As a veterans organisation the club goes from strength to strength and is beginning to take a more prominent role locally with games being played at Victoria Stadium and DTC. Probably the most memorable game being that against the Royal Marines select XV Veterans team in autumn of last year which included former Internationals and British and Irish Lions players. More recent games have been played against the Costa Barbarians, and a 3 way tournament including Dover RFC and Durham RFC on the Devils Tower Camp artificial surface.
All of the above mentioned games have proved invaluable to the profile of the Gibraltar organisation, which seeks to promote veterans rugby and attract teams from far and wide to our shores, which have even included Stade Francais Veterans.
So just what is Veterans rugby; well it is simply an opportunity for those aficionados of the game to continue to play, long after retirement (in some cases long after retirement). The game, although not too dissimilar from its origins, is played at a, shall we say, more sedate pace with the pushing in the scrums and lifting at the line outs removed, along with kicking the ball from anywhere outside your own 10 metre line. (well we wouldn’t want these delicate oldies having to run too far would we!)
There are also separate and individualistic rules for players “Of a certain age” who should they so chose, are allowed to wear red or purple shorts, which indicates that they can’t be tackled whilst in possession of the ball. Which brings to mind my own experience of running into one such player only to have the referee blow his whistle sharply, right down my left ear to be precise, before penalising me for such a heinous crime, which was a bit confusing because the guy I ran into was younger than me !! Hmmm all in the game I suppose.
All that makes it sound like the game has, well, lost its purpose! What’s the point of having a scrum if you’re not going to push? But in real terms there is still plenty of physicality in the games, which are usually played over shorter periods.
A massive thank you to John and Andy Hunter for their continued support and to Danny Gibson of CGICE, no stranger to supporting Gibraltar rugby having previously sponsored the juniors, and finally to Colin Porter of STM Group, for the support of the Vets team and Gibraltar rugby and all for being part of the Gibraltar Rugby Family. Gibraltar will be wearing the new Red, White and Blue kit to signify the heritage of the club here on our Rock.
If you are interested in playing Veterans Rugby, please email [email protected]