Touch and ‘Mo’ at the Rugby Club

(CRFU): The latest sporting triumph in the MOVEMBER 2012 series took place at the Cayman Rugby Football Club last Saturday as teams took to the field for the inaugural MOvember Corporate Touch Rugby Tournament. The tournament was organised by the CRFU and the money raised was their donation to MOvember Cayman 2012. MOvember is an annual charity event held in November with the aim of creating awareness and raising money for men’s health and prostate cancer. By growing a moustache for the whole month, guys or “MO Bros” as they are also known, raise money for the Cayman Islands Cancer Society.

The emphasis of the whole day was to have fun whilst raising cash for the ‘tash'.

Everyone participating agreed that both objectives were admirably achieved on the day. The last time this many moustaches were seen on the South Sound pitch was probably back in the mid-70’s when a chap sporting a fine ‘tash was considered quite the man-about-town. Those not growing a moustache for the whole month showed their support by taking a marker pen to their upper lip to draw on some pretty fancy MO’s and the women players joined in the fun and wore some fan’tash-tic efforts too. It was generally agreed that the Best Moustache of the Day went to Steve “the Baker” Henshaw who had shaved a wonderful Victorian-style handlebar MO much to the amusement of players and crowd alike.

This was not a normal touch rugby tournament by any stretch of the imagination as, in addition to their performance on the pitch, teams could gain extra points from the “handicap” system. With the aim of making the day as lighthearted and inclusive as possible, bonus points could be earned for having players on their roster with little or no previous experience of touch rugby, and also by availing themselves of the many and varied refreshments available on the day. Teams could even play their “MO’joker card” to try and get double points for a win on the pitch.

In total, thirteen teams resplendent in pink or yellow shirts adorned with a big MOvember moustache, took to the pitch in the morning and 35 games later one emerged triumphant. In between there were a lot of thrills and a few spills, or should I say spillages.

Pool 1 saw Walkers, HarMOnic MO’HO’s, Appleby, and BDO Cayman Ltd battle it out and it was BDO with their inexperienced but enthusiastic team that took top spot largely thanks to a great 4-0 win over HarMOnic.

In Pool 2, “Maples MO’ples”, Maples’ No Woman No Try (NWNT), DART and Queensgate vied for top standing. It was NWNT which took the spoils with three wins out of three.

In Pool 3, Fidelity MO’ving On Up, PwC, Genesis MO’joless, The Centurions, and MCS competed for the honours. Genesis MO’joless brought almost the perfect blend of touch rugby experience, seasoned party animals, and rookies to the game. They won the Pool and were also the only team to play their MO’Joker Card and win the double bonus points. The Centurions decided to leave their Roman armour at home and played all four of their games in a bit of a haze being driven back by the barbarian hordes in their pool group.

Mind you, the deadly dynamic duo of Justin Crighton and Damon Paynter made valiant efforts for their team as they probed hard all day to score. Never mind lads, there’s always next time!

If it sounds a bit chaotic then at the eye of the storm were the matchday co-ordinators, Karen Southway and Fiona Currie, two wonderful Celtic lasses who kept the whole day running smoother than Barry White drinking single malt in a silk kimono on a hover-rail. Thanks also to Boss Hogg Ltd who provided lunches for all and was invaluable inthe set-up of the tournament.

In the second round of matches, every team played again to determine which would go into the quarter finals. It was simply down to who had the chops on the pitch to score the tries to win. The rigors of competing in the more “social” aspects of the tournament earlier in the day clearly had an effect on some teams and there were some notable mismatches.

As teams progressed to the semi-finals it paired two of the favourites, NWNT and Fidelity. It was a tough match to referee and Stuart Geddes did a great job even though he seemed a bit confused as to where the lines were at times and at one point he even asked the crowd for a “thumbs-up-thumbs-down” verdict on a try – unconventional but totally in keeping with the enjoyment of the day. The eventual result was 5-4 to NWNT after a drop-off in added time.

In the second semi-final Walkers played DART, securing a narrow 1-0 win in a very tight match.

The final turned into a one sided affair with NWNT coming out 4-0 winners over Walkers. Both teams celebrated at the end for a day well and truly done. The result was largely inconsequential though because at the end of the day it was MOvember who came out as the real winners with over $4000 raised for the Cancer Society. Raising money for charity doesn’t have to be hard work and thanks to the CRFU’s Caroline Deegan, Heineken and all the teams and sponsors participating, this day was truly MO’vellous. We can’t wait ‘til next year.