Vintage Rugby

What’s News ?

Since launching Vintage Rugby 8 months ago interest from around the rugby playing world has grown rapidly. Recent promotional activity has resulted in many messages of good will and enquiries for more details about the Limerick Carnival. First entries to be confirmed include teams from Toulouse, New York and Cape Town. If you’d like copies of the official carnival brochure please email the Vintage Rugby Office – paul@vintagerugby.com

We’ve had very positive feedback about the choice of Limerick for the inaugural World Vintage Carnival. It is a very special place and we’ve chosen a carnival theme that we believe sums up Limerick – ‘LIMERICK VINTAGE RUGBY CARNIVAL – SOFT GROUNDS, FIRM HANDSHAKES’. We know you will love the Limerick experience.

Recent promotional activity during the national vets rugby tournament in South Africa and at the annual UFAR (French Vets Rugby Association) held in Nantes has resulted in a number of strong entry leads. Plans are now underway for a presence at the huge Saranac Lake Tournament in the USA in August.

We’ve received numerous messages from around the world but none as humorous as the one from Eamon-Dermot (Buck) Maguire who describes himself as a ‘lunatic (Irishman) who organizes the Irish Business Club in South Africa – because nobody else wants the job’. He went on to describe how he arranged a St Patrick’s night function for his members – “the hotel said their booze turnover on the night equaled 4 months normal trading. Besides most of the inebriated Irish usually passed out in the early hours of the morning and the security bundled them into the most expensive rooms to sleep it off. The next morning when the lads woke up they were glad that there was no trouble, they paid happily, sunk another pint, had a cracker of an Irish breakfast and went home. The hotels made a huge profit.’ Buck says he is the only professional rugby player coming to the Limerick Carnival – he claims professional status because he is the only one who has to pay a club handsomely to let him play for them! Needless to say Buck’s planning to bring a big group of his SA mates to Limerick.

Early-bird prize

All teams who enter for the Carnival before September 30, 2003 will be entered into a draw to win a fantastic prize – a medieval banquet at the legendary Bunratty Castle for 25 team members! This great entry incentive has been provided by Shannon Development. What more incentive do you need so get those entries in!

To sign up for the Limerick Carnival log onto www.vintagerugby.com and enter on-line.

A few words about Limerick

Apart from being one of the great bastions of rugby in the world County Limerick is a place of quiet beauty and rural charm. Here are 7 very good reasons to visit Limerick:

• Superb shopping

• The many fine pubs where the drink and food are good, the topic of conversation sporty and the sing-songs spontaneous.

• Historic places to visit.

• River Shannon water-side walks and the ‘Angela’s Ashes’ walking trail.

• The sports atmosphere – unrivalled anywhere in Ireland.

• Historic villages/areas to visit including Adare considered to be ‘Ireland’s prettiest village’.

• Great nighttime entertainment options – mediaeval banquets, pubs and traditional Irish music, greyhound racing and more.

Selections of tours and excursions available pre, during and after the carnival are being drawn up and will be available in October. There will also be some exciting options for partners.

Limerick’s Rugby Clubs

Limerick’s rugby clubs form the cornerstone of the city’s great rugby culture and their clubhouses are shrines to individual clubs’ achievements. There are 10 clubs in the city and most of them will be putting out the welcome mat to visiting teams during the carnival. In this and subsequent newsletters we intend to profile each club. First up is the Garryowen Rugby Club.

Garryowen is one of Ireland's oldest rugby clubs. Based at Dooradoyle in Limerick, Garryowen is the only club in the history of rugby football to have part of the terminology of the game called after it (‘A Garryowen’ – the origin of the internationally famous Garryowen kick (up-and-under)).

History

Garryowen were the first club to win the All Ireland League twice, and throughout its 119-year history the club have won the Munster Senior Cup thirty six times, making it by far the most successful club in what is one of Ireland's toughest and most prestigious competitions.

52 Garryowen players have represented Ireland throughout its history, with eight of these performing with distinction on various Lions and in many cases Barbarians sides.

Every position on the Irish team has been filled at some stage by a Garryowen player, underlining the club’s commitment to a balance of tough forward play with a very open running style.

Garryowen Football Club was founded in Limerick in 1884, and takes its name from the Garryowen area of Limerick. The word Garryowen - the gardens of John - relates to the association in the 12th century between St. John's Church and the Knights Templar whose house in Limerick was dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

The name Garryowen has come to symbolise Limerick and Ireland for Irish exiles all over the world. The marching song of the US 7th Cavalry is Hurrah for Garryowen and in the First World War, the Munster Fusiliers dribbled a ball shouting Up Garryowen as their war cry, as they went over the front into battle. The white five-pointed star on the left breast of the Garryowen jersey represents the then five mediaeval parishes of Limerick - St. Mary's, St. Munchin's, St. Michael's, St. Patrick's and St. John's.

Carnival Rules

The rules for the 2004 World Vintage Rugby Carnival were written by members of the World Vintage Rugby Advisory Board. The rules are listed on the website at www.vintagerugby.com and copies will be forwarded to teams as entries are received. Please read them carefully and let us know of any changes you would like the Advisory Board to consider which would make Vintage Rugby more enjoyable for you and your team.

Opening Ceremony

The Carnival opening ceremony will take place on Saturday September 4th beside the banks of the River Shannon. The ceremony will include an official opening of the Carnival and will be followed by a short march to the historic 13th century King John’s Castle. The welcome party will be held in the castle courtyard.

Mediaeval Castle Banquets

For teams (apart from the lucky winner of our early-bird prize) one experience not to be missed, that could become the highlight of the visit to Limerick is the Shannon Mediaeval Castle Banquet experience at Bunratty, Knappogue and Dunguaire Castles. The evening includes excellent food, fine wines and honey mead. You will be entertained with Irish singing with enchanting melodies to the music of harp and violin. A memorable occasion, full of fun and good humour – the ultimate team outing! For more details visit www.shannonheritage.com.

Need to talk to somebody about Vintage Rugby ?Our Rugby advisory board members are available should you wish to contact them direct to discuss any aspect of Vintage Rugby. Here are their contact details:

Ireland Bryan O’Neill: bryan@vintagerugby.com

Canada Dave Aitken: dave@vintagerugby.com

France Jean Francois: Monfraix jeff@vintagerugby.com

New Zealand Neil Blanchfield: neil@vintagerugby.com

USA Geoff Andrews: geoff@vintagerugby.com

South America Pedro Yachachury: pedro@vintagerugby.com

South Africa Mario Del Fante: mario@vintagerugby.com

Where to next ?

You may think it’s too early to be thinking about 2006 but here at the Vintage Rugby office the thinking is long term. We are committed to arranging Vintage Rugby Carnivals where YOU want to go so we are going to need some feedback very soon because we’d like to be able to announce the 2006 venue later this year. Watch out for our next newsletter when everyone will have an opportunity to nominate their favourite venue for 2006.

Finally we’d like to share some ‘craic’ (that’s Gaelic for fun) with you in the form of ‘sayings of great wisdom’. No doubt many of them started out in an Irish pub and we’ll have more in the second newsletter. Perhaps you could share some you’ve heard with us and we will produce a prize for the best contribution.

• ‘If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you’

• ‘The journey of a 1000 miles begins with a broken fan belt and a slow puncture’

• ‘Its always darkest before dawn, so if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it ‘

• ‘No one is listening until you fart’

• ‘Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you   criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes !’