Scotland reflect on the 2011 Touch World Cup

29 Aug 2011 @ 12:00 UTC

Scottish teams were competitive on home soil in the seventh Touch World Cup, which took place at Peffermill Playing Fields in Edinburgh. Although the tournament was dominated by Australia, who claimed five of the seven divisions at the event, Scottish squads performed better than in previous years and competed well in all divisions.

World Cup image 1In the Open divisions, Scotland came 6th out of 23 countries compared to 7th out of 10 at the tournament in 2007.  In the senior divisions, Scotland finished 8th out of 18 countries compared to 10th out of 13 countries four years ago.

Robbie McKenzie, National Squad Coaching Director at the Scottish Touch Association said: “Scottish Touch is in a strong position following the World Cup.  We are competitive in every division and this bodes well for the championships ahead.  Scotland showed they could hold a major touch event as in my view the event organisers did a fantastic job.”

World Cup image 2One thing we certainly achieved was to put Scotland firmly on the map as a touch playing nation and hopefully we can keep growing player numbers and improving standards on the back of performances by this squad at this World Cup.”

The Scottish Touch Association’s thoughts now turn to international tournaments coming up in the next few years with the European Championships in both 2012 and 2014, events McKenzie believes will become the core focus for Scottish Touch squads in the future.

The World Cup has shown us that we now have the depth to challenge across all divisions.  This is incredibly positive news and it will make selections for the 2012 European Championships very interesting. It was fantastic to see such a strong performance from our Mixed Open side and they deserve the chance to have a real run for the title at the Euros in 2012!

World Cup image 3The event also gave an opportunity for Scottish Touch to showcase the sport to the Scottish public, attracting more participants to join various squads and divisions.

McKenzie said: “The World Cup showcased a sport we all love to the masses and I can't count the number of spectators I spoke to who told me they had no idea the game was so fast, skilful and technical. I think we'll have picked up quite a few new players through this channel.