The Amari Orchid Pattaya Chris Kays Memorial Pattaya Rugby Festival is the highlight of the year on the Eastern Seaboard as far as rugby aficionados are concerned and is also a great spectacle for all lovers of sport.
This year’s event will take place over the weekend of May 4-5 at the traditional home of rugby in Pattaya, the beautiful Horseshoe Point Resort on the outskirts of the city and promises to be as good, if not better, than all its previous incarnations.
At a press conference for the event, held at the Ice Bar of title sponsor Amari Orchid Pattaya on Monday, April 22, perennial tournament organizer and Pattaya’s ‘Mr. Rugby’, Jim Howard, encouraged all sports fans and families to come along and support the teams as well as enjoy a weekend of fun and entertainment.
Tournament sponsors and Pattaya Panthers rugby players pose for a photo at the press conference held at the Amari Orchid Pattaya on Monday, April 22, to announce the upcoming 2013 Chris Kays Pattaya Rugby Festival.
Jim spoke of the admission of rugby into the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 as a significant development and pointed out this provided a great boost to encouraging Thai youth to take up the sport as a means of recreation, as well as giving those with the ability a target to achieve sporting glory on the biggest of stages.
As in past events here, the Pattaya Rugby Festival will feature a junior (U-15’s) competition, this year being sponsored by Kingdom Property, which will enable the best young Thai rugby prospects to showcase their talents to a wider audience and hopefully lead to others taking up the game.
Running alongside the junior tournament will be the main draw 10’s competition which will feature the usual contest for four trophies; Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield, with the preliminary rounds being held on Saturday and the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Finals all taking place on Sunday.
Play is scheduled to get underway in the seniors tournament at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning and is expected to conclude around 6 p.m. on Sunday. The preliminary rounds of the junior competition will be held Saturday from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m., with the finals being held on Sunday morning.
General Manager Brendan Daly, speaking on behalf of the Amari Orchid Pattaya, confirmed that as title sponsors they will provide not only a sponsor’s pavilion with refreshments but also a children’s play area in the grounds of Horseshoe Point to ensure that everyone in the family who attends will be well catered for.
Other sponsors of this year’s tournament represented at the press conference were CEA (Crane Equipment Asia), Kingdom Property, venue sponsors Horseshoe Point Resort and media sponsors Pattaya Mail Media Group.
The list of teams competing in this year’s tournament has yet to be finalized but check out the Pattaya Mail next week for an up to date preview and mark the 2013 Chris Kays Pattaya Rugby Festival down as an event in your diary not to be missed.
