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Tour Archives:
Tour 2004 (Alkmaar)
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The 2007
Tour | Leuven, Belgium
Full Tour Picture Gallery here
**More pictures from the
7's Tournament can be found
here**
 All 20
Broughton tourists have (just) returned home safely from their trip to the home
of Stella Artois, the scenic town of Leuven.
The trip, which began early on
Friday morning, was a tremendous success and the name of Broughton Rugby will be
remembered throughout Leuven & Brussels for some time!
Before we departed from
'Glasgow' Prestwick, we had a photo opportunity with one half of the 2006
X-Factor 'stars' The McDonald Brothers! Imagine the horror when he found
out that we were on the same flight as him and choruses of 'Shangalang' rippled
through the airport bar.
Highlights of the Tour
included our trip to
Brussels on Saturday and walking into the 17,000-strong Gay Pride Parade
whilst trying to find Sid & Reilly in the Irish Pub to watch the Hibs v Hearts
game:
There was sleep deprivation for a few
tourists who came back to the hotel at 8.30am on Sunday from the pub and got
their kit and played in the
Leuven 7's
(when we found the ground after the 20 minute taxi tour of Leuven!) but there
was certainly no shortage of sleep for one weary (or was it just dozy?) tourist
who would put a koala to shame with the amount of shut-eye he had over the
weekend.
And then there was the
Sing-a-long-a-Stevie Reilly session in the Beethoven Karaoke Bar whilst drinking
the bar dry of cherry beer!
The Tour will also be
remembered for the various renditions of the campfire classic Climb Sunshine
Mountain, particularly on the train coming back from Brussels!
Climb, climb up sunshine
mountain
Heavenly breezes blow
Climb, climb up sunshine mountain
Faces all aglow
Turn, turn from sin and
sorrow
Look to God on high
Climb, climb up sunshine mountain
You and I
The Rugby itself was memorable
for so many different reasons! Watching Doug and Dan take the field after
turning up late with Doug's 30 second cameo appearance ending in injury and the
confusing format of the Tournament which saw it running from 10.00 til 18.30!!
The initial round robin was played out and the winners of the groups - played in
another round robin session!
Having met up with a couple of
fellow Jocks on the previous evening in one of the many bars in town, we agreed
to bolster their 4 players to ensure they could enter into the Competition under
the name Northern Peasants.
Broughton foolishly made it to
the 2nd Round Robin of the main Cup tournament and on another sober day, they
could, should and would have scooped the 1,000 Euros prize!! Instead it
was the home side Leuven who won the cash and the Cup after defeating Anderlecht
in the Final (yes, after 2 Round Robins, the Tournament Organisers deemed it
necessary to have a Final!)
However, the success of the
day was the Northern Peasants winning the Plate, with Stan having played in all
Broughton and Peasants games - 10 in total. Not bad on 4 hours of sleep!
The main surprise of the
weekend was the fact that ALL 18 tourists made it up for the 7am bus this
morning! A truly remarkable achievement considering the lack of sleep had
over the weekend, including one member's marathon 40-odd hours without his head
hitting the pillow. What a tour legend!
Photos from the weekend would
have been in abundance had Scotty not lost his camera, which is a shame but cuts
legal costs considerably.
Potentially more stuff on the
tour coming soon, including the missing passport incident, but only after it is
cleared by the Club's Legal Advisors....
Check out what we were
(supposed to be) up to:
Intinerary
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