Please contact Mr. Kim or Reception at Nova Park ........

Tel: (038) 415 304 - 8

The Chris Kays Memorial Rugby Tens another success

The Chris Kays Rugby Tens Memorial Competition was another raging success, a fabulous atmosphere that kicked into gear on Friday night and was still tangible on Monday morning. Of course there was a cast of thousands so it would be impossible for this little diary to mention everybody. But these things do not get organized without a lot of work from a lot of people, some of whom I am bound to forget here, but here goes of course the sponsors who included Henry representing Raimond land, Gregarious Greg from Mackenzie (more beer than a brewery, and it was cold), Smith & Law, Graham MacDonald and all from MBMG. (Graham was also head time keeper and tournament director, beer getter, hot dog Fletcher etc). Jimmy Howard who hosted the tournament, and organized as he went along, playing rugby, picking sides, drinking, giving speeches you mane it our Jimmy did it. Eoin Quirke our Panthers Captain and his lovely wife Shelley did all the hard work, Mark Coombes who always remained cheerful getting all the programs etc organized plus timekeeping, scheduling etc, David Viccars for keeping referees, linesmen, etc all in order (hard work when you have the mischievous Bruce and Peter in your crew!!). No seriously the refs were a great bunch this year as ever. Of course the whole tournament would stop if it was not for Blowfly who spent two whole days keeping the scores and schedules powered only by his laptop and copious amounts of coffee. Ron Keeley for actually putting the program together and of course all the people from Horseshoe Point. Huge apologies to anybody I have forgotten.

Nova on Friday, Landlord Kim, Niel Smith the head Southerner (and a very good job he did too), Nick & Blowfly

Nova on Wednesday, Blowfly, Johnnie Live, Bruce, Landlord Kim

A very bronzed Darren & Tracy arrive back from the West Indies, and chat to our regular soothsayer Jason Payne

The Rugby Tens Friday night registration (what wonderful programs Mark)

Jason entertains the girls

The Bangers dig in

Or Mummy

Start drinking early

Lek to the rescue

David Viccars our head referee with the Nomad Runner’s up in the plate

"Just when I thought it had all gone quiet on the Dickson front this turns up!"

Hi mate
Just reviewed your recent diary – yes, we are all glad that the cricket is over. Too long by about 4 weeks.
Reading continue to impress, as do MUFC in domestic and Liverpool in Europe ( final starts 0430 in Australia – too early to wake or start drinking!)

Australia were extremely lucky that their oldest ageing star ( McGrath) managed a passable player of the tournament performance; Tait proved that an extra 10kph does matter on top of 150kph; Gilchrist finally got some runs after local newspapers suggested he should give the one day away ( and with style!!); and despite a relative failure of the middle order ( mainly because they never got a bat) they were comfortably too good for everyone. Did SA choke or make money? Who will know? The sub continent order of merit has turned upside down and England stayed too long at the pub. After a great tournament lead up, NZ faded badly ( was this the unexpected burden of carrying Fletcher’s hopes?). Even for the final I reverted to watching replay highlights – too long and too late.

Busy period here - dinner and comedy festival last Thursday in Melb; Cirque du Soleil on Saturday in Melbourne; golf last Monday for a charity day and football ( St Kilda vs Sydney) next Saturday and these are all work. Struggling to fit in any social life at the moment. Caught up with Chris and Sandy Langford for dinner two weeks ago in melb – both are well and enjoying retirement ( but not as much as Pat). Will retire from golf briefly for the winter and complete home renovations while it is cold and wet outside. Having a ball with my chain saw modifying what trees we have around our house; changing gardens frequently and more wine has just turned up to top up the cellar.

Say hello to the table for Pat and I
Kind Regards

“who are this hairy bunch”

SATURDAY 2nd JUNE 2007
DHL Bangkok Lions RFC proudly present the Standard Chartered Rugby Dinner 2007 which will feature Jonah Lomu of New Zealand and Steve Thompson of England along with our good friends and broadcasters Willie Lose and Justin “Sambo” Sampson. Profiles of each are presented below:
• Jonah Lomu is a former New Zealand All Black who played for his country 73 times included 63 test matches. Born in Auckland of Tongan descent he grew up in south Auckland and attended Wesley College, Phukekohe. Lomu burst onto the international rugby scene at the 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa and is currently the all time try scorer in Rugby World Cups with 15 tries scored during appearances in the 1995 and 1999 editions. He has represented several teams in the National Provincial Championships as well as the Auckland Blues, The Chiefs and The Hurricanes in the Super Rugby. He is currently making a comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant in 2004.
• Steve Thompson is a former Northampton Saints and England hooker who was a member of the sinning side in 2003. Having originally starting his career as a flanker, Thompson was persuaded by former Northampton, Scotland and British & Irish Lions coach Ian MeGeechan to switch to hooker. He was capped 47 times by England between 2002 and 2006 and twice by the Lions on their 2005 tour to New Zealand. Thompson suffered a serious neck injury whist playing for Northampton in January 2007 which forced him to miss the entire Six Nations. In April 2007 and at the age of 28 years old, based on medical advice he was forced to retire from all rugby.
• Willie Lose is a good friend of the rugby community in Bangkok visiting us frequently and assisting with the organization of the Bangkok International Tens in 2006 and 2007 and frequently arranging for rugby memorabilia for auction at junior rugby events. Born in West Auckland and having played for Auckland and North Harbour Rugby Clubs, he represented Tonga at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa. Willie spent six years playing club rugby in Japan for Yahama Motor Company. He is currently developing a broadcasting career with a daily show for Radio Sport in New Zealand sand has also been doing television commentary for the IRB on the Rugby Sevens circuit at Hong Kong, Dubai and Wellington and in 2007 has been part of the Sky TV NZ commentary team for Super 14 Rugby
• Justin “Sambo” Sampson has been with ESPN Star Sports for over 7 years as a rugby presenter / commentator. In November 2006 he established Sampson Marketing Services, a sponsorship consultancy, event management and corporate hospitality company which allows him time to concentrate on being a prominent speaker, master of ceremonies and auctioneer at various functions throughout the region, Middle East and Australia. Prior to joining ESPN Star, Sampson worked with the Singapore Rugby Union for over five years as National Coach which followed a three year spell playing and coaching for Kubota Corporation in Tokyo, Japan.
The evening will feature a traditional Maori welcome for Jonah from the Bangkok Maori Group and will include a four course meal and free flow wine and beer – all for a measly THB 2,800. The function will be held at the Imperial Queens Park Hotel on Saturday 2nd June 2007 from 7pm and there will be a number of items of rugby memorabilia available for auction as well as other exciting items which will be included in a raffle.
In advance of the Dinner, the four individuals above along with members of the Bangkok Lions Committee will on Friday 1st June undertake a number of community development initiatives including visits to schools and charities. On the morning of Saturday 2nd June 2007 they will hold a coaching clinic at Bangkok Patana School.
We’ve had some splendid dinners over the past few years and this please do your best to support this event and spread the word! Rats – please inform all at the Panthers and Panties. Jamster – please inform all the CRAFT.
We look forward to your support and should you have any questions please feel free to contact me.
Regards.
Bob Merrigan
Events Co-ordinator
Bangkok Lions RFC
T: +66 2 937 4940
F: +66 2 937 4952
M: +66 81 750 7267
E: bob@achmanagement.com

Raimon Land Chris Kays Memorial Rugby Tournament 2007

The eighth running of the Chris Kays Memorial Rugby Tournament took place this last weekend at the magnificent setting of The Horseshoe Point Resort, which despite the weeklong rain was in near perfect condition. With the sponsorship of Raimon Land the Tournament reception was held in fine style at the Northpoint Development and this set the tone for the whole weekend.

The Ladies Touch Tournament was very hotly contested both on and off the field tournament newcomers the Nomads Bullettes from the Philippines were particularly impressive and in their first overseas tour they finished as runners up to the very experienced Southerners Ladies from Thailand. The girls from the IPS Stars who are all studying at Physical Training College also impressed with their fitness and energy and were fine performers despite finishing empty handed. A mention should be made of the hometown ladies The Pattaya Panties whose numbers have been decimated by transfers and maternity calls, they played gallantly with many first timers in their ranks and improved with every game if they can keep this spirit alive then next year they could be vying for honours.

This years men’s tournament had less international representation than in past years. This is in part due to the rising popularity of the 10’s form of the came, the Jakarta 10’s being staged the same weekend. The quality of the rugby however was not affected, last year’s winners the Ratcha Navy returning to defend their crown. There were some very special displays during the weekend. All likely protagonists assembled at Horseshoe Point at 09:30 am on the Saturday morning and the organizers tent was besieged by team captains anxious to know when would be their turn to take to the green sward. Unflappable as ever tournament organizer Graham Macdonald with his dour assistant Wayne “ Blowfly “ Oganoski sorted out the schedule and some teams were chivvied along and others were told to be patient. Eventually everybody was calmed down and play commenced under the control of David Viccars and his merry band of referees including Peter Tann and Dougie Shearer from Hong Kong, Bruce Birchall from U. K., Chris Donovan and Dave Williams and of course our contingent of referees from the Thailand Rugby Union Khun Thamanoon, Khun Amorn and Khun Chaiyan. Testament to their performance is that none of them were drowned in the pool on Sunday night!

There were fourteen teams and Saturday’s games were played in a round robin format to determine the ranking for the various competitions. Apart from the one minor downpour conditions were perfect, hard and fast running rugby was the order of the day. The opening game saw, as is now tradition, the home team Pattaya’s own Panthers hosting last year’s winners. Jim Howard, the Panther’s chairman, kicked off the opener to start the 2007 tournament, and made way for captain Eoin Quirke to lead the Panthers onwards.

There were strong performances from the Southerners Gold, the British Club and the Ratcha Navy with Nang Len and the Tanner de Wit Nomads from Hong Kong threatening to gatecrash the cup party. The Bangkok Japanese and the Vientiane Buffaloes looked likely contenders for the plate along with the hosts the Pattaya Panthers.

After a hard days play, cooling off in the pool was obligatory and then it was off on the Quaic with all of the teams determined to outdo the others with their outfits, performances and drinking and generally to take a good look at the offerings of Pattaya’s famed nightlife. The center of the Quaic activities was Kilkenny Irish Pub on Walking Street and some 250 rugby players crowded onto the back patio ensured the day’s camaraderie continued late into the evening with old acquaintances renewed and many new ones formed. Fine performances were seen, but nobody could match the Nomads Bullettes. These ladies clad in their “ Babydolls “ were well choreographed and expertly led by Claire Barberis and Marl Bland. They were a delight to behold and will surely be back next year to defend their partying title.

As the order of play was in some doubt ?? everybody was at the Point early on Sunday some looking very much the worse for wear. Partying had definitely taken it’s toll in general but on the home side in particular (and these guys are supposed to know what it is all about!!) who were very short on resources. Tired limbs were anointed and strapped and the final stages of qualification finally got under way and many first time losers were surprised to find that they then had to play more games than if they had won. Again there were some superb performances and some very close encounters with not a few surprises.

In the Ladies Tournament the Southerners rolled over everybody much as expected and finally defeated the Nomads Bullettes A in a closely fought final. Special mention should be given to The IPS Stars and the Panties who both played their hearts out. We were also treated to a demonstration of Ladies contact rugby played between the Thailand National squad and a Bucks / Blacks combination from Singapore and there certainly was plenty of contact!! The ladies player of the tournament was Ludy Lacrosse from the Southerners.

Over on the main pitch the men ground their way through a very heavy schedule that finally weeded the weak from the strong. The Cup quarter finals saw some very good and hard games and eventually Ratcha Navy, Bangkok Bangers Colts, Kasetsart University and Southerners Gold progressed to the semi finals, which arguably produced the finest rugby of all with Southerners Gold sending the Navy to sea and the Old Bangers sending Kasetsart U back to the classroom. This gave us a cracking final in which youth and superior fitness eventually triumphed over age and experience. The people’s favourites Southerners Black, well mothered by Neily Weily emerging as Cup Champions.

In the Plate it was obvious that new team Nang Len and ex Champions British Club would set the pace however Tanner de Witt Nomads had other ideas and despite having to delay their departure to play in the final they dispensed with the British Club and then narrowly failed to capture the ultimate prize when they lost to Nang Len in a very tense and tight final.

The marathon of the tournament was to battle all the way to the Bowl Final and the semi finals of the bowl saw the eclipse of the hosts and the Bangkok Japanese leaving Southerners Black and the Vientiane Buffaloes to battle for the long distance prize and it was very fitting that the Buffaloes should emerge as the Bowl Champions.

After the final whistle had blown the presentations were made to all trophy winners by Jim Howard the Chairman of Pattaya Panthers RFC assisted by Henri Young the Marketing Director of Raimon Land.
The best Player of the Tournament was presented to Chris “ Wagga “ Doherty from the Southerners Gold and the Chris Kays Award for the person contributing most to the tournament on and off the field was awarded to Marl Bland from the Nomads Bullettes.

The organizers, Jim Howard, Eoin Quirke and Mark Coombs would like to extend a sincere vote of thanks all the players, supporters and sponsors - Raimon Land, MBMG International, AGS Four Winds, Hamptons International, G4Ssecuricor, Mackenzie Smith Law, Millfield School, K – Tech, Cranes & Equipment Asia Ltd., Contract Resources and of course Horseshoe Point for supplying the venue and the Pattaya Mail for printing the tournament programme.

landlord@jamesons-pattaya.com

The Answers for Quiz Last Week

1. In 2005, who won the Boat Race, Oxford or Cambridge?

A. Oxford

2. In which city was the 1948 Summer Olympics held?

A. London

3. In the July 2005 World Swimming Championship, who won the50m Butterly for Men?

A. Roland Schoeman