Blue Giants,

Thanks to all those who turned out to make a successful round of games and posh tour to Campbelltown last weekend. Successful on the field and successful in that everyone returned in one piece, just.

Onto the next and possibly biggest social event on the Colleagues Calendar for 2014. Ladies Day #2. Things are shaping up for a great day at BGS and one that happens to be our final outing at Woollahra Ovals for season 2014. As colleagues players and friends, it is down to YOU to approach every girl you know (and even any that you don’t) to invite them to come down to Blue Giant Stadium (Facebook link – target is 2000 invitees) on Saturday and enjoy the great things we have to offer including the following:

• $25 pre-sale tickets for purchase here ($30 on the day)
• Champagne, cider and canapés from 12 midday until 5pm
• DJ Hamo blasting sweet tunes
• Raffle:
• o Jan Logan – $500 Gift voucher
• o The Gift Collective – Champagne sponsor and mystery prize up to $750 in value
• o Nude by nature skin care range $500 gift package
• o 2 x $100 Bucket list voucher’s
• o 2 x Jackie’s Sport’s massage vouchers
• o Meat Tray by Argyle Prestige Meats $100 value
• Half time entertainment – three-legged race relay

With the Waratahs playing in the Super Rugby Grand Final on Saturday afternoon, Colleagues are getting on the supporters wagon and offering a FREE Bus to ANZ Stadium at the end of the day. To secure your seat on the bus, go to the following link and sign yourself up. First in first served, places are limited. Mates, brothers, fathers, girlfriends are all welcome on this bus so let’s make colleagues Ladies Day the ideal launching pad for the Waratahs history-making GF.

The boys looking very dapper.

Training dress code is Waratahs kit both tonight and Thursday night as we do our bit to get the boys home.

With our fellow men in sky blue marching all over the Brumbies last week, it’s on to the crusaders this week at ANZ. As mentioned above, we are offering a FREE bus to the game for all those at Ladies Day with a ticket to the game. Moreover, colleagues are going to ‘Tah’ it up this week in support of the lads, who knows, if the turnout is good, we could get our first ever retweet…

The Gift Collective is launching in August! Show your appreciation by liking them on facebook.

The Gift Collective enables you to receive any gift, for your wedding, from anywhere in the world.

Creating a gift occasion is free, quick and simple. Here’s how it works:

• Sally and Tom are getting married, they don’t want endless gifts of stuff they already have.
• They want an artwork that seemed unattainable due to the cost and inability for people to collectively contribute.
• So Sally created a profile page for their wedding, and uploaded an image of the gift.
• Like magic, The Gift Collective rendered the artwork image into as many pieces as guests.
• Buying a gift piece is even simpler.
• Through the shared link, Poppy, Sally’s great aunt, bought a piece, in fact, Poppy always spoilt Sally so she purchased three pieces.
• Sally and Tom had the best day of their lives, and they received a gift that would be a centrepiece in their home, forever.

Gift occasions are now only limited by your imagination.

Blue Giants,

After a successful couple of trips on the road, we are back at Blue Giants Stadium this weekend to play host to Knox Old Boys, who have been travelling well in recent weeks. It’s Old Boys Day and there is sure to be a great turn out both on the balcony throughout the day and in the clubhouse for the post match function. With this being the penultimate game for the year at the hallowed Woollahra #2, it would be great to see as many supporters, past and current supporting the boys in blue right from 11 through to 5 and to round it out in a boat race in the clubhouse at the end of the day. Match times vs Knox Old Boys are as follows:

Woollahra #2

Kentwell:                          3:15pm
Burke:                               2:00pm
Whiddon:                          1:00pm
Judd:                                12:00 midday
Sutherland/ Halligan:        11:00am (vs Alexandria Dukes)

Woollahra #3

Barbour:                            1:00pm

Good luck to all players, this is a crucial round for the Blue Giants so come out with a lot of hunger and enthusiasm right from the kick off as we fight to keep in touch with St Pats at the top of the Club Championship ladder. Support is key fellas, get there early and stay late. Most of all, Enjoy it.

Goochy has had one of his strongest seasons in years as far as catering goes and Saturday promises to be no different with the club lock in planned. Bring a change of clothes and shower at the grounds. Stay for 1 or stay for 10 but don’t be the bloke that doesn’t turn up.

With Old Colleagues Day this Saturday, please see old colleagues news by clicking here.

Gold Brigade

Happy Friday Giants,

Great round of results against Beecroft last weekend, we got out of Headen park with maximum points for the club championship which is no mean feat so well done to all players. Special mention to the colts players that have remained in Sydney to fight it out for the blue giant cause while the rest of the squad are busy scouting talent in Europe. A successful couple of halligan fixtures as the Judd and Halligan sides kept their match fitness high in preparation for a big week against Balmain.

Results at Headen Park were as follows:

Kentwell:                             W 48-22                      MVP: Hugh Campbell
Burke:                                 W 38-7                        MVP: Mark Blackmore
Barbour:                              W 38-17                      MVP: Johnno McMenamin
Judd vs Epping:                  W 81-0                        MVP: Will Millward
Halligan vs Merrylands:      W 41-19                      MVP: Jon Dart

#bluerinse

Tomorrow we head to Leichardt Oval #2 to take on Balmain in a crucial clash for almost every grade. We will need all the support we can get right through the grades so get there early and stay late to cheer home your fellow Blue Giants. Big test against one of the stronger division clubs so get your game face on and get stuck in tomorrow (do not confuse this with getting stuck in tonight).

Details as follows:

KICK OFF TIMES:

Kentwell –      3.15pm
Burke –          2.00pm
Barbour –      12:45pm
Whiddon –     11.40am
Judd –           10.45am

PARKING:

There is a large (free) car park outside Leichhardt Aquatic Centre (Mary St).
We recommending parking there and walking to over to the ground (approx 50 meters).

CANTEEN:

We will be have a canteen running with BBQ, beer, softies, water and sports drinks on the halfway line on the western side of the ground.

WARM UP:

Request you warm up on the northern (harbour side) end of the ground.

SHOWERS / CHANGE ROOMS:

Visitors change rooms are on Eastern End of Ground.

AFTER MATCH SPEECHES:

Speeches and boat race will be held from 6PM at The Balmain Hotel, 74 Mullens Street, Balmain – www.thebalmain.com

Best if we follow that with heading back to the Woollahra Hotel and enjoy the Tahs v Reds clash and enjoying our great sponsor’s hospitality.

Good luck to all players tomorrow. Get stuck in.

The months of July, August and September are the best months to be a Blue Giant. The worst of Winter is passed, women are starting to come out of hibernation, and the Colleagues social calendar heats up.

Here are a few save the dates so get the leave pass sorted now and get it in your diary:

19th July (Home vs Knox) – Club lock-in
26th July (away vs Campbelltown) – Colleagues Posh tour 2014 – if there is one event you do not want to miss, this is it
2nd August (Home vs St Pats) – Ladies Day
23rd August (away vs Mosman) – Colleagues Ball

Don’t miss out on any of the above, good times are literally guaranteed. The best thing about colleagues is that when we do well on the beers together, it almost always translates to going well on the field as well so the best thing you can do for your fellow clubmen is get in and have a few beers with them. The rest will take care of itself.

Blue Giants,

Tomorrow we travel out to Beecroft for Round 11. Unfortunately Beecroft have officially withdrawn from the Whiddon, Judd and Sutherland competitions so tomorrow will only feature the Barbour, Burke and Kentwell sides. Good luck to all players tomorrow, the games you should win are very often the hardest to take out so come prepared to play tomorrow, Beecroft away is never an easy task. The Judd and Sutherland sides have organised Halligan fixtures to maintain their match fitness so good luck to those guys as well. Whiddon have given themselves a break and will no doubt be spotted for an early morning swim/gym/coffee in Bondi followed by lunch at the Woollahra to get a head start on the rest of the club. No need to wish them luck.

Game times vs Beecroft @ Headen Park, Thornleigh

3:15pm           Kentwell Cup
2:00pm           Burke Cup
12:45pm         Barbour Cup

Halligan Fixtures:

Game 1
10.15am          Colleagues 1 vs Epping @ Kings College
Game 2
2:00pm            Colleagues 2 vs Merrylands @ Roseville Chase oval

After playing in all corners of the city, hot foot it back to the Woollahra Hotel to join the Whiddon boys and trade war stories from the day, while enjoying all the great hospitality that the Hotel offers to colleagues players.

Australian rugby will make history when the Sydney Convicts, Australia’s first gay rugby team, play Macquarie University in the curtain-raiser to the Waratahs’ clash with the Highlanders on Sunday afternoon. It will be only the second time in the world a gay team has been invited to play a curtain raiser before a professional game – we’re told the first time was at a football match in France – and the first time for rugby.

Game Times for the Convicts this weekend:

1:45pm Sunday @ Allianz Stadium   McLean Cup
2:00pm Saturday @ Macquarie Uni Sports Field Grose Cup
12:55pm Saturday @ Macquarie Uni Sports Field Walker Cup

Good Luck on the big stage lads.

The new colleagues website has been launched and is getting some great feedback so far. Log on and get updated on the latest from our twitter account and keep up to date with all things colleagues past and present.

Follow us on twitter @colleaguesrugby if you want to keep up with the worldwide #hashtag trends that will no doubt be taking the world by storm.

After the tailgating success of the Gold Brigade during the June test series, the Gold Brigade is back to cheer home the Wallabies in what is sure to be an enormous Bledisloe cup match on August 16th at ANZ stadium.

There will be a party before and after the match, now known as the ‘BLEDISLOE B&S’. There are 3000 Gold Brigade tickets so make sure you dont miss out. The bigger the group, the better, you can book up to groups of 20 by the following link: //bit.ly/1pDfeKP

Get behind the wallabies, its time to get the Bledisloe Back – much in the same way that its time to get the Bruce Graham Shield back. There it is #BringBackBledisloe #BringBackBruce #BBB #doublemeaning

Blue Giantlemen,

Training is back tonight and with the weather looking fantastic for the weekend, we look towards Old Ignations on Saturday at BGS. Get excited and get to training tonight, it’s going to be special. We have a great night planned for a few frothy chops after training tonight where $30 will get you fed watered and entertained way more than any whiteboard session could and I assure you that those can be entertaining!

Entertainment is a mystery but could be anything from a comedian, circus, mini motor bikes, a movie night, its very hard to say but only those who show will know. Cash payment is preferred tonight.

We are very pleased to announce the launch of the new Colleagues Website.
www.colleaguesrugby.com.au

The new design and features include:
– A fresh modern look with new set of images supporting events and promotions
– A new home page which has the most common content visible without need for further navigation.
– Optimised view of the website to suit your mobile device through  “responsive” design
– Easy ability to edit and update content in rich text including posting alert messages
– Ability to automatically add members and supporters to our email mailing list
– Online access to the rich history of the club through  Annual Reports from 1955 (note 1987 and 2000 missing – do you have them ?)
– Live Twitter feed that is automatically updated on the website home page in real-time (eg scores, wet weather)
– Links to social media – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
– Simpler menu to navigate and find more detail
– Ability to order “Sky Blue Winters – 80 Year History of the club online
– Easy Access to the photo gallery

A very special thanks to Mike “Langers” Langford for working overtime to enable this great new capability for the club which will make us not only the benchmark in Subbies rugby on the field, on the sideline (with our ladies) but also on the web.

The clubs next focus is to expand our Colleagues Networking offering with a focus to  make it easy for Colleagues of all generations to find each other, connect, seek assistance or mentoring and finally post employment opportunities or requests. LinkedIn will be the tool via our Woollahra Colleagues Group. It will be easy for all to register and use. Watch this space for more on this. In the meantime if you already use LinkedIn then please join the Woollahra Colleagues Group.

We are also on a drive to increase our mailing list and would ask you to forward this email to as many colleagues as you know, letting them know about the new site and asking them to sign up online for our newsletter.

We also have a new twitter account @colleaguesrugby which should shortly be tweeting the great results of the club.

Finally, we welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please email to member@colleaguesrugby.com.au

Gents, the comp is very short of Refs so in attempt to help ease this burden on NSW Rugby and help us get games on, there is a course we would like to put some guys through in an attempt to help us with this situation come Saturdays. Please follow the link below to sign up for this free course.

10am-3pm

Sun 20 July

Moore Park

Cost: Free

Register here: //myrugby.rugby.com.au/MyRugby/course_show.asp?program_key=%7b5971032F-F335-40D7-89D2-E8BBBD285FE7%7d

We need you to help us market refereeing to your members (and friends, parents and spectators). The upside for you is that ultimately we will be able to cover all of your games. We believe retired players (or players who have an injury which precludes contact) make good referees.

Remember – NSW Rugby Referees are experiencing extreme difficulty appointing to all games in the Suburban calendar, with barely enough referees to cover all fixtures from week to week. The situation has reached a critical point where we need more referees ASAP.