Tanglin Rugby Club - TRC

Ladies & Gents,

Firstly, apologies for the last minute relocation of the touch part of the TRC Cup to the magnificent (and dry) facilities at UWC East, causing no small measure of confusion, families being rent asunder, and lots of unplanned bus and car journeys, but once the Tournament Director and organising committee had ruled that our allotted touch pitches were unplayable, and worse still with the boys matches being played on them being more than an hour behind schedule, we had no other choice but to up sticks and try and run it elsewhere. Either that, or cancel the touch comp completely. But with the obvious excitement of the girls over actually playing some competitive touch at last, and more importantly out of respect for the teams that had travelled down from Malaysia, we could not let that happen.

So off to UWC East we went (which luckily the organising committee had reserved as back-up). All we had to do was move 12 teams, 150 girls, refs, pitch marshals, trophies and as many parents as we could 20 miles to the East. We even managed to cobble together a make-shift F&B outlet. The only thing that got left behind was the raffle ticket seller!

That this happened at all was a testament to the willing help and flexibility of a lot of people:

Organising committee (for having the foresight to have a spare location up their sleeve)
Jackie Barkham for conjuring up three buses out of nowhere
Tony Betteridge and his bus-rescue team for cutting said buses out of the jungle, having got stuck round the back of Turf City
Team managers & coaches for somehow getting the message out to all parents that we were moving the tournament. Every single team-member made it to UWC East. We didn’t lose anyone due to the inconvenience – truly amazing.
Junior refs - Megan Burton from TRC; Maddie, Zarima and Lizzie from Centaurs. These girls have recently taken the first level Touch Singapore course, and this was their first major refereeing experience, and it was great to have them.
Senior refs – Chloe Spooner & Simon Roberts from TRC; Sophie Sorgo and Claire Devine from Centaurs. All volunteers.
Pitch Marshals and scoring – Debbie and her team of little helpers, John Stonham, Ben Paul and Jonathan Cocks
TRC Vice-President Andrew "Spoons" Spooner, who having already spent all day organising the main tournament, hopped on his little scooter and came up to UWC East to watch the finals and make the presentations.
The satellite TRC Café ladies, Tracy B, Suzy G & Sandra S. How that managed to organised I will never know.

A huge thanks to all of them, and if I have left anyone out, my sincere apologies.

However, I feel that the biggest thank you must go to all of you PARENTS, for somehow coping with the sudden late shift in location, juggling children and cars, and still turning up in large number to UWC East to cheer on the girls and help out. Without your understanding, forbearance and willingness to completely change your plans for the afternoon, the tournament wouldn’t have happened. THANK YOU.

While it was great that TRC teams won all three age groups, and won the plate in the U12s, the major result was the fact that we actually got to play some competitive touch at all. Overall, the game of touch was a worthy winner.

Cheers, and back to normal training next Sunday, assuming the TRC pitches have made a miraculous recovery.

Steven Black - Head Coach, Junior Girls Touch