ITS T-shirts.....the global fashion statement

Mmmmm, let's cosy up together...people will travel from continent to continent and get up close and personal with anything...to get their shot in the ITS T shirt and on the blog.
Rumour has it that a new brand will emerge for Touch football clothing (Touch rugby garments) (the terminology is deliberately targeted at google searches) featuring the special fabrics and Dow Corning printing materials....a must-wear for all serious Touchies....

In this fashion statement we have a small percentage of the famous te Amo family (Stef and JT either side of the elephant)....just another night in Bangkok...

Korea's Touch friends travel a long way!

Woojin Lee started playing Touch in Korea and on moving to India, he took his skills and interest and love of the sport with him. One of the early "Hangang Exiles" players, he's been exiled a bit further than most....but he's keeping in Touch....
Hey Woojin, it looks a bit warmer where you are!!

Korea Touch end of season party Dec 5

Friday December 5th in the Bungalow, Itaewon, celebration of a successful Touch year in Korea and the award of the Spire Touch Championship trophy...
From 7:30pm and with the awards being made approx 9:00pm by Spire Group's president (the owner of Bungalow).
This is a chance to meet up with other Touchies, finish the year and say goodbye to a few of the stalwarts who are leaving, thank our sponsors Spire Group and enjoy a BIG NIGHT OUT!!

And yet more publicity for Touch Korea

This time in the Korea Times http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2008/11/177_34341.html
with a good photo too!

Korea Touch hits the headlines

Nice write-up of aturday's tournament by Kiri Haggart in today's Korea Herald Expat Living page;
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/community/exp_index.asp

Check it out!!

TWP Spire Touch Champions of Korea

Well, finally it was the Hands that got sweaty palms while TWP kept a firm grip on their lead and Survivors looked like they needed just one more weekend (0r for Roddy to last a full tournament)...but it certainly was a peach of a tournament at the new Jamwon site and in beautiful sunny weather.

In the plate, the Exiles looked like making a glorious return to their roots but the Waegook Cook pace and fitness, honed on the high veld, was too much and soon into the drop -off period, the Gumi side roasted crowds favourites again.

On the theme of cooking, good Breton crepes were the favourite breakfast order as the Frogs travelled in regal style, something that surely impressed Pascal, the Spire Group president (Antoine may be getting a call from La Cigale in Itaewon?).

Good order was kept throughout, both by excellent refereeing and the tight management from Chris and Allie...in their makeshift HQ fashioned from large cable spindles...

This has been an extraordinarily successful for Touch in Korea, best wishes for the team in Shanghai on Nov 29.....

Latest standings in Spire Touch Championship

Can anyone stop the mighty TWP? Well, yes, they can!

The early running in the season was set by the Survivors but a "no-show" proved costly for them. "Maybe next weekend" is a great motto, but not when it comes to winning championships! TWP, meanwhile, gained strength and pulled away from the pack mid-season but nearing the end of the season, Tits for Hands have emerged as the real deal, belying their rather dubios name (have you noticed, it never appears in the papers like that?). All three teams can win it this weekend and with big prizes up for grabs, it could get tasty.



Critical issues? For the Survivors, it will be staying cool under pressure. They have rarely finished a tournament with all the toys still in the pram and with refereeing getting higher quality and more strict, this could be the time to eradicate that weakness. T4H meanwhile have to weather the departure of Brad Dowson, the skipper who has shaped this team through the season. And how about TWP....will they have playmaker Wade Broderick back? He is rumoured to have selected himself for the Shanghai gig late November so this should be just the job to shed the rust following a shoulder reconstruction.



Amongst the also-rans, there is still room for someone to cause an upset or two. Yonsei/Princes could, finally, progress beyond the semis and Waegook have been progressing steadily but the early session on the bus up to Seoul normally puts paid to any serious challenge they might mount. My contacts tell me the Frogs are on fire now, so Jamwon could see some grenouille grille this weekend. And will the Exiles respond to a return to their home track? Without chefmeister Schenk, it is hard to see but with star performers being passed over for the trip to China, they will have a serious point to prove. Perhaps the big question is, will they ever recover the loss of Duncan Cole? The Stormers also flirted with greatness on their own turf (read "sand") but faded later in the tournament...could they hold it together this time? And last but not least, is this the time for Sisters to get one over on the boys? The crowd would love to see it happen....and strange things do happen in Seoul....like we'll be playing on a dedicated grass pitch for starters.



Good luck one and all, 10:30 at Jamwon on Saturday November 8 and the first match touches off at 11:00. Festivities should end approx 3:30pm. Come on down and bring the friends, family, dog etc etc

How to find the new Touch and rugby pitch in Seoul

Following the arrow....after going between the two schools, you turn left at the end of the road and then go along about 50m and turn right into a tunnel (which goes under the Olympic Expressway). Be careful, it gets competitive going through the tunnel which only has room for one car at a time!

New Touch and Rugby pitch in Jamwon, Seoul

Looks good, doesn't it!
Directions;
Roughly speaking, it is over the Hangang bridge heading south and on the left, between Hangang and Dongho bridge. Right down by the river (accessed via a tunnel).
This Saturday it's where the last in the Spire Touch Championship will be held.

Top rugby tantalisingly close to Korea

Well, at least that is what hundreds of Korea-based rugby fams thought as they boarded planes for this weekend's Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong. The first time that NZ and Oz have played this type of fixture outside their two countries and the magnificent stadium in HK, host to the world's best rugby sevens tournament, would surely be the perfect stage for these two great rugby nations to showcase rugby to Asia.

However, whether it was because the All Blacks had already beaten the Aussies twice or whether it was the pitch that cut up badly and made for some treacherous running conditions or whether it was some sleepy refereeing....it left the crowd feeling pretty irritated for much of the game.

This was definitely a game of two halves...in the first, the Australians scored a couple of tries through sloppy NZ defending and were pegged back steadily by Dan Carter's boot....which even on the off-day he was having performed slightly better than that of his opposite number Matt Giteau when it came to place kicking. Both missed kicks they would normally get with ease.

In the second half, the AB's changed tactic (or at least they introduced a second tactic since the first half consisted entirely of them launching high kicks too deep to the Aussie right wing and then defending as the Australians ran it back....and since the Aussies also seemed to have no game plan for this steady supply of easy possession on their ten yard line, both sets of supporters could be forgiven for wondering who'd been in the bars before the game, them or their heroes?). The step up produced immediate results and eventually, NZ sealed it when they also ran in a try down the right side. They had the extra numbers but the Australian defence helped them out by commiting their last three defenders to the same man....

The final whistle was something of a relief to all but the Australian supporters and the crowd quickly headed off for the real business of the weekend.

So, since the purpose of this exercise was to (i) showcase rugby, (ii) add supporters and sponsrs to NZ and Aussie rugby, (iii) boost the coffers of Oz, NZ and HK rugby unions and (iv) boost the local economy.....couldn't Seoul be persuaded to host something next year? With Seoul doing it's best to bring in tourists and with the KRW being so weak, it seems like a perfect opportunity for the Korean Rugby Union to talk Mayor Oh into putting his weight behind it...before the Japanese beat us to the punch!!

Upcoming Touch tournaments in Seoul and Taejon

November 8th at Jamwon; I hear TWP, Exiles, Frogs and a couple of teams from Waegook Cook will be there...are there others?

Nov 9th in Taejon, the Dragons host a kids tournament....great chance to bring along kids who are thinking about taking up Touch. If you are interested in coaching kids teams in your area in Korea, pls contact seoultouch@gmail.com