Tour report

17 - 21 May 2007: Ibiza

With the Vets proud tradition of tours, including trips in recent times to places such as Barbados, Fort Lauderdale, Benidorm and Northern Cyprus and the senior side having been more recently been to Canada and Benidorm, when it was suggested that we try and build on the team spirit bought about by the combined 1st XV and Vets trip to Jersey in Jan 06 by running one tour for everybody, the first thing we needed to do was find a venue that could offer the right combination of challenging rugby and a little night-life to keep the group entertained. Ibiza - ideal; a well renowned hot-bed of international rugby with a lively little social scene.

So 42 intrepid ambassadors of open, festival style rugby met at The King's Head in Bexley Village early on the morning of Thursday 17 May 07. Presentations of commemorative tankards were made to the two victorious captains on tour - Danny Mizen and Dave Price - tour polos and Sidcup Rangers playing shirts were distributed and at long last, the trip was on.

The journey out was long and arduous but the tour organisers had cleverly left sufficient time for tour members to get over the journey and for acclimatisation to the heady atmosphere of Ibiza by leaving three days clear of any physical activity ahead of the highly competitive matches that were due to be played on the Sunday.

Thursday night passed uneventfully and Friday was spent by a few over a glass or two of a most excellent Marques de Caceres Rioja Rose. Entertainment was provided by the annual ‘hobbit-off’. Although only two of the normal gang-of-three hobbits from the Vets took place this year, the remaining place in the contest was ably filled with an injection of young blood into the competition; no prizes for guessing the name of the current title holder.

Friday night was nominated as Hawaiian night and tourists gladly donned their flowery shirts before heading off to the West End for intellectual exchanges with the locals and holiday-makers. On occasions, some of the more adventurous members chose to imbibe freely of the local alcoholic speciality of vodka and Red Bull which strangely often seemed to be accompanied by free shots of Sambucca.

The West End turned out to be a place of special cultural interest where the locals and ex-pats alike displayed their sense of independence, quite often in a most revealing way. Many of the tour party found this whole display most intriguing and in an attempt to better understand the inhabitants, we elected to spend many hours in the vicinity joining in with local traditions.

Friday night, saw Es Paradis, a local hot-spot of some repute, open its doors for the first time in the new season. Ibiza Rugby Club had been kind enough to provide some free tickets to Es Paradis for our group. Take up of the offer was slow at first; perhaps some of the tour party thinking it might be an underhand ploy by Ibiza to wear out of a few of the players ahead of the big game. However, a few of the tour party were curious and on behalf of the whole group, unselfishly gave up their nights sleep to represent the club.

Saturday was cup-final day but before being able to fully relax we had to deal with the important business of the kangaroo court. A number of minor misdemeanours had been reported to the tour management and each case was heard with due solemnity and attention to tour tradition. In the best keeping of that tradition, reporting restrictions were imposed by the court and so no details of the accused, the charges or the verdicts can be reported here.

Saturday night slid slowly away without further event of any note, save maybe for the slut party and the fracas in the night club with the Glaswegian transvestite but the less said about those the better.

And so to Sunday, the big day, the whole point of coming to Ibiza. Thirty four fighting machines and their trusty companions turned up at Ibiza Rugby Club to show the locals just how the game should be played. Two games were played, each game comprising two halves of 30 minutes. Just for the record the results were:
First game: Ibiza 7 - Sidcup Rangers 28
Second game: Ibiza (with just one or two their Vets) 20 - Sidcup Rangers Vets 10.

Highlights were many and some can be seen in the photos below. But the most impressive aspect was the array of players representing the club in both games; senior players and Vets mixed to play both games. If the idea behind one tour for everybody had been to strengthen the bond between club members from right across the senior section, then we had surely succeeded.

Post match hospitality by Ibiza Rugby Club was excellent. Never have I seen a starter prepared in dish big enough to float a bttleship. Only after my third plateful of paella did one of the locals think to mention that the main course would soon be served.

Sunday evening gave us one final opportunity to take in some of the cultural highlights that the beautiful island of Ibiza and our resort of San Antonio had to offer. Back to the West End for a lock in – strange how these traditions straddle the continent. As night rolled back in to day, a valiant attempt to procure our only tour trophy was thwarted and we were left to come home empty handed.

In the best traditions of Sidcup tours, Airfix kits adorned the hotel bar as we left to make our way home. It had been a good weekend.

Huge thanks to sponsors of the tour kit: AVProduce (Dave Tasker), Invicta Energy (Tim Child), Day Interiors (Dicke Day) and Anderson North Partnership (Stuart Anderson).

In conclusion, I’d like to quote one member of the tour party as he so eloquently summed up the thoughts of many of the group towards this weekend and others like it:
“Touring! It’s why God made life.” Stumpy Hobbit, Ibiza, May 2007.