Windsor at home

Grimsby Gentlemen First IV 15: Windsor Rouges 31

Venue: Alway Park - a little greener but more foliage on the sides.Kick off at 1:00 (one half hour later in GGT: the Grimsby Gentlemen Time Zone) The last time we played Windsor at home was May 29th 2010 and we won 22 - 10 with Scott Flemming (Flipper) refereeing.

Sponsors: 

Referee: Ian Stewart (not Flipper)

Weather: 24 degrees lightly cloudy, light wind (oh maybe that was today)

Attendance: Lots of chatter about the game in Grimsby, lots of interest, lots of casual walk ups, lots of people with dogs

.

Team:  1. Ross Matheson, 2. Brandan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington, 4.Jeremy Young, 5. Bob Mavro, 6.  Dirk Reichow , 7.  Martin Van Der Hurk,  8. Duncan Earl,  9. Derrick Weber, 10. Jamie Farell, 11. Sam MGee  12. Vic Blaney  13.  Heri Lewssoh, 21. James Vinneau, 15. Austin Marck, 16. T.J. Cole 

Thanks to T.J. for registering this late in the season. 

T.J.

Team huddle showing Duncan's new rugby league socks

 Game:

At 9 min ball lost in bushes, at 10 min ball lost in bushes, at 15 min ball lost in bushes but first ball found. The game basically goes like that we put a lot of pressure in the first couple of minutes with a lineout deep in Windsor territory but we were not able to score.  Windsor takes the ball down and at 11 mins scores their first try with a nice block of the conversion by James.  At 16 min the Rogues score again   and this time do convert.  The next minutes are a good game with Windsor playing the more kicking and attacking game.  We hold them out until near the end of the first half until Windsor scores in the corner after a penalty and some missed tackles.  

Half time score: Grimsby Gentlemen 0: Windsor Rogues 17

Then about 5 min after half time Windsor scores again to put them way ahead and it looks like the rout is on.  However at 10 min Duncan bowls himself over to put us on the board but Windsor replies about 5 min later to score again.  However back we come and a good drive from a lineout leads to another try by Webs at 60 min and again at 70 min we score a push over try with Webs touching down.   However at 65 min after an errant kick down the middle of the field, Windsor's fullback slots a dropkick from almost half way.  We don't see many drop kicks attempted let alone scored in our league.  

Final score: Grimsby Gentlemen 15: Windsor Rouges 31.

It was a good game for us after a slow start to score three tries to their two in the second half.  

securing

driving

almost through

almost eluding

almost scoring

It looks like their man on the match just edges out our man of the match.
(Vic claims that his glass is coming down and he won)

After the game an enjoyable first adult  flag rugby evening: (other pictures were a little dark)

From a new video from Evolve Functional Fitness:

"In rugby out strength is in our numbers, not  because they define us but because how we wear them defines the team.  In rugby the game is bigger than us all. "  So true. 

 Just in: Canadian sets beer mile world record:

On Friday, Canadian Lewis Kent set a new world record for the fastest beer mile with a time of four minutes and 55.8 seconds, according to the Telegraph. Kent’s record came less than 24 hours after Australian Josh Harris set a short-lived record of four minutes and 56.2 seconds, according to Sports Illustrated. Both times are awaiting confirmation by BeerMile.com, the governing body that sets the official rules for the beer mile.

A beer mile involves drinking a 12-ounce beer of at least 5 percent ABV, running a lap around a 400-meter track, and then repeating the process three more times for a total of four beers in one mile. Competitors who vomit during the race must complete an extra lap to qualify their results. 

Thirty-six days, one hour, fifty two  minutes , thirty-four seconds until the world cup. 

Twenty-five days, twenty hours, fifty- two minutes, thirty seconds  until school starts. 

Qnce again weirdness - fifteen days from the last spike we have 122 hits as of now (and probably more to come today) ; we had 15 hits yesterday. 

Burlington friendly at home

Grimsby Gentlemen First IV(some St. Kitts), 3 tries : Burlington Centaurs III, II and I, 6 tries.

Venue:  Alway Field (a little dry as the irrigation pump plugged with iron deposits - over only a few years- and the field has had no water for the last couple of very warm and dry weeks, they replaced the pump a couple of days ago but there is little water in the cistern).  It was nice to play at home after two long away games. Game time 7:00 on a Thursday.

Sponsors:

Referee:  Our own Bob Mavro who volunteered (sort of) instead of playing: as  there were no other refs available.  Great job , Bob

Here is Bob impersonating a Greek traffic officer. 

Weather: Actually a very nice evening about 28 degrees but a slight cooling wind.  We expected it to feel much warmer.

The sun sets over a scrum

Attendance:  Didn't count (free admission tonight)  but the parking lot was full and we had to park on the lawn and the road. then we usually do that).

Nick's Mom and Dad enjoying the evening

. Team:  1. Ross Matheson, 2. Brandan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington, 4.Jeremy Young, 5. Martin Van Den Hurk, 6.  Dirk Reichow , 7.  Nick Lord,  8. Jake Haynes,  9. Nick Lemieux, 10. Jake D'Achille, 11. Austin Marck,  12. Vic Blaney  13.  Heri Lewssoh, 14. James Vinneau, 15. Jamie Farrell, 16 Sam McGee (traveled from London again: thanks Sam) and a few Tigers (Jeff Innis,  Stephan Johnson, Ryan (first men's rugby game) and Ryan Coons) 

Jeff and his stepson(Ryan)  in their first game together

Game:  Against our usual form,  Grimsby scored early in the game with Vic breaking through and putting down in the corner at about three minutes (shocking our visitors and ourselves).  Burlington came back to score at about 10 min and again at 25 min.  However determined play near the end of the half led to a try by Nick Lemieux and the conversion by Martin.  

Half time score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 2 tries : Burlington Centaurs 2 tries.

About 10 minutes into the second half, Jake makes one of his patented breaks in our half and scores under the posts (without dropping the ball) to put us into the lead.  However soon Burlington begins to tire us out and despite highlight reel plays by our props Milli and Ryan and some aggressive play we get scored upon three more times.  

Final score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 17: Burlington Centaurs 38

Over all it was a very good game for a friendly and a good evening.  Thanks Burlington - it was much better than training. 

Vic putting down in the corner to the shock and awe of the Burlington visitors. 

Martin attempting the convert.

Jake scoring under the posts.

Special thanks to Bob (the ref) who donated his fees to the club (figured Greece did not need it), Ryan's dad who became the water boy, Mason and Drake (who started out being the water boys), Paul who became the beer server, Jennifer for the salads and Vic for his usual excellent pea-meal bacon sandwiches. Vic  actually managed to steal a visiting ball not by our usual way of putting it into bush but by kicking  it so it lodged in a tree, where it remains today.  

close up

Vic also gets a mention as first male to get caught using the women's washroom by a woman.  He was also selected by Burlington as man of the match and another first took place when he and their man of the match (12) tied on the drink off and had to do it again (They again tied but we decided they were doing it on purpose to get  free beer). 

Thank You

 to the Community for voting the 

Grimsby Gentlemen Rugby Football Club

as the Best (Diamond) Men's Rugby Club 

in the region

for the Thirty-Ninth Year in a row.

We are both honoured and humbled. 

Odd :On July 15th we had 135 hits on our blog which I mentioned last post was unusual but exactly two weeks later (July 29th) we had another 135 hits on the blog whereas the day before (July 28th) we had 4. 

Blast from the Past

July 2010

Blast from the past:

I am having trouble with Freddy's picture from a phone so I am adding this.

Last Wednesday we got 135 hits on our blog when we usually only get less than 5 a day. Scary

Chatham Away

Grimsby Gentlemen: 5:  Kent  Havoc 48

Venue:  Victoria Park in Chatham: It was Kent's family day and this was not a pool as hoped but a bouncy place.

Referee: Mark Glendan (again)

Even the ref needed physio help.  . 

Weather:  At 1:30 it was a warmish 33 degrees Celsius and by 3:00 it was 34.4 degrees with 99% humidity. A nice game to remember as being over.

A beard is nice to have (in the winter)

Attendance: Me (with my new camera) and Sam's dad..

Team:  1. Ross Matheson, 2. Brandan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington, 4. Dirk Reichow 5. Bob Mavro, 6. Duncan Earl, 7.  James Vinneau  8. Drew Redmond, 9. Nick Lemieux, 10. Jake D'Achille, 11. Sam McGee (back from a shoulder operation) , 12. Vic Blaney  13.  Heri Lewssoh, 14. Austin Marck, 15. Jamie Farrell, 16 & 17 Brendan and Zach (two players lent to us by Kent as needed subs. 

Brendan and Zach: first games with Grimsby

Sam's back (actually front)

Game: 
After a slow warm up due to the weather the game got going but it was a slog for both sides.  Dent scored at about 7 minutes and again at 14 but we did give some push back and after some good attacks on the Kent line, Jake made a break and was held up near the goal but managed to offload to Brendan for our only score of the game.  

Half time Grimsby Gentlemen 5: Kent Havoc 28. 

Second half was more keeping going that really being able to challenge.  A few came off with heat problems and injuries (and came back on again).  

Jake eluding a couple of Havocs

Brendan on his way to scoring. 

Duncan on a rumble.

Then its Heri's turn. 

Austin tries to find shade wherever he can

Thankfully it eventually ended and back to the excitement of the Saturday afternoon  meat raffle at the Chatham Legion (cheap beer - great fish and chips).  

Kent selected our 10 (Jake) as man of the match - I think we selected their 10. 

Jake showing that a year of university was not wasted. 

Went to the Pan-am sevens tournament last weekend and the Canadian women rocked. The men, although they eventually won the gold, should have not make it out of the quarter finals in the morning against Chili.
Chili played really well and scored with a minute left in the game to go up 7 points.  Canada was trying to score when the hooter sounded and then Chili self-destructed.  Two players went offside on purpose and got yellows and then Canada knocked on.  Should be game over as all Chili needs to do is get some sort of whistle but instead the Chilean player picks up the ball and  runs for the Canadian goal (ref plays advantage), then when challenged he tries to kick down the field. The  ball stops in the Canadian in-goal where Canada picks it up and runs it back (seven against five) to score (two and a half minutes of extra time) , convert and win in overtime.  If it had been soccer they would have had a commission to figure out why that happened. 
I don't know why CBC did not show the finals after all they showed the entire women's beach volleyball quarter final which took more time than 20 minutes (or so someone told me). 

Tats of the team (2015) .
Guess who. 

Blast from the past:

Freddy Sayers who is an Englishman., married to a Grimsby girl, and who works in Yemem or Oman or somewhere over there and bought 5 tickets to the Texas mickey bottle of rum we were raffling to support Erick who was making a trip to train with the Huddersfield Giants Rugby League team in England and  won the bottle. Freddy is seen here visiting the clubhouse last week to accept his bottle and to donate it back to the club (we have been using this bottle for about twenty years).  Thank you very much Freddy for the donation to the cause and the bottle.(Freddy had just gotten back from a trip to Cuba and rum was not his drink of choice at the time). 

F

Freddy Sayers

Bruce Away

Grimsby Gentlemen 7: Bruce County Barbarians 53

Venue:

Bruce County: Where windmills go for the summer. 

Tiverton District Sports Center :  Bruce has built two fields on the grounds of the Tiverton Arena and got a Trillium grant to put in irrigation.  They use the Arena for change rooms and beer ups. A nice facility.

Referee: Mark Glendon from London.

Weather: 24 degrees

Attendance:  only me again (water boy, assistant referee, chronicler, chauffeur  and booster)

Team: 1. Nick Lord, 2. Ross Matheson,  3. Jon Millington, 4. Bob Mavro, 5. Dirk Reichow 6. Brendan Sculland, 8.  Duncan Earl, 8. Drew Redmond, 9. Jeremy Inglis (just passing through), 10. Jamie  Farrell, e, 11. James Vinneau, 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Heri Lewssoh,  14. Austin Marck, 15.. Derrick Weber., 16. No one named Bruce (but they don't either) 

Game:  No pictures (remember the rain last week).  

The game does not start until 1:45 as their jerseys are not there (the irony is not lost on us).  Nothing much interesting happens from our point of view until at about twenty minutes after one of their tries we manage with the help of a penalty to get the ball into their end and as they try a clearing kick from their five it is blocked by one of their players and it falls in front of Drew who falls on it for his first score for Grimsby.  Webs converts to put us back in the game for a few minutes.  Ultimately they score 9 tries but their are times when we are playing well (not much offence) but spoiling their ball and forcing them to make errors.  They score right at the half  and at the end of the game but not until 22 minutes of the second half.  

Anyway it was an effort but we made the trip with 15 players.  We have only played in Bruce once before (August 21 2010)and then we only brought 9 players.  We played one other time in a fall league combined with St. Catharrines but did not send many more players. Since then Bruce had won the division, grown to two teams, played up in the NRU A, lost their second team a couple of years ago and dropped to the NRU B (with us) this year. 

Vic was awarded man of the match by Bruce which we won, and we had a beer can joust with Jamie and Vic (which we lost maybe -  the rules were not determined before the start).  

A week off for the Pan-am games and they another long trip to Chatham. 

Bruce at home

Grimsby Gentlemen 12: Bruce County Barbarians 21? (not sure how you get 21 when they scored 4 tries)

Venue:  Alway Field (nice and green and soft)

Weather:  Monsoons came early this year.

a little foggy and wet in warm up

Referee:  Ian Stewart

Attendance:  For the middle of a rainstorm and the distance there were a number of Bruce supporters, our were a little low (actually none except me)  but it always happens Pride Weekend especially the Dyke Parade Day.

Team: 1. Ross Matheson, 2. Brandan Sculland, 3. Jon Millington, 4. Martin Van Der Hurk, 5. Nick Lord, 6. Duncan Earl, 7.  Dirk Reichow  8. Vic Blaney, 9. Nick Lemieux, 10. Jake D'Achille, 11. James Vinneau, 12. Heri Lewssoh, 13.  Jamie Farrell, 14. A., Nother 15. Derrick Weber., 16. W. Hoever 16. No one named Bruce on our team.

Game:  

Only a few pictures as it was raining and wanted to protect the camera (I had to run touch and bring water also) but it didn't work and the camera got wet anyway. I also did not take notes and it has been awhile but I think the game went as follows.

 Bruce scored in the first few minutes as we only had 13 men on the field. Sometimes it is easier to get your team 222 km to a game on time than it is to get your team to the home field (but not really).  One of our players was forgotten to be picked up and another really did not want to play because of injury but eventually got on the field.  Bruce scored again near the end of the half but in between it was a pretty even game.

Half time score:  Grimsby Gentlemen 0: Bruce County Barbarians 10

In the second half, Grimsby started strong and with strong running by Vic (actually I don't know who but it is usually Vic) we scored early to get closer.  Then at about 60 min Jake made a great break from our own end and passed to Jamie who touched down in the middle of the posts and with the conversion we went ahead.  There was much consternation amongst the Bruce as they thought they were much fitter than us and then showed they were by scoring twice in the final ten minutes to end a good game.

Final Grimsby Gentlemen 12: Bruce County Barbarians   21? (they send the score in)

Well done Grimsby - the early try - try taken held up - we were missing some players otherwise it could have been an improbably victory.

Try held up first half. 

Well done Bruce for making it the whole way with supporters and they stayed at the beer up for a long time.

Next week we travel to Bruce.

Wilmot at home

Grimsby Gentlemen 33: Wilmot Warthogs 24  (Yesss!!!)

Venue:  Alway Field (a rare Friday night game) k.o at 7:25

Weather: Around 20 degrees with sun (shadows towards the end of the game: mosquitoes were also the big winners that evening:

Referee: Brian Quistberg: I got Brian his first teaching job.

Attendance:  A good number for a Friday - many might have missed the change in date.

Team: 1.   Nick Lord 2. Ross Matheson,  3: Jon Millington (40 min), 4. Martin Van Der Hurk, 5. Jeremy Young(40 min), 6. Brendan Sculland  7. Mark Woodgate),  8.Drew Redford, 9. Nick Lemieux, 10. Jake D'Achille, 11. James Vinneau (60 min), 12. Vic Blaney, 13. Cameron Ruys (60 min), 14. Jeremy Inglis (first game with Grimsby- refereed our last home game) , 15. Jamie  Farrell, 16, Dirk Reichow (40 min), 17.Dean Crozier (40 min), 18. Bob Mavro (20 min), 19. Heri Lewssoh 20.  Erick Alvardo, 21. Gareth Rees, 22. Al Charron, 23. Rod Snow

Jeremy Inglis (fist game with Grimsby)

Dean Crozier (first game in a long time with Grimsby) back from New Zealand

Game:  Our first win of the season was a classical tactical misdirection that led Wilmot to believe they could beat us any time anywhere and they probably can  (except on this Friday night). The Warthogs originally wanted the Friday night game (about three weeks ago) and we agreed but the week before decided they wanted to change it back to the Saturday.  This would have resulted in complications on our side with players and licenses and so it remained Friday night.  It takes longer to get to Grimsby than expected and so we started late and Wilmot did not have much of a warm up.  However this did not stop them from threatening at the opening kickoff (we always get scored upon in the first five minutes) because we did not handle the kick and they attacked on both sides of the field and only some desperate tackling stopped them. And then we went down the field bobbing and weaving and passing and offloading until Jake put the ball down for five and Cameron kicked after 7 min. An impressive start.

We again did not handle the kick off well but managed kept Wilmot out until about the 20 min mark, but ed the conversion was missed.  However we than took the kickoff down the field and played in their end resulting in Vic scoring. At 30  min we kind of lost concentration and on a quick tap Wilmot scored and converted.  Then just before half  Nick Lemieux spotted the ball down  in the endzone to increase our lead  (Cameron converted again).

Half Time Score: Grimsby Gentlemen 21: Wilmot Warthogs 12

It was an exciting game after the half with Wilmot trying to catch up and Grimsby trying to maintain the lead.  At at about 60 min, Cameron using his football skills, kicked the ball into the endzone and put it down for his first try with Grimsby (he also injured himself) .  Martin was successful with the kick. Wilmot came back with a converted try about three minutes later only to have Vic reply with his second try at the seventy minute mark.  One of Wilmot's quick young wingers made it closer with a final try but Grimsby held on for a bonus point win.

Wilmot asked for unopposed scrums as they had players who had not played in the front row before which took a little away from the game.

Scorers:                 Cameron Ruys            1T, 3C              11 points
                              Vic Blaney                  2T                    10 points
                              Jake D'Achille             1T                      5 points
                              Nick Lemieux             1T                      5 points
                              Martin Van Der Hurk  1C                     2 points

So our strategy paid off with a win.  This will not work in the next couple of games with Bruce because we play them at home first and it turns out they read our blog.

We raffled off our big bottle to help send Erick off to England for his Rugby League Camp with Huddersfield and managed to give him $350 and ten pounds Stirling.  The winner of the bottle was Freddie Sayers from Saudi Arabia where they do not drink alcohol, so this bottle which has been with the club for over twenty years may still remain with us.

Here's four of the boys who will be having a life-changing event soon.

Sorry, this is the picture they wanted me to show. 

A few pictures from Jennifer (she has about 400 from this game along on the facebook page)

Heri getting up to speed.

Dean at work

Cameron using his footballing skills to kick the ball loose.

Cameron using his rugby skill to dot the ball down.