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!