'Even ordinary students can enjoy rugby together!' 2026 Youth Sports Festival Tag Rugby Tournament to be held in Seoul on the 29th

*This content was translated by AI.

An opportunity has been created for ordinary students in Korea to enjoy rugby, a sport previously unfamiliar to them.

The Korea Rugby Union announced on the 10th that it will hold the '2026 Youth Sports Festival Tag Rugby Tournament' at 11:30 a.m. on August 29 at the Uijeongbu Campus (Rugby Field) of the Republic of Korea Army Academy in Seoul.

The tournament is organized by the Korean Olympic Committee, hosted by the Korea Rugby Union, and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Sports Promotion Foundation. Student athletes and ordinary students will form teams together to participate in matches. The event has been designed as a competition where anyone can join regardless of affiliation through tag rugby, a safe variant sport.

To ensure participants experience a safe sport, the tournament applies tag rugby rules. In tag rugby, defenders remove tags from opponents instead of tackling them, while attackers carry the ball and run to attempt tries (scoring). With minimal physical contact or risk of injury, anyone can enjoy it safely.

The competition is divided into three age categories (U-12, U-15, U-18) across seven sub-categories, involving a total of 24 teams and approximately 230 participants. Each team consists of eight members: six starters (student athletes and ordinary students) and two substitutes. Matches will be played in a round-robin format per category (7 minutes each for the first and second halves, with a 3-minute break), and final rankings will be determined based on points and sudden death rules.

Beyond simply running matches, the event will also feature various experiential programs. Participants can experience eco-friendly booths, physical fitness tests, and club-linked events with national team and active rugby players, allowing them to engage with and learn from the festival in an easier and more enjoyable way.

Notably, on the day of the competition, following rugby tradition, team captains will hold a "captains' photo session" prior to each match based on international manuals. This is a traditional cultural practice in rugby, offering participating athletes a chance to directly experience rugby culture.

The Korea Rugby Union stated, "Through this tournament where student athletes and ordinary students form teams together, we aim to expand opportunities for youth participation in sports." They added, "We hope that by using tag rugby—a safe variant sport—as a medium, participants will naturally experience values of cooperation, consideration, and communication, contributing to the revitalization of school sports clubs and the creation of a healthy school sports culture."

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*This content was translated by AI.