Broccoli Ultimate

Broccoli Players to Vancouver!

2008-02-15T13:05:00.003Z

During the past few weeks the National Teams have been announced and with all the dust settled, the trials complete and the tough choices made, there were 10 Broccoli players chosen for Ireland's Open team and 3 picked to represent Ireland in the Women's Division.

Congratulations to everyone and best of luck with all the training, tournaments and fitness. Here's hoping both teams can build on the good results of the past few seasons.

Broccoli's Ireland Open Players:

Tahdg Healy (Capt)
Rob Kiely (vice-capt)
Al Murray
JD Coakley
Oisin Flannagan
Dara Hayes
Peter Gaston
David Misstear
Niall Harbourne
Brian MacDevitt

Broccoli's Ireland Women Players:

Fiona McDonald (Capt)
Katie Twidwell
Sparky Booker

For more info on the tournament - http://www.wugc2008.com/

Broccoli 2008

2008-01-16T22:27:00.000Z

As the successes of 2007 fade into memory we're looking ahead to a new year of new challenges, new tournaments and more good results. Central to this will be the addition of some fresh new talent to the squad. To facilitate this we will be holding our annual trial on the second weekend of February.

Details:
What? Broccoli Trial
When? Sunday February 10th
Where? Herbert Park
Time? 11am-2pm

The Trial
The trial will be very straightforward, consisting of a decent warm-up, lots of throwing and some skill-specific drills followed by a game. Make sure to bring a light top, a dark top, some water, a disc and food for afterwards. Be ready to run at 11am, we will start on time.

What we are looking for
We are looking for Open players who enjoying playing competitively, having fun and playing with Spirit. All players of all ages and standards are welcome. Our long-term goal is to be able to field both a 1st and 2nd team at events so there's room for all players. The team will be participating in the Limerick Open where we hope to blood new players so please let us know whether or not you are available on that weekend (Febraury 16th/17th).

If anybody has any questions at all please don't hesitate to email me at earley[dot]mark[at]gmail[dot]com.

The season ahead
2008 will see Broccoli visit the following tournaments:
- UCD's Winter League
- The inaugral Limerick Open
- IFDA's Spring League
- Sligo's Wig Of Shame
- a European tournament (ideally in September)
- Cork Open 2008

We will be looking to build on last season with a strong showing in each of the above tournaments. Furthermore, we hope to build a squad capable of rubbing shoulders with the eilte in the UK & Europe as the Irish club scene continues to grow. We look forward to welcoming you on board to be a part of it.

Brocs hit Brazil!

2007-11-26T18:08:00.000Z

Four of our finest Broccoli players are currently on tour throughout South America, slowly making their way to the BULA World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Brazil where they'll be playing in the Mixed Division. The Mixed Division is the strongest and the most anticipated with teams entered from all across the globe including Brazil, Austria, Canada, USA, Australia and the UK amongst others. To keep up to date with their progress have a look at the website - http://wcbu2007.org/ Best of luck folks!!

The Irish Beach Ultimate Team for 2007 is as follows: Niall Harbourne (c), Rob Kiely, Al Murray, Malcolm Wilkinson, Seamus Murray, Fergus Weldon, Liz Schaffilitzky, Fione McDonald, Linda Barry, Catherine Gainey & Lorraine O'Donnell. The tournament starts on December 11th and runs for 6 days. Average temperatures are 23-27 degrees. Lucky for some!

Cork Open 2007

2007-11-08T17:29:00.000Z

‘My favourite tournament. I’m hungry. Argghegrgrghh’
-- Mary Harney addressing the Dàil
07/11/2007

=========

Finally it was time to get on the bus and make my way to Cork. Since August I’ve been eyeing this tournament up with a mixture of mischief and ambition. Last year the tournament went off without a hitch, supplying us with some interesting results, some hilarious parties and some international flair. My team made an early exit then and were looking to make up for it this year… Friday night’s Welcome Party saw us all lay siege to a new venue – The Thirsty Scholar, and what a choice. A suitably crammed beer garden, a sweatbox of an under-manned bar and about 30 drunk foreigners mingling with an equally raucous local crew made the session one to remember. There was chanting, there was pulling, there were too many pints and then there was Bróg. Cheesy music, shots, Murphys like there was no tomorrow and a messy Burger King were all to follow. My, how we’d pay!

The TDs made a ballsy move this year, introducing a Peer Pool system. In most eyes this was a success, pitting strong teams against strong teams and avoiding the whitewashes previous years have seen. In the group Broccoli were in the Belgians FÜF looked strong (and dreamy), winning their first 2 games with consummate ease, as did the Cork alumni team, Last Minute Dropout, who played hard and retained the disc well to beat Broccoli in their first game. UCD were the weak team in the group, yet showed promise and sure enough wound up in the Quarters. The big game was between Broccoli and FÜF for top spot but despite the greens pulling out their best performance of the weekend and winning 10-6, it was the Belgians who held onto 2nd seed. Elsewhere Trinity surprised La Fotta, spiders invaded anything and everything, UCC 1 cleared up in 2 of their 3 games and Johnny Chimpo looked stronger by the minute, taking care of their 3 opponents without much fuss.

Games over, and one thing on everyone’s mind - session. We made our way back to the hostel worried about nothing given we had an 11am start the next day (how little we knew!). Beers were the first priority before showering, food and the spirits got involved. Soon there were shots flying, potted plants being thrown, and lethal mixtures of whiskey and Jagermeister being forced on anyone within arms reach. A fantastically inept Chinese restaurant charged us about €2000 for 10 meals and didn’t give us rice, which let’s face it, is pretty harsh on a mob of budding Mary Harneys. Soon the Belgians appeared and all 40 of us started sessioning in the hostel’s front garden which saw the Belgians beat us comprehensively in a beer race before we made tracks Cypress Avenue-wards.

Why we’ve not been to this venue before I don’t know. It seemed to have the lot – a bar that had enough staff to cope, a sitting area, a standing area, a dance floor, a stage and most importantly a video projection of the people dancing on the stage! Genius. Prides of lions, rappers, male sluts, pimps, Mary Harneys and many others congregated and it was no time before ‘it was going off’. ‘I had good access to food, tequila and there was a nice big dance floor for a woman my size’ said Mary Harney. And she was right – well-timed finger food was key - wedgies with large poles weren’t but that’ll happen. Anyways, the night was quality despite Pete’s best attempt to come out of the closet via his music. Backstreet Boys to Peter Andre, nobody was safe. Unfortunately the Italians and Belgians didn’t get in with cans on the street and a bit of cheek being the reasons cited. Not much a bouncer can do I suppose, especially if he’s a complete twat. Dancing and drinking went on for a fair while, then people snuck of for food, Bróg, kip etc. and the night drew to a close.

Sunday mornings are shit. As Christy Moore says ‘you wake up the next morning head first down in a sleeping bag and you don’t know where ya are bejaysus…and you’re trying to get the zip open with your toes’…we had one of those. The fact that JD had come into our room at 5.30am and taken a single shoe and every bag from the 6 of us (in one trip!) and hidden it al in his room, didn’t help. Still, a cup of Dettoltea (try it at your peril) and some toast had us ready to play. La Fotta were the team we faced in our quarter, the reward? An eagerly awaited bash at Chimpo. The game began at a fast pace with both teams playing simple offence and controlling the disc. At maybe 4-4 the tide turned in favour of the Italians and, as always, the more mistakes we made the more the opposition grew in confidence. Suddenly we were 4 points down and the clock was ticking to a standstill. Davide and co. held out to record a solid win and knock us into the 5-8 bracket. To say we were gutted is an understatement. Last year Cota did likewise and this year we saw ourselves as semi-finalists at least…The team was down but them’s the breaks. We got on with it and won out our last 2 games to finish 5th with straightforward wins over UCD and the Luxembourgish folk.

Elsewhere, Cork Alumni faced FÜF and Chimpo played La Fotta having overcome their respective quarterfinal opponents. The Belgians won through against the locals and Chimpo looked more like themselves against the Italians than the teams Saturday meeting – a slippery 10-9 robbery, winning well to progress to their first final in 2 years. The final was a classic – big aerial match ups, two hard-running and intelligent teams and a loud sideline – did I mention the floodlights?? Chimpo came out on top after an excellent display against the fancied Belgians and showed that the future could well be orange as the newest additions, Mavis and Hag to name but two, stole the show. As always, credit to them for their clever defence, fast offence and solid partying. Great to see and Irish team back on the trophy too. The loveable Belgians took Spirit, DCU got the plate, Broccoli (thanks to Mary) won the Party and Cian got Final MVP. Big congrats to all.

Finally, thank you Cork Ultimate. The simple fact is that this tournament never fails to impress. The organisers might change, the party venues change, even the teams change but the fun atmosphere, the good crowd and the simple, thoughtful and hard-working organisation remain. It won best Irish tournament last year and it’s going to take a lot to stop it winning it again this year. Nay bad for a pack of boggers!

Anyways, until next year it’s ‘Goodbye to the Port and Brandy, to the Vodka and the Stag, To the Smithwick and the Harpic, the bottled draught and keg’…

The Season Ahead

2007-10-05T09:32:00.000+01:00

Last year was a good year for the Broc, with wins in winter League and a tough Cork Open tournament. This season will see Broccoli focus on domestic events and try to get a cheeky trip to Europe during the summer months (allowing the perennially cup-tied players a run out!). The calendar looks sparse at the moment but we're open to ideas...

UK Ladder League

http://www.regionalultimate.co.uk/

Last season we player 6 and won 6. Not quite sure when the Ladder League season ends and the new one begins, but this will be the main source of competition between now and the New Year. UCD are sitting pretty atop the table at the moment (on games played) so we need to get the fingers out!

Cork Open 2007

http://www.corkopen.uccultimate.com/

Back to the city where we got pummeled by the Cota Ricans last year. This year sees us bring a slightly stronger team and given UCC are unlikely to mess up the draw again we hope to progress further than the Quarters! Keep an eye out for a strong Belgian team and the Chimps, who no doubt will have a decent line-up.

Spring League 2008

The very first Spring League will take place in February. Few details are available yet as Format, hosts and other finer points need to be ironed out. Will keep you all in touch - likely to be a pool format over a few weekends then a Finals weekend. Will take place in Dublin (proabably not in Shankill Luan).

Siege Of Limerick 2008

Another first - the lads in Limerick are putting on this tourney on February 15th/16th. It will be their first time running a tournament on their own and should provide quality pitches, a good session and some amusing Sunday morning games.

European Tourney 2008

Any suggestions?

- Paga?

- Brugges?

- Amsterdam?

- Another...

That's all for now, see you on the pitch!

Langball on Mount Kilimanjaro

2007-10-01T13:29:00.000+01:00

Following Rob's snap outside the Taj Mahal in India, Langer shows off the green atop the highest peak in Africa.

Fair play to the Langball, managing to climb the world's highest free-standing mountain, and represent the Broc when he got to the top. Any takers to beat that one? ... (Eyre Square in Galway probably won't do it Marko!)

Mixed Veg take DUB Tournie

2007-08-27T10:27:00.000+01:00

Tied agent of Broccoli Ultimate, Mixed Veg became the first Irish team to win DUB Tournie in its 11 year history this weekend. High quality photos of the party, games and final courtesy of Marko:

Full report is on the Mixed Veg Blog:

http://mixedvegultimate.blogspot.com/

Hyyuuup the Veg!

Revenge of the Awards...

2007-02-12T18:11:00.000Z

Funniest moment of the Year
Another strong win. I can't remember any of the other contenders so I'll make them up. Coming a distant third was Luan's performance in Brugges, in second was the time when Col slept with Oisin and the winner was the failed attempt to launch a water balloon out JD's sun roof while driving on the motorway. He, the driver, ended up soaked (as did most of the car's interior).

Couple of the Year

The list for this one was long, but from nowhere there came a clear winner. Shrugging off the obvious candidates of the following,

Rob & Boxer
Marko & Yiv
Nialler & Liz
Stokesy & Sparky
Al & Alyerma
JD & Katie

was the unbeatable Luan. He's never sustained an in couple-dom relationship but was never far away from a lucky lady. His partners included Salglory, Sandy, Sinead the list goes on...

Broccoli's Photo Of the Year

Another tightly contested caegory. Fi eating toe, the girls in th bedroom series and many more just couldn't beat the big one - 'Luan's Boner' as it has fondly been named. At first it appears to be his zip but no, it's the ful shebang. Courtesy of a lucky lady, taken by Marko with Fi's camera. Don't worry, it's coming soon. For now though, here's another embarassing photo of him in action...

Awards Wars

2007-02-12T17:16:00.000Z

Somewhere between the blur that was dinner and the launching of water balloons came a brief and amusing Awards ceremony on Saturday night. Here's how it panned out:

Biggest Judas
An impressive list with Marko, Britboy, Stokesy and Dman on it. There was only one winner though and it fell to the ex-Clapham man, Brian MacDevitt!

Best Captain
Despite being a Judas, being asked to be a Captain by the man who runs the team and a strong challenge from both Rob and Luan it was Mark Earley who stole the bragging rights, although general opinion would suggest the gentelman in the below photo would do a better job.

Messiest Moment
For some reason Luan (being the bright spark behind these Awards) decided to to put only Marko, Fi and Rob forward for this title. Perhaps he was a little shy. Either way, Fi won hands down for her ability to vomit in handbags and shared dorms alike.

Best Item of Broc Costume
Another win for Fishbox, her tighty green leggings and red hair won her this Award, beating Luans MultiFace, Langer's amusing accent, JD's haircut and Rob's new shoes (literally).

Winter League 3

2007-02-08T13:43:00.000Z

For the third and final winter League Broccoli and UCD made the trip down to the sunny second capital of Corcaigh. Despite Luans' best efforts to delay the entire team we set off from Dublin in JD's car before dark. Young McKenna was wearing the same clothes he'd had on for a week despite appearing to have packed most of his belongings in the biggest suitcase I've seen in years. He wasn't sure where his boots were, he'd lost his Brocoli jersey, had no idea how to tie his shoelaces and generally seemed at a loss. Yep, his mother was away again.

Despite this early set back we made the most of the trip down by exchanging various lurid tales, catapulting water balloons from the car sunroof (or at least attempting to), sinking pints in the crowd favourite, Morrisons (not to be confused with a Morriseys) and generally getting amusement from the drunk Luan. Soon we found ourselves in Cork launching more balloons (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnWiRiqlEqE), and abuse, at our hirsute host, Tigger. Quickly food was found, cheap and cheerful or €20 a pizza (needless to say Mr. Google and Dr.Coakley spent as much as possible), and back to Tiggers for a pre-session session. Then to An Brog where we met the locals, the UCC players, many sweet pints of Murphys Velvet and the UCD lads too. Quickly spirits got involved and the UCD kids got out of control. Cant bring them anywhere. Luan got involved, the electrics were commented on, everyone got well oiled and we all ambled home merry and loking forward o more water balloon launching. We targeted padestrians crossing a bridge but with no joy. A brilliant night all round.
(Paul, Robin, Ciaran, Tadhg & Johnny in An Brog).

The next morning saw UCD play UCC at 11.30am for the chance to contest the Winter League 'Final'. It was a close game to start with both teams playing good D but turning a fair bit. UCD slowly started to turn the screw though and ran out comfortable winners in the end to make if 5 wins from 5 games for the Belfield team. Next up was the Broccoli vs. UCC game. Regardless of the result (given UCC had now lost 2 games) it was to be UCD playing Broccoli for the title. Still, there was pride at stake fr the Corkonians who came out strong. The game began evenly with the teams trading a couple of points. UCC lost their rythm a little though and soon Broccoli had a grip on the match. A combination of tired legs and deflated players didn't do Cork any favours and half cam at 7-2 to the greens. The match was a scrappy, hard-fought affair with neither teams Offence gelling particularly well, maybe the rake of pints and chipper food was exacting a toll. Broccoli had enough experience though, to battle through and won the match 13-4 in the
end. A fun catapult team call ensued with Kiely pussying out of a double mudball to the head.

A quick break then the 'Final' against a fired up (if somewhat weakened) UCD team. They came out firing and got 2 quick Ds which thy converted assuredly. We switched our Man D to Zone and went on a 10 point scoring spree. They were missing their strong handlers, we were playing well after out slow game against Cork and it all fell into place. Luan and Langer got some great Ds with the JD and BB throwing a nice variety of throws for scores. Stokesy was another vital cog in the works and Col made a hammer-tastic return! All in all it was a strong team performance and we closed out the game, conceding only 4 points during the match, 13-4. A great close to a fun Winter League. The best weekend without doubt being the fun trip to Cork who were gracious and messy/fun hosts. More of that!

MVP -
MSP -

Well done everyone, let's keep up the winning streak and get further up that Ladder League Table. Keep an eye on the emails for news of friendlies coming up between now and the summer. Up the Broc!!

UK Ladder League

2007-01-29T10:25:00.000Z

Broccoli has made a steady stride up the UK Ladder League following 4 wins in the Winter League. We are currently in 2nd place behind UCD (by virtue of the amount of games they've played) and after this weekend's games in Cark that could change again. For all the standings, permutations and excitement go to http://www.regionalultimate.co.uk/

Once Winter League ends we will be arranging more friendlies whenever we can to further bolster our standing!Good work everyone. See you all at the weekend.

Winter League 2

2007-01-26T09:03:00.000Z

Last Sunday saw 7 Broccoli players make the trek to Shankill for more wind and rain dominated Ultimate. The weather was nearly as bad as the previous day but the rain abated somewhat so it wasn't quite as cold. Broccoli continued the Iron man tradition with a few absentess being replaced by the WL debutants, Stokesy and Colm both of whom had an excellent day.

Up first were the yellow-shirted DIT students lead by Podge, Cormac and Tall Paul. Zone was the order of the day with a strong wind limiting any easy passes. They used all the players with them, a mixture of strong beginners and experience and made the Brocs run hard for every point. We started strongly and DIT took a while to come out of their shells. It was quickly 7-0 despite their best efforts. The second half was much better fom them with all their players growing in confidence. Cormac appeared o be getting open with ease and Ste, Podge and Paul handled well. They pulled 2 points back but calm O and some solid Zone work saw Broccoli ease home to a 13-2 victory. A couple of fun calls added to the great Spirit throughout.

The second match was against Trinity who at the start of the Winter League we had identified as one of the strongest teams going. As always they were well drilled and each player knew exactly what was asked of him/her. All players got lots of game time and despite having learnt the zone only a week earlier their Defence was as strong a D as Broccoli has faced yet this season. Unfortunately for them their Captain and talisman was sitting pretty on the sidelines having suffered another bizarre injury - 'I got up to get a cup of Earl Grey to have with my English muffin and all of a sudden my knee...' On they battled nonetheless with Cian's throws, Rickards running and the cup proving formidable despite the winds. We played very well, with our handling and Zone O answering the questions asked of it. Despite the pressure being put on us we slowly ground out a lead before beginning to score consistently until half at 7-1. We came our strong and scored the next 3 before a cap of 2 was added. another point made it 11-1. Trinity weren't finished though and began to claw their way back. From our point of view a stronger wind and some tired throws and catches weren't helping but credit is due to them as thy pushed us right to the finish. 12-4 was the final score and despite the lp-sided scoreline this was the toughest match, by far, that we have played. Trinity will only get better this season, especialy with the large numbers and team spirit engendered in the squad. Intervarsity hopefuls take note!

Next up is a trip to Cork where the League will be decided. With UCD on 4 wins from 4 and Cork with 3 (and home advantage & Tigger returning), the weekend is set to be a a great climax to a fun competition. See you all in te second capital!!

MVP - Mark 'o' Earley
MSP - Rob 'Mahatma' Kiely

Team: Marko, Rob, BB, Fishbox, Langer, Stokesy, Colm.

Winter League 1

2007-01-08T08:46:00.000Z

Yesterday saw Broccoli take to the windswept and wet fields of Shankill for the first time in 2007. 6 players managed to make it there on time with the Rathmines crew of the Kielys, BB and Langer arriving just before the blatantly still drunk McKenna and my good self. Doctor Coakley was called in by the hospital to perform an emergency heart transplant but arrived midway through the first game without boots but eager to play.

Game 1 saw us play against Gonzaga who were playing their first outdoor game ever. Naturally enough they turned over the disc a fair bit in tough conditions but it was clear they'd been very well coached at the basics. Good catching and some fine throws were further evidence of excellent instruction. Despite this, our experience won through with Fiona particularily impressive, cutting long and short and repeatedly taking to her knees to catch discs coming to her at chest height! Everyone played well with the funniest mistake perhaps being Langers dump behind Brian on our goal line. It led to Gonzaga duly converting their sole score of the game. The were a fun, spirited bunch with good athletes on board and the experience they are gaining will stand to them in the future. 13-1 to the Greens. BB even managed to get a score!

Game 2 was always going to be a tougher affair against the DCU team with players like Blonde Rob, Petie and the 3 MaC girls - Yiv, Sandy and Shoulders all out to play hard. The conditions did them no favours though as the wind picked up and we were able to set up our first zone of the New Year. A good, fun first half saw us score 7 points unanswered on an increasingly cold and wet day. Our handlers were holding onto the disc well with the upfield players breaking at pace each time they got the disc. The second half followed the same pattern with DCU becoming increasingly unlucky at the front of our endzone. The final score of 13-0 didnt reflect how repeatedly close they were to scoring and I'd expect much more from them as a team as the League progresses. For us though, a great start!

Winter League 2 will be on Sunday the 21st, in 2 weeks time with a start time of 1.30pm. At the moment the schedule (as outlined below) sees us play DIT then Trinity but with UCD now also in the League (and how! - they beat Trin 9-5 yesterday!!) we may have to play 3 games. I'll keep you all posted. Well done and here's to the next one!

MVP - Fishbox McDonald
MSP - Luan McKenna

Team:
Marko, Rob, BB, Fishbox, Luan, Langer, JD.

Winter League 2007

2007-01-05T18:40:00.000Z

And so begins, the defence of the trophy.

It seems like only a few short months since "Winter League" ended last March and now its that time of the year again. The greens will be out in force, with an interesting scheduled on the first day of play. First up are the young but fearless Gonzaga College. Second are the gritty Northsiders from DCU. Needless to say, all valuables will be safely tucked away before the 2nd game begins!

Here's hoping its another Green Season.

Winter League Schedule:

Week 1 - 06/01/2007 - 1.30pm vs Gonzaga, 2.45pm vs DCU

Week 2 - 21/01/2007 - 1.3opm vs DIT, 2.45pm vs TCD

Week 3 - 04/02/2007 - 12.00pm vs UCC, 1.00pm vs UCD (tbc) - (in Cork) - we'll travel down on the Sat afternoon and go out Sat night so get the sessionheads ready!

Broccoli @ Taj Mahal

2006-11-08T15:31:00.000Z

Basel Brocs

2006-06-28T12:19:00.000+01:00

With the biggest Broc squad ever put together (11!) confidence was high entering into the Freespeed 10th anniversary tournament. With shiny new kit ready to be unveiled, things were looking up. After a rather mammoth journey, via the Ryanair shed in Beauvais, the Broc arrived in Basel and with the Swiss competing in their last World Cup group game, all was set for a few beers. We were amazed by the amazingness of the venue... All facilities surrounded the pitches, including the all important Swiss digital clock/thermometer.

We tore into the free welcome party drinks. We swallowed hot dogs and other varieties of wiener. We cracked into the old reliable drinking games. Beds were only a 2 minute walk from the bar and World Cup screen. The perfect way to open our 2nd European voyage.

After a night sleeping in a world war bunker, with all 23 Irish in the same room (except Donal who spent most of the night in the bathroom), game time was 9am. "The sun wont be as hot then" was the explanation of the TD for why the Irish were playing so early. We presumed it was a ploy to stitch us up but how wrong we were. 28 degrees Celsius at 9am and it was only going to get hotter.

With a good win under our belts against Radical we ran quicker than ever during the game to find the shade. Bainne, Shiftoid and FB were the big sufferers in the sun and they made good use of the factor 50+ Kids sun block. We then lost to Bologna and Geneva Wizards. 2 big European teams with a tolerance for heat. It had hit 37 degrees by now and the paddies were not loving it! Our last game of the day was against Lyon based Moustix. It was a must win game and we came out all guns blazing. Seeing as it was now 5pm, the temperature had dropped slightly. A mere 35degrees stood between us and the win we needed. The finest Broc performance to date resulted in an 11-3 thrashing of the experienced Lyon side. A good days work and time for some shade!

The Saturday party was themed "Surprise". The MAC ladies dressed up as Swiss cuckoo clocks but were outdone by the Parisian ladies of Yaka, who dressed up as 12 Marilyn Monroe's and entered the party inside a huge birthday cake. Their efforts ensured they took the Party prize.

Sunday's weather forecast was for thunder storms and we were looking forward to a bit of rain. Despite the heat, the pitches were in perfect condition from the overnight drizzle (and water sprinklers on each pitch). Our first game was another 9am start. Breakfast brought some great news. The win on Saturday had confirmed our Sunday morning game would be against Solebang who play in an all pink kit. Unfortunately, the players they were expecting off a train on Sunday morning didnt arrive. The battle of the metrosexual kits was not to be and we were given a 13-0 win. The photos would have been great, but our bodies were delighted with the break.

Our second game turned into a slightly messy affair. A tight game and some rather unnecessary calls left a rather bad taste in our mouths. It went to sudden death in the cap and despite a little bit of over-eagerness we got the point we needed to set up a Plate final against home team Freespeed. Despite our offence enjoying playing against a zone for the first time all weekend, the young legs of the hosts won out in the end and they took the win 9-6. A thoroughly deserved victory.

The final between Flying Angels Bern and Cota Rica turned into a corker, with Cota winning by 2 in the end. Literally minutes after the game finished, the thunder storm hit and everyone ran for the shelter of the party tent. High winds, sheets of rain, thunder and lightning did their best to dampen spirits, but everyone was on a high from the great weekend of ultimate behind them. To top off our 10th place finish, we were also awarded the Spirit of the Game award for the Open division and a photo album with shots of all teams in the tourney as a memory of the great weekend had by all. Here's to Peace of Cake 2007.

Peace of Cake

2006-06-19T18:14:00.000+01:00

This weekend sees a strong Broc squad ("not Iron Man?!?!" I hear you yelp) travel to Basel in Switzerland to compete with the finest of Mainland Europe. With a squad of 11 Brocs including 3 new veggies and a host who have yet to make their competitive dayboo for the Broc, all is set for some big effort and hopefully the results to match.

The intrepid band of itinerant veggies is:

Marko
Rob
Fiona
BritBoy
Perfect
Donal
Greg
Langball
Fraser
Shifty
Nialler

Thursday night at the Bowler

2006-05-18T00:07:00.000+01:00

A week or two ago a few of us went bowling, it was funny and the photos are good craic. The first game went down to the wire with Fishbox proving herself to be as good as her trashtalk suggested she wasnt. But no match for the winner Marko. Kiely was the worst bowler we've ever seen step foot in a bowling alley, while Shifty and Oisin were slowly perfecting their spin techniques soon to prove devastating. The next game saw the Flange walk away with it using his flair and spin with amazing success. Shiftoid was impressive too as everyone else practised things like 'who could make the loudest bang', overhead throwing, 'the sidearm' and other such fun maneouvres. Good fun for €5 a head...

Shifty lets one fly

Spinning Flange

The 'through the legs' by the Boxer

'The sidearm' by Marko

'Dancing' - Rob and Fishbox acting like 13 yr old girls

Broccoli makes European debut!

2006-05-03T13:40:00.000+01:00

10 Broccoli players made the journey to Belgium in the last weekend of April where we found tasty beer, sunshine, lots of food, tough Ultimate and a little bit of rain too. It all started with a 6.50am flight from Dublin...

We all struggled to the airport after nights out, work etc and eventually made our way onto the plane in beautiful morning sunshine with a few beers and a nice early morning gin and tonic to take the edge off the day. Aer Lingus comfort to Brussels then a wee train journey to Bruges was the plan. We hopped on the train in the airport and off we went happy as larry before things got a little strange. We'd sat down in 1st class, been asked to move and were just sitting around getting ready to go when a tall African looking guy walked straight up to where Luan was sitting and slapped him in the face! He said something like 'Stop it now' before leaving the carriage without any explanation. It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. A brief talking to and an extended stay in the first class carriage were the outcomes. Big team play by Luan.

Friday was dedicated to sampling as many of Belgium's fine brews as was humanly possible. While the majority of the Brocs enjoyed a beer or two, Luan romped through every variety of beer in the pub, including a few extra rounds of the 8% Duvel. He assured us that each and every one of the beers was "taste". Thanks Luan.

The day passed with multiple games of Mafia, Charades and laughing at Luan. All were equally enjoyable until 45 Litre Boy left us at 8pm saying something which resembled 'I'm going home', whilst wandering off in the wrong direction. He was found approximately 10 hours later cold, tired and still somewhat tipsy.

The first day of play saw the Broc struggle a little to hit the ground running. We traded to 4-4 with UFO (an unknown entity, we thought... ended up losing the final by a point). We were beaten 11-7 by Jet Set (including Isaac) in a good battle on an upwind-downwind pitch, and suffered the same fate against the wiley XLR8RS. It had taken a while to get going but we had started to play better as a team.

Unfortunately, the following morning we were due to play 2004 winners Iznogood, who we were reliably informed were in fact rather good indeed. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do was go to the tournament tent and drink their tasty special brew until the wee hours of the morning. With a few stragglers to boot, the sing-song kicked off. Long after everyone else had gone home the security guard informed us that it was time to leave. We were busy singing "Oh, you're all very quiet over there" at empty corners of the tent to notice so he decided to leave us stay. We realised that there was no beer left so we chalked the night down as a success and headed homeward.

Sunday morning is rarely the highpoint of a travelling Irish team's weekend. With no pressure on the Broc team, and the rain pouring down ("This weather suits us lads, they wont like it") we decided to have a bash at the French former winners, Iznogood. At 6-7 the 5 min hooter went . Broc scored the point to go 7-7 and Izno were shaken. In the end their quality showed as the converted offence points and got a big turn to win 10-7. Not the result we could have acheived but a big step in the right direction.

Due to the fact that 40 teams had entered, the knockout stages of the tournament were decided based on 5 groups of 8. As we had lost our 4 group games we were confined to the bottom 8 with 33rd being the highest we could finish. Despite our disappointment that we could not use our new found form in a cross-over, we became determined to win every game for the rest of the weekend. No point sulking about seedings, groups of death or misfortune if you cant win all your games from that point on. Gladly, this is exactly what we did.

Due to the last-minute withdrawl of Pookas, the first European meeting of 2 Irish teams was postponed. Perhaps Basle or Amsterdam will see this great event take place.

Broccoli went on to win their quarter and semi-final placing games to set up a grande finale with Blue Arse Flies of England, who also felt slightly confused in the bottom 8. With BB Mac JB returning from a dose of the stomach evictions, Broc were determined to hammer home a win. A battle royale ensued. With both teams gunning for the winners place in the division, everything got left on the pitch. Some big battled kicked off and some old rivalries rekindled. The spat between BB and the BAF captain was best described by one of the external observers .... "its like a bad break-up".

Despite such a level of intensity on every mark, the game didn't descend into the scrappy affair it may have. The determined Broc won out 11-7 in the end to cap a highly successful 2nd half of the weekend's play.

The Sunday night party was a more tame affair for the Broc, with most only staying out til 2 am and then spending at least 2 hours looking for a taxi. Fortunately, Oisin nominated JTM Shifty to stay out boozing with him for the night and plied him full of the Devil juice they were selling at the cocktail bar. His intentions are still unknown.

The final on Monday afternoon saw Cota Rica edge out UFO 12-10 after some great play. The Brocs enjoyed their last hours together with a few beers and much excitement at the prospect of visiting the playground again on Tuesday.

Safe to say we're gagging for the Broc's next European adventure. Basel here we come!

Brocs keeping busy

2006-04-12T12:43:00.000+01:00

Over the past two weeks there's been less Broccoli tournament action but it hasnt stopped Boccoli players keeping themselves involved in a bit of Ultimate. There's been training on Tuesdays, friendlies against UCD and some Mixed Veg action too. There's also been Broc representation all over...

Two weekends ago saw Intervarsities take place in Grangegorman. It was hosted by DIT and 2 of our players Shifty and Fraser made it to 3rd place with yellow team after beating Cork in a big game. The final was a very tightly contested affair featuring 3 Brocs but only one of them has the bragging rights this year. As hard as Niall and Softy fought they just couldnt stop Perfect Dave from taking the trophy to the bad side much to Britboy and Sparkys delight. All of them played their hearts out and represented their colleges admirably! No doubt this brief glitch in UCD's long stranglehold of all competitions domestic will take a turn for the better at Colours - April 25th in TCD. Womens first then Open. A fun day garaunteed

And in the weekend just gone two Brocs took to the sand of Spain with Captain Drinking Binge. Marko made his Binge debut and Col, a seasoned Binger, returned to his party team. It was just as it says on the tin - messy nights out with funny pics, crazy stories and the obligatory nudity. As for the games, well we didnt turn up to the 1st one (literally) all with different excuses. I thought it was at 10, arrived at 9.45 to see them in a team call. 6 of the lads slept through it all. Seamus set his alarm for the wromg time. So that loss coupled with a tough loss to Atis Tirma sent the Binge bottom half which we won. Played 9, W 7, L 2, not a bad record but there was a little feeling of what might have been... Either way it was great fun and good to session abroad!Check out 'a few' photos:

http://www.pbase.com/markearley/costabrava2006
http://www.pbase.com/markearley/intervarsities2006

Keep flying the Broccoli flag :)

Belfat Hat 2006

2006-03-27T13:24:00.000+01:00

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!

2006-03-23T16:10:00.000Z

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...

2006-03-23T09:51:00.000Z

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

2006-03-20T14:37:00.000Z

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

2006-03-20T10:05:00.000Z

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