Porto Old Greens (PORTUGAL)
The vets rugby start at CDUP by
the hand of Joćo Pedro Pinto de Sousa, back in the 80's, exactly
when Joćo celebrated his 35th birthday, which made out of him a
"regular" veteran! Didn“t last long to organize a group to play "slow-motion"
rugby...
The 1st game took place in 1980 at Coimbra during a tournament that
the local club ( AAC) organize every year. This has been the official
start of the CDUP veterans.
Between 1980 and 1992 besides the presence on the tournament already
referred, CDUP made quite a few tours to Spain to play some
tournaments, namely in Barcelona as well as Benidorm.
In 1992 the team flew to Den Boch in the Netherlands to play for the
1st time in their history the famous International Golden Oldies, in
this case the European version.
We like it so much that for quite some time CDUP OLD GREENS hardly
miss the Golden Oldies :
1993 in Dublin a fantastic International Golden Oldies tournament
with more than 5.000 people attending it has been a unforgettable
week!!
1994: Back to the European version of the Golden Oldies at
Heidelberg, Germany, a beautiful city for a quite nice tournament. 1995, the big journey!! New Zealand for an
International Golden Oldies, again with thousands of people,
fantastic atmosphere, intense rugby, lovely friendship, a trip that
will remain in our memories for ever! Back to Europe in 1996. Verona, Italy, for
another European Golden Oldies where the star was the rain. In 1997 we have been invited for a tournament in
Moscow included in the celebrations of the 850 years of the city.
The tournament took place in the old Olympic village and we were the
only foreigners... it has been a different experience! 1998: African continent : Cape Town-South Africa
for another International Golden Oldies. Again thousands of players,
nice people, marvelous city, fantastic week and tournament. 1999: It has been decided to organize a
tour on our own to South America... and so we did. Argentina and
Chile have been the selected countries and where we played 4
magnificent games, crossing the Argentinean/Chilean border somewhere
in the Andes surrounded by beautiful lakes... a mix of nature with
rugby made of this tour a must and another one nobody will forget! 2004: Once Again the OLD GREENS, made their
appearance in the European version, of Golden Oldies Rugby, this time
in Benidorm, a well known festival, for us, that made it possible,
to get reunited, with old and new friends.
2006: The Old Greens went to the VIII European Golden Oldies
Festival, this time held in Zurich, were our friends the Swiss
gnomes, received us, and many others, to once again, enjoy the
fantastic rugby moments. This time we came back with a great news,
that, the responsibility of organizing the next festival was given
to us, and so we will be in Madeira island in 2008 for the IX
version of EGORF. Mind you that in between all these tours, CDUP
OLD GREENS keep hosting teams from all over the world here in Porto:
from Russians to Canadians, Dutch, English, Spanish, Chilean...you
name it!!
Every season we organize the tournament of S.Joćo which normally
includes 3 Portuguese teams and a foreigner one, we keep attending
the AAC tournament and we organize quite a few games with Lisbon
vets.
Although bodies claim retirement, the vets of CDUP OLD GREENS keep
on being what is generally admitted as the most committed vets group
in action in Portugal. We keep practicing every Saturday, be it sun
or rain... more tours are on the way, so it doesn't look it's going
to stop that soon!
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