Belfat Hat 2006

On the last weekend of March the BUG crew put on their annual Hat Tournament and it attracted more foreign visitors then it did Irish players!Up to 100 players from as far as Holland, Scotland, Wales and England made the journey to the pitches of Stormont to take part in the 2 days of Ultimate. 5 of these players were Brocs - Luan, Sparky, Dave, Col and Marko (for the party and day 2).



Day One was tough going with 5 60min games per team!At this rate the Belfast Hat is fast becoming infamous for it's physical test more than anything else.But battle through it they did and the light blues, orange and greens all looked strong. Then came the Saturday night party. It was held in the same room used all day as a bag area, lunch room etc on with the added addition of a full bar :) it took a while to get going but the party turned out to be fun, boosted by Tiggers dancing, the presence of Michael Jackson, a nerd and a farmer, The Ob Gang (see below photo), team turquoise and tommy taking his top of amongst other things! It went on into the early hours (much to Cians dissapproval) and then we got a lift to the parish hall place we were staying in by Andy ' Schumacher' Gordon. There we found all we needed for a few more hours fun - a piano, tamborines, a stage, a fussball table, crisps sandwiches and funny mugs. All in all a great way to round off a fun night.

The next day brought the usual hungover crap Ultimate and then a good hearty lunch before better Ultimate and a one-sided final. The photo shows Fred (Crunch) being marked by Cian and Tadhg on the run from Mark (Crunch).Well done to Marko, Sparky, Dave and Luan who all did Broccoli proud in winning the final* under Andrea's leadership (see trophy shot below). Hard luck to Col who came last.

On a final note, a huge thank you to Andy, Adam, Keith, Peter and all the BUG crew for putting on an amazing weekends fun. Next year there'll be more us we promise! Til then, well done and keep it up.

Winners - Team Orange
Male MVP of the final - Mark (from Crunch, Amsterdam)
Female MVP of the final - Beth (BUG)
Spirit Winners - Team Green (Finalists)
Party Award - Team Tourquoise!







* not strictly true

Nine Brocs hit France!

A few weeks ago nine intrepid young players from the Broccoli crew (and Yiv!) stretched their legs (and their livers) on the windswept beaches of Southern France. We flew over with the plan of partying hard, playing harder and having a bit of a laugh. We achieved all of the aforementioned but were absolutely skanked by the ol' weather.

Day One saw us win 4 games out of 4 beating Monkey Foo 7-1 , Wizards 5-1, Disterics 11-1 and finally Friselis 9-1. Each of the games was played in a gale and with the pitches set 'up wind - down wind' it was often like playing in a Rugby meets Frisbee type game, throwing for position. Still, the craic was mighty, the all-important in between games beers were tough at first but tasty and we were all playing pretty damn well so we had no complaints. Except maybe the sand in the eye business, that was just sore.



Anyway, we partied away after a great game of Pirate's Cove - if you havent played it get involved in a game soon. Beware Swab the Deck though. The main loser was Luan who not only lost repeatedly but also managed not to play the game right either. By the time we made it to the party we were a few sheets to the very strong wind. The ol' party wasn't quite kicking but our full Hawaiian costumes, superb dancing,crates of beer and giddiness soon whipped up a good storm and the Belgians (just waiting for the catalyst!) were soon running amok.Ended up having a qualitae night.



The next morning a captains meeting was called and much to everyones disappointment (and surprise) the tournament was abandoned!The winds had got to the stage where it was hard to stand still let alone throw, run or catch.All the shops and restaurants were closing, the lines to mark the pitches wouldnt stay in the ground and they'd nowhere to source electricity from.So there was a vote and we were awarded Spirit! :) we were given a deadly sports bag/suitcase jobby, tonnes of t-shirts,a bottle of pastise and two French comics (which Oisin was very excited about).

The rest of the day was spent lounging, eating and finally drinking again. A big game of kings rounded off the weekend nicely before our fun trip home. Congrats to Oisin who won MVP for huge throws and clever D all day Saturday, and to Marko who's drunkeness and love of sand bagged him team MSP. Once again ESIS came, saw and came again.Well played and...keep it up! :)

The ESIS team was : Al, Rob, Luan, Niall, Softy, Marko, Oisin, JD, Yiv & Fishbox.

As busy summers go...

Lotsa people can't keep a track of all the tournies. Well now you don't have to 'cause we've done it all for you. Here's everything you could possibly be going to right now.(This will get updated as the summer evolves further) . For a detailed rundown on the Broccoli & Mixed Veg Summer, including tourny webpage links and brief summaries of where we're going, go to the Broccoli Calendar 2006 - http://thebroc.blogspot.com/2006/01/broccoli-calendar-2006.html

(NB free summer weekends are likely to become P&S Murphy Training weekends!)

March
25/26 - Belfast Hat

April
01/02 - Intervarsities (Grangegorman)
08-10 - Costa Brava (Captain Drinking Binge)
15/16 - free (Paganello - no Irish team going)
22/23 - Dub Tourny(Mixed Veg/TS/CDB/Uni All Stars)
28-01 - Toms Tourny,Brugges (Broccoli)

May
06/07 - free
13/14 - free
20/21 -Mixed Tour 2, London (Mixed Veg)
27/28 - free

June
03-05 - YesButNau,Nantes (ESIS)
10/11 - free
17/18 - Cork Beach Hat & Layout Championships
24/25 - Piece Of Cake,Basel (Broccoli)

July
01/02 - free
08/09 - TOUR 1,Birmingham (Paddy Murphy & MaC) B Tour 1, Exeter (Seamus Murphy)
15/16 - free
21-23 - Windmill Windup,Amsterdam (Broccoli)
29/30 - TOUR 2,Eastbourne (Paddy & Seamus Murphy & MaC)

August
05/06 - free
12/13 - TOUR 3,Cardiff (PAddy Murphy)
19/20 - free
26/27 - free

September
02/03 - UK Nationals (Paddy Murphy & MaC - when we qualify)
09/10 - free
15-17 - Bologna (Paddy Murphy & Seamus Murphy? & MaC?)
21-24 - Burla Beach, Viareggio (ESIS & CaptainDrinkingBinge)

Celebrating In Style

A few weeks ago Broccoli (or Broccolo if we were in Italy) won their first trophy. It was the 2006 Winter League and we went celebrating afterwards. Here's a few photos from the night...






In Brady's pub, Shankill. Nialler gagging to get in on the action. Al's getting more British that Britboy.










Broccoli's A Game Bringer, Fishbox getting involved in a little trophy drinking!

















We then went to Tramco where Keysy showed off his brekdancing abilities...
















...Cian wowed us with his hair and Al just kept posing...











...and again!

Hall Of Fame

A webpage trophy cabinet!!

Cork Open 2005
Spirit Winners & Finalists
MVP of the Final - Rob
Best Fancy Dress Costume - Luan
MSP -
MVP -


Sligo Wig Of Shame 2006
Finalists
MSP - Luan
MVP - Fishbox

Dublin Winter League 2006
Winners
MSP - Rob
MVP - Marko
Bringer of A Game - Fishbox

Winter League 4

Venue: Shankill
Date: Sunday March 5th
Weather: gusty, sunny, calm and rainy

The final weekend of the Dublin Winter League 2006 saw Broccoli producs their strongest line yet with an incredible 9 players including the brilliantly fit Alan Murray. Unfortunately, due to injuries and sickness taking out a few of their already fragile squad, Johnny Chimpo were forced to forfeit their matches for the second week running. This left the green with only one game for the day, against UCD.

Niall and Softy were appearing together for the first time in Winter League so we knew it would be a tough game. Padraig, Liz, Wysey and Tony, amongst others, werent there to make up the numbers either. The game started with Broccoli on D and playing into the wnd. We got a turn and eventually stuck it in with Fi's awesome layout grab in the fron corner. 1-0 quickly became 2-0 with the D working soundly enough and O doing the job too. UCD had other plans though and scored two in a row with Tony getting a few big catches and Niall and Softy causing trouble as always.

With 2 subs and no game later in the day we began to play harder and soon the gap was to show. UCD were unlucky but under pressure and a few small mistakes lead to quick scores for the Brocs. Zone D and quick D to O transition was the key as the veggies grew in confidence and a few scores later half was taken at 7-3. The second half saw Broccoli receive the pull playing downwind and score with Big Gay Al on the end of some swill. Britboy's strong D and the hard running of Rob, Luan and Col in midfield made it tough for UCD and tiredness set in with a few throws going wayward. The green team closed out the game for a final score of 11-4.

A few memories from the game - Fi's massive layout, Niall's non-stop running, Adam's crazy grab, Britboy's D, Tony's catches and the great spirit from both teams in a tough match that wasnt quite reflected in the scoreline. Well done to all the Brocs for turning up to each of the WL 06 events and for playing hard, as a team and for each other. Here's hoping this is only the start of the silverware :)




After the final games we had a huddle and the following were awarded:

Bringer of A-Game : Fiona - every week Fi consitently scored points, caught tough catches and played D out of her skin. She's easily our top scorer and is improving every game, probably the most important player of our League campaign.

MVP : Marko. Most Valuable Asset in the Broc ammo box, as voted by his teammates. Huge displays of prowess on O and D as well as guiding words of wisdom at pivotal moments throughout the League.

MSP : Rob - the driving force behind the team and a perfect example how to play hard but with a smile and in a fair way. Kept our heads up, always.

Broccoli vs UCD

"From the other side of the fence"
By: Niall Harbourne

When the fixture list originally surfaced it looked like the last day of Winter League 06’ could produce some cracking matches that would surely decide the destination of the trophy. However with the Chimps off nursing injury and sickness and unable to field a team the league was over as a contest but the young guns of Chilli–O could stop the Broc from taking the Grand Slam.

Al Murray returned from across the pond in an attempt to jump on the League winner’s bandwagon. Would his recent training with Crapham Ultimate stand to the Broc or would his poor attitude and general unspirited ways upset the balance ???

Conditions were perfect for ultimate and it was Broccoli who started strong taking a 2 – 0 lead. The students from Belfield then came back and got a foot hole in the game by scoring the next 2 points.

Both teams put everything into the game and it really showed by the effort put into D. Big bids and even bigger catches seemed to be the order of the day, with Keysie showing everyone how it was done by taking a huge disc in the corner after Niall got a full hand on it in an attempted lay out D.

Broccoli started to Dominate proceedings on the scoreboard by playing some lovely quick transition offence. The half ended 7 – 3.

The second half saw more of the same with broccoli edging closer and closer to victory despite the students best efforts. The arrival of Padraig gave UCDD more options and his impact was immediate by taking down a lovely disc in the Broc end zone. However this would be the last score of the game for the team in white as the greens tagged on a couple more scores to run out winners 11 – 4.