Caernarfon is ready for veterans' festival
Jan 28 2010 by Rob Griffiths, Daily Post
IT’S been a tough task, but everything is finally starting to fall into place for the 10th European Golden Oldies Rugby Festival which is taking place in June in Caernarfon.
In little more than five months’ time, 34 teams and more than 1,100 players will descend on the Gwynedd town for a three-day rugby festival, with the chance to become European champions.
But that is of little consequence for most of the participants, who will be rolling back the years when they take to the field at Caernarfon rugby club’s Y Morfa ground.
“It’s not about winning, it’s about enjoying your rugby,” claimed organiser Emrys Jones.
“We want the community to be included in this – it’s not just a rugby tournament, but a festival.
“The Golden Oldies’ motto is ‘fun, friendship and fraternity’, but we’ve added family as well, because we want this to be a family event that everyone can enjoy.
“This has taken more than two years organise and it is all starting to fit into place.”
Another motto doing the rounds at the official launch of the festival was “We don’t stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing”, and that idea was clear as Jones enthusiastically explained the idea behind the tournament.
Essentially it is a 20-minute each way 15-a-side match – although games can often last a little longer or shorter – with a few rule changes added in.
A player’s age or physical well-being determines the colour shorts they are wearing, which in turn signifies whether a player can indeed be tackled with full contact, can only be stopped by touch or has a free 10 yards (an advantage reserved for the more senior participants).
Jones said: “We as the Gogs (Geriatrics O Gymru) have travelled the world to Golden Oldies festivals.
“We’ve been internationally to play in New Zealand, Australia, France and then we found out about the European Golden Oldies festival and we went to our first one in Benidorm in 2004.
“Since then we’ve been to Zurich and Madeira and in 2004 we said why don’t we come to Wales?
“It’s never been here before and it’s certainly never been to a small town like Caernarfon.
“We put the application in and came second to Madeira, which is only slightly warmer that Caernarfon, but we won it for the 2010 tournament, so this year we’re hosting the 10th European Golden Oldies festival.”
Jones added: “Golden Oldies rugby itself was created in New Zealand in the ‘70s. The first one was in Auckland and there were 14 teams.
“In Scotland last year there were 100 teams and over 4,000 people and they made over £6m for the Scottish economy.
“We’re not thinking about making that much, but we have 34 teams, which is more than 1,100 participants from all over Europe.”
This year’s tournament has attracted teams from across Europe, but as well as enhancing the game, Jones is also convinced it will give a massive boost to the local economy.
“As I tell people it’s from Russia to Spain from Italy to Scotland and everywhere in the middle,” Jones added.
“It’s a weekend event, but we’ve been told that some teams are coming for the week!
“There’s a team from St Petersburg in Russia – 49 people are coming over for the whole week.
“Our finance group have told them a conservative figure that it’s £100 per person to stay per night which includes accommodation and spends. Well, that’s 49 people times seven times 100, and that’s a lot of money for a small town, from just one team.”
