CONNECTICUT
GREY
RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
~ est. 1979 ~
Mountain Mist Outdoor Center
Meriden, Connecticut
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~ est. 1979 ~
Mountain Mist Outdoor Center
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The Hourglass September 5, 2000 A Publication of the Connecticut Grey Rugby Football Club WELCOME BACK So, hows waz youse summa??? I don't knows bout you, but I tinks it was a little dull, ya know jus hangin out with the wife and all. I really miss dose days when I was spankin da little tart, ya know, wazzer name, Amy sumptin. Hey, ya know that Mary Jo really ain't much ta look at deeze days since, well dat little tart tried ta pop er one. Anyways, so I was saying to my cuz the udder day, Hey, I sayz, it's about dat time when wheeze start playin ball, youse knows. An, I waz tinkin that mebee I should be runnin a little, youse knows, to gets in shape. Nah, I drink bout eight mebee nine boddles of wadder each day so's I must be in pretty good shape, eh? So waz yur excuse, huh? ANNUAL PRACTICE SESSION Or is dat mebee, semi-da-annual practice since wheeze do it twice a year? Well, it was a usual practice session with about seven or maybe eight Grey in attendance. Captain Kerr ran us through some of the usual ball handling drills – and tried to add one that is just a little too complex so early in the season. It's hard trying to come off suds and beaches and right into two-on-ones without being a little foggy. Nice hot day too which really made those of us glad we wore the heavy dark jerseys to run around in. After an hour or so of that crap the group broke up and a short game of touch took place. If you think we looked rusty on the ball handling drills, you should have seen us trying to pass and run around – if this keeps up, I'd bet the ranch on the Village Lion Kings this coming weekend with a big score. Once the exercise was over it was onto The Dublin for a few pops. But, we had also been informed of a little to-do over at Flynn's riverside hacienda. It appears that the Flynnster bought a new home in Wallingford (Tom, there other towns in Connecticut, you know) with a nice barn on the lot. So, it wasn't too far from the field and it was on the way to The Dublin and he did say he had beer so we took a little trip over. Nice place with an awesome barn for parties – just for future reference. However, we were the only ones there (doesn't say much for Flynn's long list of friends). So, we drank a lot of the beer and then when the guests did start arriving, we left. And, continued the drinking at The Dublin where, once again, we were the only ones there and once people started coming in, we left. FIRST GAME – VILLAGE LIONS THIS WEEKEND Hard to believe but it's true, the kids are back in school, the temperature has dropped into the mid-40's, the leaves are starting to change and dat little tart's been outta the big howes for bouts a year now. Ya know, I been tinkin, that little tramp was locked up for six years with a bunch of udder women so, don't youse tink she might be goin de udder way bout now? Tink bout it! Anyway, the first game of the season is this coming Saturday the 9th and due to scheduling conflicts with the PNA, we will be playing at the Woodhouse Road field in Wallingford. Game time as usual is 1:00 and directions are as follows:
A field crew will be required to arrive around 11:30 to help set up the field as well as lumber for the goal posts. For those of you who are planning on playing in this game, you must contact either John Kerr or Jim Facey to let them know of your availability. Don't need to have 25 guys committed (although for this team that would be a great service to the normal population) and then find 35 guys on the day of the match looking for game-time. But, why should things be different this year? Anyway, this is the first game of the season and we start out defending the sugar bowl which was unceremoniously removed from the shelf at The Old Dublin for display at the game. We need to make sure that little bowl doesn't leave the state! So, be there, get there and make sure you call to let us know you're coming and we'll see you then. Let's start the season off with a win. SARANAC LAKE UPDATE Although it was asked of those who went to Saranac Lake this year what items of importance were remembered and can be passed onto the membership – for those of us less fortunate or willing to make the trip but need to know what they missed. The answer is "not much." Actually, no one had anything to report other than they won one and lost one (which of course, we already knew that from the website). The win came against Union (New Jersey) and the loss was to the Myths and Legends – whoever they are. Sounds like a lot of fun again, sorry I missed this one too – NOT! My thought is that this is also on the list of scheduled tournaments that the Grey will attend next year? And, if so, is there really any more interest in going to this place than for just a handful of Grey? VANCOUVER VICTORIOUS OVER WHITE PLAINS What was billed as a nice run around for any interested Greys – that being to shore up the sides of an aged Vancouver touring side in a game against White Plains – as in actuality a game where the Grey had to supplant the Plains team. In any event is was a nice hot day on a nice hard field near the shores of the Sound in Stamford. The Vancouver team actually had more players than White Plains and most of the Grey that came to help out ended up playing for Plains. Hardy soles included Ed Carr, Trunksie, Guzzio, Tom Ward-McKinlay, Steve Jones, Tenenbaum, Bud Harvey and Tom Roncaoli (and I'm certain that I'm missing someone, sorry). All in all the game was fairly close until the final period when the Vancouver team went ahead with a score by Tom Roncaoli who I have been told ran over Trunksie for the score – that's just what I heard so don't get mad at me! Anyway, the game ended 5 tries to 3 for the Vancouver boys. The drink up was attended mostly by Vancouver and the Grey at a little place called Bradford's in downtown Stamford. It was here where someone from Vancouver put the bug in one of the Grey's ear about coming to Vancouver next May for an Old Boys tournament. Of course you realize that there are a couple of Grey who would do anything or go anywhere for a game and it just happened to be one of these two players that was informed of the games in Vancouver so, take it for what it's worth. I see that we didn't fare too well with a simple trip to Montreal so how in the hell is this going to work for Vancouver which is just a bit farther away? OH CAN-A-DAAAAA?..NO MON-TRE-AAAAAAL The one-time overly hyped trip to Montreal Canada to play in an Old Boys fest on the weekend of the Columbus Day looks to be off at the moment. The efforts to put together a nice trip has once again fallen apart as time has passed. Only this time there just weren't enough bodies to field a full side as time drew near. Although the bus is probably out, the President is proposing this be discussed this weekend after the Lion Kings match to see if anyone would rather just drive up for the weekend – in lieu of a bus trip. Even though this sounds like a plausible effort, it was the trip together on a bus that was supposed to draw us together as a team and travel en masse. Still, there is that section of the team that will do anything and go anywhere to play (previously alluded to in a section above), and it might be more practical for some of these to travel alone. However, without a bus it doesn't have the allure that it had when this was first proposed and I'm guessing that many Grey who wanted to take the bus will bag out if there is no bus – just a guess but I know of three (of the original 12 confirmed players) who will not be going without the bus. Soooo, it looks as if another trip bites the dust – and the big one. Now, for a piece of my mind – It's getting awfully painful and disappointing to have twenty players say they want to take a trip and are all gung-ho for it until it comes time to make the commitment to go. It is at this point when half of the "I wills" become "I can'ts" and this ends up making the Grey look bad for crying off another match and leaving us with an open weekend (called "Brahminitis" or "The Old Boston Wheeze") – which by the way, don't even try to fill 'cause if we aren't taking the wives on a trip to Montreal that weekend, we sure as hell aren't going to be allowed to go to Jersey to play Monmouth instead. OK, now I feel better. SCHEDULE As for the rest of the "scheduled" matches, the calendar looks like this:
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