The season is upon us! Put down the remote and put the boots back on and
get to practice or the game before some young buck steals your spot!
Here's a look at what Masters events are coming up or have just finished:

The Golden Isles Hammerheads RFC will celebrate their thirtieth year of
existence over Halloween weekend  Oct. 27 - 29. GIRFC started in 1976 as
the New Jerusalem RFC at Howard Coffin Park in Brunswick, GA and after a
name change the next year to Golden Isles RFC they've played their home
matches in the same place for 30 years! The 'Heads invite all alums as
well as the boys from Savannah, the Blind Pigs (UGA alumni) and any
other of our old foes and friends who would like to attend.They're
planning a welcoming dinner, a golf tournament, old boys match, and a
great time watching the annual Dawgs/Gators football game. Contact Bill
Foster at (912) 571-2532 for details.

The old boys bracket of the 28th Annual Battleship Tournament, 
Nov.11-12 in Mobile, AL will include sides from Battleship, New Orleans,
ORBS, Memphis, Les Archiballs, Gypsies, and ULL/ Hammond Black Lions
squads. For info contact Tournament Director Lars Granade at
lars_granade@mobile-da.org .

The New York 7s on Thanksgiving Saturday Nov. 25 at Randall's Island
will include for the first time a men's Over 40's division. This will
supplement the 24 team men's social division and hopefully attract some
of the more "mature" teams that would prefer not to come up against a
college alumni side made up of guys who just graduated 3 years ago. To
register go to www.newyorkrugby.com or contact the NY7s Tournament
Director Jessa Giordano at jessagio@gmail.com or (917) 626-2805 .

The Argentina Rugby Festival is being held in various spots in Oct/Nov
with the 35+ and  45+ divisions being held November 8 in Mar del Plata.
Contact the Director Manuel Terán at info@team-sports.com.ar or visit
www.rugbyfestival.com.ar .

The 16th Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival being held in Wellington, NZ
includes 6 US based sides: Alaska Old Oosiks, Ancient Aztecs, the Boston
College Rugby Alumni Bald Eagles, Colorado Ol' Pokes, the Farm Boys of
Indiana (FBI), the Ft Lauderdale Silver Knights and the Traverse Bay
Blues. Over 4,000 participants on 162 teams from 15 countries will be in
action in the nation's capital October 29 to Nov. 5. I'll have info on
the event and the 2008 location in a future column.

Once again my efforts to get to the Saranac Lake Can-Am fell through,
this time by bad weather and worse time-management. Blackthorn took the
4 team 50+ bracket by winning their 3 matches by a combined 63-3 tally.
Perennial power White Plains Classix took the 11 team 45+ title with a
25-0 drubbing of the Maryland Old Boys (MOB) and 40+ stalwarts the Myths
& Legends (led by Boca Raton's Jerry Gonnavash) beat Albany 28-13 in the
8 club 40+ group. The results of all divisions are found at
http://www.canamrugby.com/ .

I was supposed to join up with my old gang from the New Haven (Very) Old
Black in the 40+ group to kickoff their 20th anniversary season. My
homies took the 40+ Cup with a 58-0 win over Union County. The NHOB will
be holding a 20th year reunion at the massive Playwright Pub in downtown
New Haven on Oct. 21. Bob Huscher can be reached at  
bhuscher@comcast.net for info.

The rugby Rock of the Rockies Fred Alexander let me know that the
Colorado Senior Old Boys (CSOBs) and the Vailtroons (Vail & Washington
Poltroons) played a Mini Golden Oldies match in Vail, CO on August 19th
with the Vailtroons victorious on a try in the last minute. The CSOB
35's beat a combination Vail/Boulder team 35- 7. This was the 10th year
for the CSOB Rugby Football Club and Vail Rugby Football Club to play as
a warm up to Aspen.

/*Got an interesting story for the Masters column? Contact Dan at
rugbydan@bellsouth.net or (954) 941-8171.
*/