have deliberately asked our International Panel referees to officiate in the Festival as a sign of how important we feel this level of competition is to the community as a whole."

Steve Fairhurst – RFL Equity & Ethics Officer commented, “Hopefully this event will highlight the effect of strong partnership links. A tie up with Leeds City Council, FDSO and West Yorkshire Sport is assisting us greatly as we put strategies into place across the country. The significance of the link with the RFU on this initiative cannot be understated. Working together in this field, particularly Tag Rugby will help us to create more sustained activity”.

Andy Wilson – LCC RFL Development Officer stated, “Leeds City Council are pleased to be hosting this event once more. It is becoming firmly established in the participative calendar on the back of strong development work being carried out across the region with our partners”.

Alec Porter - RFU Development Officer (Central Yorkshire) added, “ The RFU are very pleased to be involved in this disability programme and keen to continue our work in conjunction with the RFL, FDSO, Leeds City Council & West Yorkshire Sport”.

If you require further details or wish to register for this event please contact Andy Wilson - Leeds City Council Rugby League Development Officer, telephone: 0113 395 0000