The waiting is almost over and the local rugby community is expectantly awaiting the fifteenth staging of the Chris Kays Memorial Rugby Tournament that will kick off at the Horseshoe Point Resort on Saturday 2nd May and wrap up on Sunday 3rd May. The training is over and the strategies planned, all that remains now is the sweat and strain of putting the coaches’ plans into action on the field.
The players will be assembling to register on Friday 1st May at the Tavern by The Sea, the primary sporting outlet of the tournament’s major sponsor the Amari Orchid Resort. All teams will be registered and many old friendships will be renewed before the old rivalries are revived on the playing field, commencing at 10:00 am on Saturday morning.
The Kingdom Property Youth tournament, which will be staged in conjunction with the main tournament, will see 8 young sides representing 5 Thai Schools from as far away as Surin in the north and Surat in the south, locking horns with the Bangkok Lions and the Bangkok Barbarians, two development teams featuring mainly sons of expatriates based in Bangkok and a recently formed team from Pattaya who are comprised mainly of students at the Regents School.
There will be a total of 24 games in the round robin stages of the main tournament on Saturday, and these will be followed by 12 games in the round robin stages of the Kingdom Property Youth Tournament. The young boys will finish the knockout stages of their tournament commencing at 08:00am on Sunday morning, which will allow the older players in the main competition to have a bit of a lie in!
The knockout stages of the Chris Kays Memorial Tournament 2015 will commence at approximately 10:00 am on Sunday and will conclude with the Cup Final at around 17:00, to be followed by a lavish presentation ceremony around the pool at Horseshoe Point.
Please do come and support the teams, especially your local heroes the Pattaya Panthers and have some fun and great craic at the same time. There will be a special children’s play area to keep the little ones happy while Daddy enjoys some great rugby and good food and cold beer!
The tournament could not happen without the support of sponsors Amari Orchid Resort Pattaya, Kingdom Properties and NMT International Projects Co., Ltd. as well as MAS/Aus Group, Societe Generale de Surveillance, Jardine Shipping Services, Hemaraj Land and Development Co., Ltd, Manpower Thailand, Phoenix Pacific Inc., The LionPub and of course the welfare of all participants will be looked after by the staff of the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, and cooling shade will be provided by CR Asia (Thailand) Ltd.
We do hope to see many of you there please drop by and say hello to Ray and Lin Kays (Chris’ parents) who will be honouring us with their presence. The weather is forecast to be fine and very hot but the beer will be very cold! Steve Mines, the “Pie Man” from the British Pie Shop, will also be on hand to satisfy your hunger. With the venue being in perfect condition we have no doubt that this will be another spectacular tournament. .
