The 2009 veterans 10s teams

Possible Silver Pier Semi Finalists

Wooden Spoon

Wooden Spoon is rugby's charity supporting mentally, physically and socially disadvantaged children and young people. Spoon has committed to over 13 million in spending for projects for children and young people. It has organised over 2,000 events and had over 25,000 ties worn by its loyal members and supporters. Wooden Spoon's record in the Amsterdam Sevens Veterans 10s is two visits, two tournament wins. They beat Corso Marauders Vets in the 2007 and 2008 finals, it was 28-7 last year. However, their toughest match was against Millfield Old Boys Vets where they scraped through 19-12. Both Corso Marauders and Millfield Old Boys will be there again this year to stop Wooden Spoon making it three titles in a row.

Corso Marauders Vets

Marauder Vets were formed in 2003 with players too old to play for the main Corso Marauder 7s team! In 2006 Corso Marauders Vets won the inaugural Amsterdam Veterans 10s tournament and if you go into Caf Corso you will see a very large picture of the winning team on the wall. In 2007 they lost in the final 28 - 5 to Wooden Spoon and in 2008 they improved very slightly on that by losing 28-7 to Wooden Spoon in the final. They will be looking for even more improvement this year. The players this year are from Camberley, Gloucester, Leeds and British Army and we fully expect them to be in the final again.

Probable Silver Pier Qualifiers

Millfield Old Boys Legends

Millfield's Legends (Vets) squad will be captained by Ian Peter back for the second year. After their experiences on their first visit as Veterans last year where, with only seven fit players they narrowly lost 19-12 to two-time tournament winners Wooden Spoon in the semi-final, they are pulling out all of the stops to win the title this year. They will strengthen and deepen their squad with the addition of another 6 or 7 Old Millfieldians including, hopefully flying in Paul Spyropoulos from Muscatt and persuading the School's Headmaster to release John Mallett, now a Sports Tutor at School, to strengthen the front row. Millfield are our tip this year to break the Wooden Spoon, Corso Marauder monopoly on the Finals of the Veterans 10s. But, whatever the results, they will enjoy the chance to meet up with old friends, including Rod Speed and Andy Fields who played top level rugby (selected for England U18 in 1988, playing for Nottingham at the top level in England and playing for Hong Kong) but broke his neck in a motorbike accident in 2001. Although he uses a wheelchair he has taught himself to walk (after a fashion), has completed a degree, become a teacher and coaches the school rugby side.

Dutch Rugby Veterans

This team is made up of the "ouwe ballen" (literally "old testicles") who play for clubs such as Castricum and Alkmaar in North Holland. There are no less than 3 of the Marcker clan from Castricum playing. Many of the players have played in the Amsterdam Sevens before but a long, long time ago. On their first visit in 2008 they made the semi-finals but were comprehensively beaten by Corso Marauders Vets 31-7. They could make the semi-finals again but will probably meet Wooden Spoon, Corso Marauders or Millfield and will lose. Easily the best Dutch Vets team last year.

Die Bosbokken

Die Bosbokken are from Hilversum and they have played in every Amsterdam Veterans 10s tournament and even turned up the first year we tried to run the veterans tournament and we had to call it off because there were a number of last minute call-offs. For the non-Dutch, Bosbokken means the wood goats. The Dutch often use Goat to refer to older men when they are not referring to them as old testicles (ouwe ballen) or old penises (ouwe lullen). Last year they finished third in their Saturday Pool and lost out to Bahrain Vagabonds in the Veterans Heineken Boot semi-final, losing 34-0. We expect another third place this year.

Probable Heineken Boot Qualifiers

AAC

Hosts AAC will again be competing but unlike previous years they will not just be making up the numbers. Many of the AAC Vets played for Bahrain Vagabonds Vets in previous years. The Credit Crunch has impacted the "wunch of Bankers" from the Middle East and Bahrain Vagabonds will not be here this year. Bahrain's loss is AAC's gain. We expect them to be far more competitive than their single win (10-0 against De Bosbokken) and a 21-0 Boot semi-final loss to Haarlem last year. They may be pushing Dutch Rugby Veterans and Haarlem for a Veterans Silver Pier semi-final place.

Haarlem Ibuprofen Veterans

A couple of Haarlem players played with AAC Veterans in 2007 and persuaded a number of their older team mates this was a good way to work up a thirst in 2008. They obviously enjoyed themselves because they are back again for 2009. Last year they won the Veterans Boot (for teams finishing third and fourth in the Saturday pools), beating AAC 21-0 in the semi-final and Bahrain Vagabonds 36-7 in the final. They will be competing for the Veterans Boot again this year we suspect.

Krasse Knarren

The Krasse Knarren are the veterans team of the Pink Panthers club from Driebergen, to the east of Utrecht. First time visitors, we are not sure they know what they are letting themselves in for. They will be doing well to qualify for the Veterans Boot.

Dwingold

Dwingold is the veterans team of Dwingeloo, a small town just over 100 kilometers North West of Amsterdam. They play in the third level of Dutch rugby but they feel their veterans have a chance to do well. We think they may have underestimated the quality of some of the teams in the Veterans 10s.

t Gooi Oude Meesters

't Gooi is an area about 20 kilometers South East of Amsterdam including Hilversum, the centre of the Dutch TV and Radio industry. The 't Gooi club won the 15-a-side title in the Netherlands this year in the play-offs after coming third in the league table. But don't worry too much, none of these players were in that team. The Oude Meesters (Old Masters) is their Vets team and many of their players still play regularly in the 't Gooi third team. This is a real Vets side with some players well into their 50's. As a result they could suffer against some of the top Veterans sides but we expect them to finish somewhere in the middle, the Veterans Heineken Boot. You can find more information on http://gooi3.blogspot.com/