The Blue Sox - The beginning
Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier, RN (1796 - 1848)
A true tourist
Secundus ut nullus
Banbridge RFC has always had a long and enviable touring tradition. The club has travelled to Canada and South Africa in previous years as well as visiting UK, Irish and European venues. With the advent of the AIL league rugby at Rifle Park, Bann's regular trips to Gort and Peebles faded and it seemed that the good old days of social touring might be lost forever.
Luckily some club members had other ideas.
Lyle Cairns got things going again when he ran a 'one off' tour to Oldham in 1997 for a match against Duckinfield 2nd XV. You can read about the tour on the Oldham tour page. Unfortunately there are no pictures for this tour as we cannot find the camera they were taken on! The search continues and maybe it will turn up some day.
Blue Sox tours are open to all BRFC club members over the age of 18. Players of all abilities as well as non-playing members and sponsors are encouraged to come along to get together and experience the joys of touring. Elliot Fisher became the 127th member to tour with the Blue Sox when he travelled to Irvine in September 2010.
What do you get?
You will share exploits and experiences with your fellow tourists that you will talk about for the rest of your playing days and beyond; stories that, like a good wine, will get better with age. 'The older we get the better we were!'
'You had to be there' never covered an event so accurately.
The Blue Sox ethos is simple. No places are reserved, no matter how many tours you have attended. You put your name on the list like everyone else. Miss it. Miss out.
And of course if you survive 10 tours you will be awarded a souvenir 10 tour tie. Recipients to date are; Stevie Gilmore, Brian Clinghan, Kris Eadie, Mark Lewis, Geoff Little, Barney McKevitt, Michael Sneddon, Stuart Wickie and Paul Cairns.
Blue Sox tours to date;
1997 - Oldham (Duckinfield RUFC 2nd XV)
1998 - Newcastle (Morpeth RFC 'Edwardians')
1999 - Cardiff (Treherbert RFC 2nd XV)
2000 - Edinburgh (Edinburgh Academicals RFC 'Apatheticals')
2001 - Netherlands (Tilburg RFC and AAC Amsterdam RFC)
2002 - Isle of Man (Ramsey RFC)
2003 - Czech Republic (Tatra Smichov RFC and Ricany RFC)
2004 - Uxbridge (Uxbridge RFC 2nd XV)
2005 - Estonia (Tallinn Tigers RFC and Estonia National 7's winners)
2006 - Blackpool (Kirkby Lonsdale RFC)
2007 - Germany (Munich RFC and Munich 7's Q/Finalists)
2008 - Devon (South Molton RFC 2nd XV)
2009 - Portugal (RC Loule and Rugby da Linha)
2010 - Irvine (Irvine RFC select)
2011 - Italy (RC Forli and RC Cesena)
2012 - Leeds - See tour page for details
You can read a report on each tour and see some photos on the respective tour page. All except Oldham that is!