A Little "Rugger" Humor

My friends say I have a rather "odd" sense of humor, but I look on that as a compliment! When I find a good joke or story I like to share them. Found this online a few days ago and did some slight "adjusting" to make it fit my Club Team, River City Rugby. Enjoy!

I have been working on our Edinburgh Festival wrap up with photos. Will try and have it posted soon! Merry Christmas and happy New Years to everyone!!!!

A River City Rugby player is drinking in a New York bar when, he gets a call on his cellphone. He hangs up, grinning from ear to ear, and orders a round of drinks for everybody in the bar announcing his wife has produced a typical River City Rugby baby boy weighing 25 pounds.

Nobody can believe that any new baby can weigh in at 25 pounds, but the Dad just shrugs, "That's about average back home, folks, like I said, my boy's a typical River City Rugby baby boy.

Congratulations showered him from all around, amid many exclamations of "WOW!". One woman actually fainted due to sympathy pains.

Two weeks later, he returns to the bar. The bartender says, "Say, you're the father of that typical River City Rugby baby that weighed 25 pounds at birth. Everybody's been making bets about how big he'd be in two weeks. So how much does he weigh now?"

The proud father answers, "Seventeen pounds." The bartender is puzzled, concerned, and a little suspicious. "What happened? He already weighed 25 pounds the day he was born!"

The rugger takes a slow swig from his Leinkugel's beer, wipes his lips on his shirt sleeve, leans into the bartender and proudly says, "Had him circumcised."

Slabbs Was Here!

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since Marty "Slabbs" Rodgers made his way to our little city, but the memories will last quite awhile! Marty and Isaac Luten ( a Sydney OBD) arrived at our Clubhouse a little behind schedule, but it wasn't a huge deal. We proceeded to give Marty the tour of our team's Clubhouse, then spent a couple of hours looking back on our tour and consuming a few adult beverages.

As the afternoon/evening progressed we went to a bar/restaurant in town for an evening meal and more beverages, then to our last stop of the night, a bar that was having Karaoke (singing along to music). Needless to say, it got VERY interesting at that point! There was countless songs sung, dances danced, and a few too many beverages consumed by a few of our party.

One tradition of this particular bar is that if you sing three times you must kiss the stuffed moose head on the wall. We had Roger & Isaac perform this honorable task out of our group.

All in all it was a great night with our friend from Down Under. Slabbs said he had an amazing time, as we did, and can't wait until we meet up again. I'm sure if and when he makes it this way again, or we venture south to Australia again, the end result will be the same...good times with great friends. It's all part of our Golden Oldies Rugby world.

San Diego 2005, The Dogs first GO Festival

In the Spring of 2004 two senior members of River City Rugby, Ron Tjaden and Craig Skott sent out an email to our Club's current and former players to see if there was enough interest in forming a 35 years of age and older team to attend the 2005 World Golden Oldies Rugby Festival that was to be held in San Diego in the Spring of 2005. Once enough interest was shown, the actual planning started. A team name needed to be chosen first. After several suggestions were nixed, The Olde Barking Dogs was decided upon. A moniker was needed as well, so, "No Bite, Just Lick" was chosen. Team colors, t-shirt designs, pins, and other items were discussed and created over the Winter. Our team of 20 Dogs and several social members were kitted up and headed to San Diego for our first Festival!

The first Dog's roster was made up of  11 former River City Rugby players, and 9 additional players from teams we had played against at some point, or friends of ours. Once we had gathered in San Diego the week's festivities began with the Opening Ceremony. It was a very eye opening time for someone like myself who had never been on a tour of this type. That night is when my pin/badge trading addiction began.

I have compiled photo albums for all the trips The Dogs have taken, so here is the link for San Diego 2005 so you won't have to hunt on our Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercityrugby/sets/72157600228108057/

The opening ceremony for San Diego was fun, and when we marched to Petco Field for the party/food/fun segment, it even got better. here's a shot of some of us Dogs from that evening:

The following day was first match day. We were picked up from our hotels and taken to the San Diego Polo Club grounds where countless pitches had been set up. Our draw was a team from the Cook Islands. A great group of people who some of us stay in contact with to this day. They utilized their colored shorts very well, but as we all know, then end score is always the same, and it was a fun match for everyone. We gathered afterwards for the first photo of The Olde Barking Dogs with an opposing team.

Since it was five years ago, the details and schedule of the week kind of escape me. Not sure if it was Tuesday or Wednesday, but our Mid-week day out was to Mexico. We were taken by bus across the border for a traditional Mexican feast with entertainment to dine to. Several of us wandered down the beach to check out some of the beach clubs and have some refreshments before we had to load up and head back.

Our two remaining matches of the week were also fun for everyone. After the last match the majority of us were trading the last of our t-shirts and even our jumpers/jerseys. This group of Dogs all managed to trade for polos from the Cook Island team.

All five of these Dogs made the recent tour to Sydney for the Dogs third Festival.

San Diego 2005 was the beginning of my Golden Oldies Rugby addiction. Since then I started the Old Boys Clash back in Iowa for my home club and anyone over the age of 35 who wanted to learn what this style of Rugby is all about. In future postings I'll explain more about the four Clashes held so far, and the Dogs tour to Edinburgh for the 2008 GO Festival. Once again, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are enjoying my postings about Golden Oldies Rugby and The Olde Barking Dogs!

River City Rugby Football Club

I see it only fitting that I go back to 1972 and tell my readers here about how the sport of Rugby came to be in Mason City, Iowa, and how that occurrence had a direct affect on my life since I became part of the team in 1992. In a nutshell, here is the beginning of the story:

It all began with an itinerant Irishman by the name of Henry Bird. It seems that Henry had been hiding out in the rugged mountains of Missoula, Montana when a fierce Chinook wind swept him up in the Fall of 1972 and deposited him on the steps of the Globe-Gazette newspaper in Mason City, Iowa.


Henry had picked up the tools of the advertising trade while in Missoula, and he quickly asserted himself within the Globe. Ah, but recreation was a problem for the roving Irishman, and following a few short weeks of boredom, he launched a search for a more physical sport than girl chasing.

The immigre Irishman called on his European background and assembled a collection of brawny but idle ex-athletes from the dimly lit confines of local pubs. With only the minimum of practice and know-how, the novice ruggers attacked a simple four game schedule. The result? An 0-4 record.

From those first 17 players the history of River City Rugby began. The years have past. Over 275 players have donned the team's colors and represented our Club on the pitch. Through it all one expression has held true: "Since 1972 The Tradition Continues".

My introduction to the sport of Rugby, and River City Rugby occurred on a Fall day in 1991 when my best friend gave me a call to see what I was doing. It so happened that my schedule was open (I was recently divorced and living at the local YMCA. Yeah, I was free), so I rode with him to Iowa Falls, Iowa to watch him play in a Rugby match with River City. My first reaction on viewing the action on the pitch that day was "those guys are crazy"! Yet, just five short months later I would find myself in shorts and an old pair of football cleats attending my first practice in the Spring of 1992. Yes, an overused expression, but, as they say, the rest is history.

My first couple of years with the Club were as a seldom used reserve (which I didn't complain about), and as head grill master for the 3rd halves. Since my grilling of burgers and brats for the after match festivities were unparallelled, I was given the moniker "Burger Bill".

In 1994 I started to see the pitch a little more often. My team mates at that time were some of the best to ever step on the field of play wearing our team's colors. We battled with some of the best teams in Iowa and the Midwest, and for the most part, had very good win-loss records. At first I played flanker, then moved to hooker in 1995 or 96 when the player who played #2 retired. I played actively until the end of the 1998 season, then decided my 38 year old body couldn't take the punishment of competitive play any longer. There were younger, stronger, and much fitter players to step in, and they did just that. Here is a pic from my playing days getting ready to hook in a scrum. Our team is wearing the red/blue jerseys.

During my Active Side playing days I held the position of Club President for three years. I admit, and others will as well, I was better on the organizational side of the team than I was as a player! During my active side playing days I never recorded a try, but think I may have assisted on a few! One of my fondest memories of those years was traveling to Chicago for the Junior Cup Playoffs in 1993. Man, we had a great side that year, and only lost to the Cup Champions Nashville that weekend. Great weekend!

In my next post I'll look back on my first tour with The Olde Barking Dogs, and what the years following have been like. Thanks for stopping by!

Slabbs is Visiting!

A fellow Rugger, amazing Sydney tour guide and host, and good friend, Marty "Slabbs" Rodgers will be in the States later this month and the first part of November on business. He was able to set aside some time to visit our neck of the woods on November 5th and 6th, so we have set up a little party for him. It's going to be fun to see Marty again even though it's only been a month since we said our good-byes at the Final Dinner in Sydney on October 3rd. He's good people, and I can only hope we can do as well hosting him as he did for our merry band of travelers to his country during our tour. Cheers Marty! CYA soon buddy!

Marty is in the center in this picture

Looking Back...

As I reflect on my recent journey Down Under for the Festival I can't help but smile. I am currently in the midst of downloading over 1,500 photos to our Club's Flickr page, and at times while going through them, I smirk, and even laugh occasionally when I look at them. While in Sydney it seemed like the days just flew by. While looking at the photos, I recall just how much myself and my team mates were able to do and see during our tour. It's actually kind of amazing when you stop and think about it.

The countless new friends we made, the apparel and pin trading, the three fun matches we played in, the beers we consumed! There's just soooo much to reflect back upon. This blog was my attempt to hopefully capture some of what we were able to experience for everyone who stops here to read it. There's no way I can accurately detail everything, but hope I've managed to get the main theme of one of these tours across. to everyone. They truly are about fun, fraternity, and friendship.

I occasionally check my blog stats and am quite surprised by the amount of visitors this blog continues to have. To date, there have been over 1,000 views Needless to say, I am flattered and pleased that what I have posted here has been viewed by so many people from all corners of the world. It really is quite humbling when I stop to think about it.

My main goal of this blog was to keep family and friends up to date on my travels while on tour. That was accomplished, and much more. I think I'll continue to post in the future not just about The Olde Barking Dogs and our travels, but about my Club team here in Iowa. I have been with River City Rugby since 1992, and trust me, I have lot's of memories and photos to share from those 18 years! We'll see which way this goes in the weeks and months ahead.

Once again, thanks for stopping by, and I'd love for people to leave some comments about what they think of this blog, and maybe where they are from and how they heard about it. My curiosity has been peaked on that front. Cheers everyone!

Getting More Pics Posted!!!

I now have about 500 or so pictures from our Sydney tour posted to the Club's Flickr page! I think there are about 1,000 or so left to go, so keep checking back for new pics when they get downloaded. Cheers, Bill

My Blog Stats

Wow, I've really had quite the readership for my blog. Here's the stats to date:

United States 660 Australia 132 Russia 19 Canada 18 Lithuania 16 South Africa 16 United Kingdom 12 Netherlands 4 Brazil 3 Cook Islands 2

Link to Sydney Photos!

I have managed to get over 100 out of at least 1,000 downloaded to my Club's Flickr page. This link will take you directly to the Sydney Collection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercityrugby/collections/72157624984031261/


Save it to your favorites and stop by there once in awhile to check for new photos as they get added.

Cheers!

I'm Home!

Wow, what an amazing tour. I arrived back in my hometown of Mason City, Iowa with my team mate and roomie in Sydney, Al Hayward about 4:00 p.m. on Sunday after another lovely group of three flights. All together, we had about 18 hours in the air, but only traveled less than seven hours by the clock. Jet lag seriously kicked my hiney yesterday afternoon (Monday) at work, but I managed to get a couple of reports done and caught up somewhat on the pile of paperwork on my desk that awaited me.

These tours are have been quite the adventures for me. Since the first one in 2005, I have been lucky enough to meet so many great people that I now count as good friends from all corners of the world. I really don't think there is another sport of any type that can result in that.

In the next week or so I will go through the countless photos taken during my tour and get them set up into a collection on my team's Flickr page. When that project is complete I will post the link here for everyone. Here's a couple from the day of our last match on Friday:

Stop back by this week as I'll add some final thoughts on my tour, and also to get the link to the photo collection I'll be posting. Thanks again for taking this journey with me! I can't wait until the next one!!

Last Match Day

Well, today was our last match day, and I'd have to say, the best one of the week. We played a team called the Downunders, and it was fun on all fronts. Clean play, good sportsmanship, and massive jersey trading after the match. I was fortunate enough to notch a try due to the unselfishness of my team mates as the final play of our match! No new injuries to report, so that is always a big plus.

Our match was at 11:15 a.m., so we had ample time the rest of the afternoon to mingle, trade, and have a generally fun time. Since we had our team dinner scheduled for 8:00 p.m., the last seven Dogs caught a bus at 6:00 p.m. heading back to our Hotel. We sat mostly in the front, and a few other teams were in the rest of the bus. As we began our journey The Dogs sang a song, then the rest of the bus sang one. This continued all the way back for a half hour. Great fun an fraternity!

The Dogs gathered for our week end team dinner at a nice establishment on the Wharf. A sociable two hour affair ended with week end awards being handed out. Several of us then walked around the Wharf back towards Star City. A very relaxing and enjoyable stroll.

Tomorrow is free for us to do last minute things before we have the Closing Ceremony at the Convention Center tomorrow night. That promises to be an amazing end to an amazing week. On Sunday we will part ways and head home.

I look back on this tour with a smile. It's been mind boggling what this 50 year old Iowa Rugger has been able to do and see in 10 short days. I know I haven't been able to post as much as I would have liked, but there has been so much to fill the days. Keep checking in here over the next few weeks as I compile photo albums for each day of our stay and post them to my home Club's Flickr albums.

I will put a few up tomorrow, and post a final time before I pack my bags and head Northeast. Thanks to everyone who has followed me on this journey! Time to hit the rack and get ready for my last full day in Sydney.

A big shout out to the Eastwood Charcoals and all the other teams who treated all of us Dogs so well during our stay here! It's true what they say, Rugby is a brotherhood unlike any other around the world. Thank you my brothers. Until we meet again down the road. Cheers!

The Opera House and Harbour Bridge

Today we had the option included in our tour package to take a day trip out to the Hunter Valley wine country. My two roomies and myself decided to opt out and see some sites in Sydney we hadn't yet visited. This morning we caught a taxi to the Sydney Opera House to tour it. We paid $35.00 each and joined the 12:30 tour. I have to say I was very impressed by the history and details of this amazing building, as were my team mates. The tour took about an hour, and when completed, we stayed around for awhile getting some pictures.

Since we were down at The Rocks, we decided to walk over to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and at least go up in the Pylon. Well, I'm pretty sure we got in at least four miles of walking between the Opera House and the Bridge due to the fact that we were too smart to ask for directions. It was kinda breezy and cold as we walked on the pedestrian walkway to the pylon we could walk up. The long walk and numerous steps were well worth the effort as the views were amazing.

We arrived back at our hotel around 5:00 p.m. and hit the whirlpool again for a little while. Earlier in the week we had bought a Kangaroo roast at the grocery store and decided to have that for our evening meal. It was pretty good! The same day we bought the roast we had bought a case of beer. Since we will have little time over the next few days to empty the fridge we invited Clancy and Isaac up to help us get rid of the beer. Mission accomplished!

Friday is our last match day, followed by our team dinner in the evening. Saturday will be free during the day, with the closing dinner in the evening. So, much still to come in the next couple of days for us Dogs. Will update as often as I can!

Tuesday-Wednesday Update from Sydney

Greetings all! It is about 10:00 p.m. Sydney time on Wednesday night as I compose this blog segment. Quite a few of my fellow Dogs are in the midst of our "Pub Crawl" at some of the area adult drinking establishments. I stayed with them for three, but am kinda hurting due to a pretty nasty rib bruise/crack from Monday's match. It's all part of this sport  I love though, and this too shall heal and pass. On to the update!

Tuesday

Tuesday was a free day for all of us 5,000 or so ruggers. The three inhabitants of room 967 here at the Star City Hotel and Casino arose sore, stiff, and feeling what Father Time has bestowed upon us. We had some breakfast, then went up to the pool/spa area for some much needed relaxation and whirlpool time. It was another beautiful day here in Sydney, and we basked in the sun for about an hour after soothing sore muscles in the whirlpool.Next on our agenda was a little stop at the mall by the Harbour for a few things. While there, my lovely, and very understanding wife of 15 years, Kim, made her daily call to me at our prearranged time. Seems things are going well on the home front, and our feline child is adjusting quite well without me. What can ya do?? I love making these trips with my mates, but hope she will be along for all the fun and Rugby for one of the next ones with me. (Miss ya Babe!!)

Our crew of three had penciled in a tour of the Chinese Gardens while we were out and about, so headed that way after some lunch. En route, we stopped to watch a street performer on the Harbour plaza by the name of Psyco Sam. It was an interesting performance, and at one point became even more interesting when he convinced myself and another gentleman from the audience to assist him! Luckily, my sore ribs weren't too stressed from holding some stabilizers for his juggling platform.

When my twelve minutes of fame in Sydney had passed we continued on our journey to the gardens. I was pleasantly surprised at the relatively cheap $6.00 fee to enter, and the three of us wandered around this beautiful area for an hour or so. This is a MUST DO if you ever get the chance to visit Sydney for sure!In the evening almost all of us Dogs were picked up by bus to attend a Harbour Dinner Cruise, and option available through our tour package. The three hour event was rather interesting, and definitely fun for our group. Passing under the Bridge, and viewing the skyline of Sydney was very cool. When we docked back at the wharf it was only a short walk back across the pedestrian bridge towards our Hotel. Since I was still feeling a little sore, I opted for some Extra Strength Tylenol and hitting the hay after donating $25 in the Casino.

Wednesday

This morning dawned kinda of windy, partly cloudy, and cool. Our match was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., so we had some time to get ready to go. We had to call the maintenance department of the Hotel as our washer was leaking, and the dryer had quit all together. They were in our room, and back a short time later with a new set for us! Now that was service at it's best. We boarded our bus and were on the way to the pitches around 12:15 p.m. or so. Our opponent for the day were the Southern Australia Crippled Crows, a fun team to compete against for sure. To start the match off both sides of players met at midfield, took a knee, and toasted each other with a shot of port supplied by the Crows. Not THAT is how you start a Rugby match!

As the Dogs were shy a couple of players due to minor injuries we picked up six or seven extras from the sidelines and pre-arranged discussions with some other players in pubs during the week This is a huge plus for teams that travel light, or have injuries that prevent them from having a full side. I was limber enough to don my Dog Costume for the second time and played about 40 minutes of the 60 minutes over three 20 minute halves. An accidental shot to the exact spot on my ribs I'd injured Monday had me on the sidelines for the last 10 minutes of the 3rd half. It was fine though, I'd had a good time while I was l kitted up and playing. As usual, the final score was a tie, and hand shakes and pats on the backs followed the final whistle. Our very hospitable opponents presented us with a case of the grape upon the match conclusion while we exchanged gifts. An amazing gesture on their part for sure, and well received. Well done Crocks!

We returned once again to the recreation tent to have some food, and of course, a few beverages. The trading of pins, t-shirts, and other items was once again being done at a fast pace. As I have a vest I display all my pins on, I can more or less stand in one spot and people interested in trading just come up to me. I think for the week I am currently at 32 new pins for my collection, and my vest is getting VERY heavy.
I spent a little time with Ron Harding of the FBI (Farm Boys of Indiana). A few of my team mates wandered over, and we had a cold one or two with him and several of his tour mates. Marty "Slabbbs" Rodgers appeared a little later after his match, and we went into the covered tent area to hang out with him and members of his team the Eastwood Charcoals for an hour or so. We have decided to adopt the Eastwood Charcoals as our "Sister Team" of Australia. What an amazing group of folks! More trading, a few more cold ones, then we were off on the short walk to catch our bus back to the Hotel to get ready for our pub crawl. A word of warning about those red plastic things(emergency window breakers) attached to the wall of these buses. Don't take them out of the holders because an alarm goes off!! (NO, it wasn't me!)

That's about all I have for the last two days. I currently have over 1,000 pics saved to my hard drive to compile at tour's end, so once I'm home check back here once in awhile to see if I have posted the link to the albums!

We have our day out to the wine country tomorrow, so that should be interesting. Last day of Rugby is Friday. Will post another update when I can. Cheers everyone!

(these pics are from Monday's match. I still have to download Wednesday's)

Two Day Update

Greetings all. I am doing this update on Monday evening, and am hoping to get it posted before I crash out. A little sore after our first match of the Festival today vs the Antediluvians from Canada. I am getting ahead of myself though, as we had the Opening Ceremony last night.


The Dogs gathered in the Hotel lobby Sunday afternoon ready to get the Festival started. We were bussed to Town Hall in downtown Sydney. The bus drivers earn every cent they make for driving here. I could never imagine trying to navigate these narrow, curvy streets with those large multi-passenger things. Once downtown we formed up in a pretty good spot, right in front of the speakers podium on Town Hall steps. As in the past, the trading began with other teams for pins. I think by the end of the night I had about 18 new ones.

The teams were spread out over about five blocks going in both directions from where we were. A team on one end started a wave somehow, and it went through the entire gathering of us 5,000 players at least four or five times. Pretty neat. When the speeches were complete, and the Official Flag passed onto the Sydney reps, we started our march to the Convention Center. Try to imagine 5,000 players and supporters walking down the streets for 20 minutes on our way to the party.
When we arrived there was a slight delay for some unknown reason, but we were all let in to enjoy the free food and drink for four hours. The live band was excellent, and the costumed entertainers on stilts were a fun addition as well. I spent a great deal of time wandering the Hall looking for friends from past Festivals, and also making new ones during my pin/badge trading. Of course, there were beers drank during the evening, and I'm pretty sure everyone got their fill and more.(yeah, right!)

A group of us walked back towards our Hotel at about 10:00 p.m. when the party was closing down. We were about a block from our destination when shouts of "Hey Dogs" were heard from a corner pub across the street from where we were waiting for a stop light. Three of our team mates were at tables outside having a nightcap, so we had to join them for a couple. Well, a couple turned into several, and we ended up staying there until about midnight, a decision a few of us paid for in spades at our match today.

FIRST MATCH DAY-MONDAY
As stated above, our first match was against a Canadian team. We were picked up by our bus at 10:45 a.m. and were taken to Centennial parks, a huge park complex about a 1/2 hour drive from our Hotel. After getting registered, we were shuttled to our pitch where we were to play. Kickoff was at 12:45, and The Dogs took the pitch with a couple extras on the sideline to spell us when a break was needed. I was in my full dog costume, which everyone thought was crazy due to the warm temps, but even though I was kinda hot during the match, I thought it was well worth it. The teams both played well, with lot's of action, some nice runs mixed in, and actually, a good deal of hard hitting. The injury report isn't complete yet, but Bob White tweaked a knee, one of my roomies, Al Hayward has a very sore hip, and I think I may have cracked a rib or at least bruised it pretty good. We will see how I heal before our next match on Wednesday.

One of the good things about these Festivals is that there is never a drought of players to fill in. Ruggers from different teams just show up, grab a jersey, and start playing with anyone who needs them. A great way to meet even more players from around the world.

As in all Golden Oldies Rugby matches, ours ended tied at the final whistle. The exchange of gifts between both teams was performed, and we all made our way back to the Festival party area. Trading then really began hot and heavy. I did two trades for t-shirts, and also collected about another 15 pins. Dave McDonald had promised me some very nice ones, and I want to thank him here for feeding my addiction with six or seven very unique and hard to acquire pins. Cheers Dave!

Since I was playing, and so was Al, the main photog, I don't have any action shots of the match to post at this time, but will get them from our fans on the sidelines in the next day or so.

We stayed at the grounds for a couple of hours, then caught a bus back to our Hotel. Al and myself headed up to the whirlpool for some much needed RX. The results of the 30 minute soak were favorable for both of us. Now, it's time for a "down night", just kicking back and relaxing. Once I post this I am going to hit the rack and get some much needed sleep. Though extremely fun, these Festivals are hard on us old guys ;)
Tomorrow is a free day, with our team's Harbour Dinner Cruise scheduled for the evening. Gonna sign off for now. Thanks for stopping by!