Finally this weekend, the time has come to play a real rugby match against our best enemies: the Amsterdam Lowlanders, organisers of last year’s amazing Union Cup tournament, and our nearest neighbours in the gay rugby community. Come cheer for your favourite teams, and let’s see some great action!

Saturday schedule:

15:00 – Belgium / Netherlands @ Baudouin stadium
19:00 – Straffe Ketten / Amsterdam Lowlanders @ Kituro

Here are our confirmed match dates for the next few months:

1. Saturday 25/2 – Straffe Ketten R.F.C. vs Amsterdam Lowlanders (time & place tba)
2. Sunday 4/3 – RC Pajot vs Straffe Ketten R.F.C.
3. Sunday 11/3 - Straffe Ketten R.F.C. vs RC Lustin
4. Saturday 14/4 – SK tournament in Brussels (more details in March)
5. Saturday 19/5 – Kituro’s Country of Origin tournament (SK members in ‘Malta’ and ‘Argentina’ teams)
6. June 1-3 – Bingham Cup 2012 in Manchester

We’ll probably add a few dates in April and May. Come support us!

Two weeks ago (how time flies!) we had the great pleasure of hosting the Stockholm Berserkers, a new gay rugby team from Sweden, for their first trip abroad. It was a fantastic weekend of playing rugby, making friends and partying like there’s no tomorrow. We’re really thankful that they accepted our invitation, and we’ll definitely pay them a visit in Scandinavia next year. Their player Mikael reported about the weekend on his blog:

After this weekend I understand what makes rugby so special. It’s not only the rough game. It is the friends you meet and the joy of the game, and everything around it that you share with other rugby players. It is a “family” filled with love, laughs and lot of rough games. I am glad to be a part of this family.

Read the rest on his blog!

Reminder: our big party at Smouss is tomorrow (Saturday)! Time to unveil our 2012 calendar…. See you there!

UPDATE 3/12: Our calendar has sold out already, thanks for your support!

Since we started the team there’s been quite a lot of requests for a Straffe Ketten photo calendar. Maybe that was meant as a joke, but we took you seriously! We’re quite proud of our 2012 calendar, made in-house by Iker & Jens, with the help of their friend Eduardo, and featuring a lot of our players — and two guys from Kituro — who didn’t spare their efforts in front of the camera!

The calendar costs €12. It has 15 pages and around 20 photos. You can get it at our calendar launch party on Nov. 19, or order it by e-mail (ikertxo | gmail | com). We’ll use the money to fund our participation to next year’s Bingham Cup in Manchester, the “gay rugby world cup”.

Last Sunday we played against AFRE, a French team from Reims, on the pitch of the Givet rugby club, right next to the Belgian border.  Despite good motivation on our side, the match didn’t go so well, and we lost heavily to our opponent du jour. No try on our side, and 60 points scored by the Reims guys. But there was a nice barbecue afterwards, and beer was only €1 per bottle, so it wasn’t all affreux after all! Un grand merci au club de Givet pour son excellent accueil, et à l’année prochaine pour la revanche!

A great, sunny day for rugby yesterday! For our first match this season, we dominated the first 30 minutes, after scoring a first, hard-fought try within the first 10 minutes (0-5), but our opponent took the lead just before half-time, converting their try (7-5). The second half took on a different colouring: a rapid succession of “10-meter” penalties quickly cost us a try in the 2nd half (12-5), and Lustin scored again after breaking out through a hole in our defence line (19-5). We scored another try (19-10), but our fate was sealed with our host’s 4th try, 15 minutes before the end (26-10). A try-saving tackle at the last minute prevented Lustin from scoring a 5th time — final score: Lustin 26 / SK 10.

Merci à Lustin pour leur accueil chaleureux, et vivement février pour la revanche à Bruxelles!

This Sunday at 15.00, our first match of the season will pit us against RC Lustin, a fresh rugby team that started in April 2010, just like us.

The pitch, in Profondeville (rue Joseph Misson, 109), is just 1h15 drive from Brussels. Feel free to use the event page on Facebook to arrange for car sharing!

Save the date! On Saturday, November 19, we’ll celebrate the launch of our 2012 photo calendar in style!

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159482847475242

It’s been one month already since we resumed our weekly practice schedule. Things are looking good so far: we can keep training at the Kituro club, we’ve got a new sponsor and we already have a ton of new, motivated players.

So what’s in store for our team this season?

• We’ve decided not to play the Belgian championship yet, so this year we’ll play friendly matches against other Belgian teams, like we did last year, but more often.
• We will again visit and host other gay rugby teams around Europe, starting next month with the Caledonian Thebans in Edinburgh, who organize a popular “rugby clinic” during the Halloween weekend.
• The season’s ultimate objective is, of course, Bingham Cup 2012, ie the gay rugby world cup, held next year in Manchester. A tough and exciting challenge, where we’ll get to meet teams from Canada, USA & Australia!